ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by (re)complexifying notions of methodology within the context of arts-based practice and discusses the possibilities created when ‘old’ Indigenous arts practices are theorised as ‘new’ methodological knowledge. It introduces a set of ideas and language from one arts-based practice within Maori weaving to offer an example of theorising Indigenous methodology. The effects of cultural assimilation and urbanisation in Aotearoa New Zealand led to a rapidly increasing number of people who were Maori through ancestry but who had few opportunities to engage with Maori language, culture and identity. Indigenous research methodologies drawn from artistic practices create space in the Western academy to view and conduct research through an Indigenous artistic lens. By theorising ‘new’ methodologies from our artistic practices, Maori and Indigenous researchers are reclaiming and re-framing knowledge fragmented through colonisation, then re-presenting this knowledge in new and useful ways within research.
