You are invited to CHL PhD Candidate Vehia Wheeler's Pre-Submission Seminar.
Date: Wednesday/Thursday, 28/29 May 2025
Speaker: Vehia Wheeler, PhD Candidate
Venue: Talanoa, HC Coombs Building, Fellows Rd, Acton and Online via Zoom
Meeting ID: 894 9225 0183
Meeting Passcode: 357188
Time:
2:30pm–5pm, Thursday, 29 May 2025 (AUS, Guam time)
6:30pm–9pm, Wednesday, 28 May 2025 (Tahiti, Hawai’i, Rarotonga time)
3:30pm–6pm, Thursday, 29 May 2025 (Kanaky/New Caledonia time)
4:30pm–7pm, Thursday 29 May 2025 (Aotearoa/New Zealand time)
Mataeina'a systems, in Tahiti (Mā’ohi Nui/French Polynesia) hold environmental, social, and climate resilient advantages. By understanding land-use practices in Tahitian valleys and districts, also called the Mataeina’a, from the 1800s can inform how we can better improve land-use practices for current times.
Today, these Mataeina’a or high valleys are susceptible to inundations and heavy rains during the yearly flooding season from November to May. With a changing climate, and the risk of increasing inundations and severity over the years, adaptation measures are necessary. This long-term adaptability will be crucial in addressing climate change issues that Mā’ohi Nui face now and into the future. My methodologies include sailing on the traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe Fa’afaite (to understand environmental elements), interviews with farmers and cultural practitioners and ethnographic materials to construct the Mataeina'a systems of Tahiti. The research looks at ways these valleys were managed holistically (environmentally, socially and spiritually) and with respect to spatial and temporal elements.
Indigenous Tahitian knowledge can be a guide for the future in terms of land management and sustaining healthy and vibrant communities in a changing climate.
