Kōhatu Mauri: An Exercise in Practice across Cultures

Abstract

The 2017 redevelopment of Otago Museum's Discovery World into Tūhura, a bi-cultural science centre that reflected an indigenous Kāi Tahu understanding of the universe alongside a western scientific paradigm, was a bold move into new territory for museum staff, who had to become familiar with not only new forms of knowledge, but also to work comfortably with Kāi Tahu tikanga (values-based practice) and cultural beliefs.An integral component of the creation of a space reflective of a Māori worldview is the placement of a Kōhatu Mauri -a small boulder or rock loaded with symbolism that encapsulates the mauri, or 'lifeforce' of a space. In order to enhance its value as a receptacle for the mauri of such a space, a Kōhatu Mauri must be touched, thus increasing the actual mauri it contains. If a Kōhatu Mauri is treated as a typical museum object, isolated and untouched, the result is culturally akin to death and is symbolic of a lack of life and perceived value of its wider space.To fit with Kāi Tahu notions of value, a Kōhatu Mauri is usually selected according to aesthetic, historic, and whakapapa (genealogy) values. It must be firmly rooted in its cultural context, regardless of the space it inhabits.When the need for a Kōhatu Mauri for Tūhura was identified, short timeframes and recognition of the need to select a boulder that captured the above cultural values resulted ‡ ‡

Composing with the World: A Pākehā Approach

“…Upon reading this story I was struck by two things: first, that Killin is just a short distance from the towns the Meeks departed for Aotearoa, and second, that the story of Saint Faolán resonates strongly with mauri stones, stones in Māori traditions that are "loaded with symbolism that encapsulates the mauri, or 'lifeforce' of a space." (Wesley 2018) I wanted to see what music would transpire if I took the Faolán story literally and placed stones in the mouth of a singer. In order to give the singer a text, I found the anonymous Middle English poem Erthe toc of erthe:…”