Valance Smith
Biographic Data
| ID | 4217855 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Valance Smith |
| GIVEN NAMES | Valance |
| FAMILY NAME | Smith |
| SIGNATURE | SMITH V |
| AFFILIATIONS | Auckland University of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5207-9994 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Ihirangaranga
This research investigates how the soundscape of Native forests reflects forest health and how it may signal early signs of Kauri Mate ( Phytophthora agathidicida ; dieback) infection. Grounded in mātauranga Māori (Māori [the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand] knowledge) from Te Rarawa (a tribe in the northern North Island, New Zealand), the study combines Indigenous knowledge with modern technology to develop a sonic-based method for ecological …
Indigenising 'Research' and Reconnecting Knowledge to Place - Indigenous Compositions, Songs, and Chants as Research Methods
The decolonisation and Indigenisation of research have been central to ongoing debates among Indigenous scholars, as they seek to reclaim knowledge systems disrupted by colonisation. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), Māori methodologies grounded in ancestral knowledge systems challenge Western paradigms and emphasise a connection between knowledge, place, and identity. Storytelling, in its many forms-including chants, songs, and other 'artistic' composi…
Theory-of-Change Visuals
Everyone can imagine a situation in which they have put in countless hours of work on a new measurement and evaluation framework and, when it is time to get feedback or present their ideas, they have been met with 1,000-yard stares. Conventional approaches can sometimes struggle to engage stakeholders and convey complex concepts. To address this, authors of this article propose a unique, visually based approach that integrates metaphors and symbo…
Te Maramataka—An Indigenous System of Attuning with the Environment, and Its Role in Modern Health and Well-Being
The connection between the natural environment and human health is well documented in Indigenous narratives. The maramataka-a Māori system of observing the relationships between signs, rhythms, and cycles in the environment-is underpinned by generations of Indigenous knowledge, observation, and experimentation. The maramataka enabled Māori and our Pacific relatives to attune with the movements of the environment and ensure activities essential fo…
Vā at the time of Covid-19
In 2019, the Vā Moana–Pacific Spaces research group at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) began to investigate how core Moana and Māori values can be translated from onsite, embodied engagements into digital environments. This was prompted by our wish to provide access to all those who could not travel to attend a conference in late 2021 for our Marsden-funded research project, ‘ Vā Moana: Space and relationality in Pacific thought and ident…
Ko te Tika, ko te Pono, ko te Aroha
This research is offered as a koha (contribution) to the ongoing debates within the university where all co-authors work as academic staff, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. We set out to critically investigate three key Māori words, tika, pono, aroha, and the results of their adoption as ‘university values’ by AUT. In the sections below, we synopsise and synthesise scholarly literature from a critical Māo…
Energizing everyday practices through the indigenous spirituality of haka
For many Māori, the dominant Western episteme of materialism and individualism does not underpin a Māori way of intimately connecting to and knowing the land and contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand society. Occupational science can profit from the insights that Māori spirituality is nonetheless, spirituality and, in its divinity, can transcend and talk meaningfully to all cultures and peoples who choose to engage. In this paper, I investigate how M…
Mōhiti E’
How might a collaborative performance staged across indigenous cultures – in this case Māori and Native American – be seen to create a shared wairua that leads to mārama? For this Symposium, Valance Smith (Ngāpuhi/Waikato) will compose a waiata as the starting point for a hoop dance choreographed and performed by Eddie Madril (Pascua Yaqui) from the Sewan American Indian Dance company. Waiata is, at its simplest, song. It is a vessel for a kaupap…
Energizing everyday practices through the indigenous spirituality of haka
For many Māori, the dominant Western episteme of materialism and individualism does not underpin a Māori way of intimately connecting to and knowing the land and contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand society. Occupational science can profit from the insights that Māori spirituality is nonetheless, spirituality and, in its divinity, can transcend and talk meaningfully to all cultures and peoples who choose to engage. In this paper, I investigate how M…
Indigenising 'Research' and Reconnecting Knowledge to Place - Indigenous Compositions, Songs, and Chants as Research Methods
The decolonisation and Indigenisation of research have been central to ongoing debates among Indigenous scholars, as they seek to reclaim knowledge systems disrupted by colonisation. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), Māori methodologies grounded in ancestral knowledge systems challenge Western paradigms and emphasise a connection between knowledge, place, and identity. Storytelling, in its many forms-including chants, songs, and other 'artistic' composi…
Mōhiti E’
How might a collaborative performance staged across indigenous cultures – in this case Māori and Native American – be seen to create a shared wairua that leads to mārama? For this Symposium, Valance Smith (Ngāpuhi/Waikato) will compose a waiata as the starting point for a hoop dance choreographed and performed by Eddie Madril (Pascua Yaqui) from the Sewan American Indian Dance company. Waiata is, at its simplest, song. It is a vessel for a kaupap…
Energizing everyday practices through the indigenous spirituality of haka
For many Māori, the dominant Western episteme of materialism and individualism does not underpin a Māori way of intimately connecting to and knowing the land and contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand society. Occupational science can profit from the insights that Māori spirituality is nonetheless, spirituality and, in its divinity, can transcend and talk meaningfully to all cultures and peoples who choose to engage. In this paper, I investigate how M…
Vā at the time of Covid-19
In 2019, the Vā Moana–Pacific Spaces research group at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) began to investigate how core Moana and Māori values can be translated from onsite, embodied engagements into digital environments. This was prompted by our wish to provide access to all those who could not travel to attend a conference in late 2021 for our Marsden-funded research project, ‘ Vā Moana: Space and relationality in Pacific thought and ident…
Ko te Tika, ko te Pono, ko te Aroha
This research is offered as a koha (contribution) to the ongoing debates within the university where all co-authors work as academic staff, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. We set out to critically investigate three key Māori words, tika, pono, aroha, and the results of their adoption as ‘university values’ by AUT. In the sections below, we synopsise and synthesise scholarly literature from a critical Māo…
Te Maramataka—An Indigenous System of Attuning with the Environment, and Its Role in Modern Health and Well-Being
The connection between the natural environment and human health is well documented in Indigenous narratives. The maramataka-a Māori system of observing the relationships between signs, rhythms, and cycles in the environment-is underpinned by generations of Indigenous knowledge, observation, and experimentation. The maramataka enabled Māori and our Pacific relatives to attune with the movements of the environment and ensure activities essential fo…
Theory-of-Change Visuals
Everyone can imagine a situation in which they have put in countless hours of work on a new measurement and evaluation framework and, when it is time to get feedback or present their ideas, they have been met with 1,000-yard stares. Conventional approaches can sometimes struggle to engage stakeholders and convey complex concepts. To address this, authors of this article propose a unique, visually based approach that integrates metaphors and symbo…
Indigenising 'Research' and Reconnecting Knowledge to Place - Indigenous Compositions, Songs, and Chants as Research Methods
The decolonisation and Indigenisation of research have been central to ongoing debates among Indigenous scholars, as they seek to reclaim knowledge systems disrupted by colonisation. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), Māori methodologies grounded in ancestral knowledge systems challenge Western paradigms and emphasise a connection between knowledge, place, and identity. Storytelling, in its many forms-including chants, songs, and other 'artistic' composi…
Ihirangaranga
This research investigates how the soundscape of Native forests reflects forest health and how it may signal early signs of Kauri Mate ( Phytophthora agathidicida ; dieback) infection. Grounded in mātauranga Māori (Māori [the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand] knowledge) from Te Rarawa (a tribe in the northern North Island, New Zealand), the study combines Indigenous knowledge with modern technology to develop a sonic-based method for ecological …
Indigenous (6 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works) · Ecology (3 works) · Gender Studies (3 works) · Psychology (3 works) · Aotearoa (2 works) · Art (2 works) · Biology (2 works)