Te Wahine Atamai

Shawn Wilson

When I first finished this chapter I knew that I was missing something. I felt deeply connected to his work, to his writings, to some of the authors he had included as well. However, I finished reading and asked myself “so… can ceremony include a literature review? I don’t feel like I have a clear answer to that question” – and I think that was precisely the point. I was still trying to understand this question and fit the idea of a literature review into a Western framework, just adding some indigenous knowledge systems into the mix. As I sat with my confusion, I realised that Wilson wasn’t seeking to just answer this question at a basic level, but was reframing what a literature review is to us, as Indigenous researchers. 

“One of the main points I am trying to get across through this book is the importance of relationships, that everything needs to be seen within the context of the relationships it represents” (p. 43). This chapter evoked a lot of deep mamae for me, I cried as I sat in the unjust experiences of Indigenous peoples all over the globe, I let the anger boil inside of me as I sought to process it all in one go. The way he drew on the kōrero from other Indigenous scholars in this chapter really helped me to understand a literature review as ‘standing on the shoulders’ of other indigenous scholars (p. 44). This concept helps me to see our work as something connected to a whakapapa of indigenous research and experiences, and reminds me of the foundations that have already been laid before me. It reminds me that it is a privilege to contribute to these stories as an Indigenous wāhine, and it simultaneously is a responsibility that requires reciprocity in community, respect and relationality (p. 58). Therefore, ceremony does not include a literature review as an addition, the “literature review” is the ceremony. Establishing and building on pre-existing connections within Indigenous literature and working with co-researchers is the ceremony – the ceremony is the relationships and how we look after them.