ABSTRACT
Te Hurihanga Akoranga mai i te Huarahi Māori ki Poihakena
My aim here is to highlight the importance of identity as an integral stimulus for learning, drawing attention to the value of empowering learners to build upon their own knowledge as a way of naming the world and their place in it. Lived experience, shared knowledge and stories handed down from past and present repositories offer understanding and wisdom that can be used to navigate systems and changing environments. This is empowering for those with whom this experience, knowledge and understanding is shared, highlighting the value of reciprocal and collaborative learning. This narrative is of particular interest to migrant populations who relocate from various parts of the world. Such stories juxtapose the beauty of new beginnings against the challenges found in navigating two very different worlds: the old home and the new. In the chapter I discuss how migrant learners negotiate competing ideologies that challenge understandings and sensibilities. The subjective nature of enabling honest and, in some parts, profound and provocative reflections, requires a specialised approach that could draw on the breadth and depth of the disciplines found in Social Ecology. Its complex web of interrelated subjects and disciplines, sophisticated systems, elaborate philosophies and highly intellectual ideologies enabled new insights to be gained, which had the capacity to inform, inspire and uplift those seeking to know how to effectively manage change. The varied approaches scaffold personal learning, frame existing knowledge and complement other areas of study, including my own indigenous ways of knowing. In addition, the simplicity found in this discipline guides new learners through self-directed study, stimulating reflection, postulating questions and facilitating heartfelt discussion in the quest to enable transformative learning opportunities for them and others. This platform provides a safe place to share my story of courage and change as a means to help others understand how they too can navigate meaningful pathways forward.
