Tauhokohoko
Tauhokohoko is a five-year research programme transforming trade policy using Indigenous knowledge and values in collaboration with Te Kotahi Research Institute and Te Taumata Advisory Board.
Te Taumata Māori Trade Advisory Board
Te Taumata chairs the governance group, ensuring that the research is driven by Māori aspirations through engagement with Māori and Indigenous communities, and Indigenous organisations in trade policy and international trade.
Te Taumata Strategy
Te Taumata will play a direct leadership role in the co-design of Indigenous trade policy frameworks, rooted in mātauranga Māori, to shape future trade agreements both within Aotearoa and on the international stage.
We will test and refine Māori-led trade mechanisms, including trade missions, study tours, inter-Indigenous trade arrangements, and cultural procurement strategies, and scale up Māori enterprise capability, reach, and resilience.
The Tauhokohoko partnership enables us to co-develop Indigenous impact and wellbeing metrics, quantifying the relationship between Indigenous trade and waiora (wellbeing), huanga (economic return), and mana motuhake (autonomy). These tools will provide the evidence base for more equitable, inclusive policies.
Tauhokohoko will also support cultural exchange and joint Indigenous research with global networks, including those of the Sámi, Pacific, Indigenous North American Native, and other communities, helping to elevate Māori leadership in Indigenous-to-Indigenous trade diplomacy.
Research Aims
We will:
- Align Tauhokohoko with principles of Indigenous data sovereignty.
- Conduct a legal review of recent agreements to identify the features of intellectual property rights and a comparative analysis of Indigenous data sovereignty principles; in the context of the digital trade components of free trade agreements.
- Identify legal and extra-legal mechanisms that could identify and protect mātauranga and taonga; in focus groups with Indigenous trade experts and Indigenous data sovereignty experts.
RA 1.0 Team:
- Prof. Maui Hudson (Research lead)
- Dr Xavier Forde
- Dr Paul Brown
- Dr Danielle Ta Heke Lucas
- Natalie Kusabs
- Katie Lee Riddle
- Wallis Oldham Malcolm
We will:
- Examine what trade policy would look like if Indigenous peoples designed it using Indigenous worldviews, knowledges, and values, using a four-stage kaupapa Māori research process.
- Achieve this through wānanga, kōrero, document analysis, and iterative co-design workshops with Māori and Indigenous peoples, enterprises, and stakeholders.
- Develop theories and frameworks for Indigenous trade and policy guidelines, with a focus on trade agreements and their implementation.
- Evaluate these frameworks through engagement with trade policymakers from Māori, Indigenous, local and international organisations.
RA 1.1 team:
- A/Prof. Robert Joseph (research lead)
- Dr Keakaokawai Varner Hemi
- Dr Mia Mikic
- Tara Francis
- Prof. Katrin Kuhlmann
- A/Prof. Wayne Rumbles
- Dr Dilara Aydin
- Leah Bell
We will:
- Establish a credible way to address the absence of Indigenous trade data in economic modelling, to properly account for this activity and its mana motuhake, huanga, and waiora effects.
- Utilise computable general equilibrium (CGE) models, drawing on data from Stats NZ and the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP).
- Work with Stats NZ to improve Māori business and trade data.
- Use large-scale economic models based on actual economic data from Stats NZ and international sources to quantify the impact of policy changes and the evolving global economy on Indigenous trade, the welfare of Indigenous people, and the overall New Zealand economy.
RA1.2 Team:
We will:
- Evaluate approaches to Indigenous trade facilitation and enablement, for their efficacy in generating mana motuhake, huanga, and waiora effects, underpinned by te ao taketake. This will be done using the theoretical framework of Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystems:
(1) Māori-led trade missions;
(2) Inter Indigenous trade; and
(3) Indigenous procurement
- Assess the veracity of each of these three approaches for effecting Indigenous trade primarily in Aotearoa, and in other Indigenous economies of the Pacific islands, Alaska Native, and Sámi peoples.
- Address the question of how best to enable Indigenous trade through principles of Indigeneity.
RA 1.3 Team:
- Prof. Jason Paul Mika (research lead)
- Miriama Cribb
- Prof Betty Ross
- Associate Prof. Eva Jenny B. Jørgensen
- Dr Tanya Jurado
- Prof Virginia Warriner
- Xiaoliang Niu
- Suzanne Hepi
- Dr Georgia McLellan