Tēnā koutou i tēnei ahiahi! Evening, everyone! The Representation in Archaeology webinar panel is about to kick off in a few minutes and we'll be live tweeting along with what is sure to be a fascinating discussion #nzarchaeology

The panel has been organised by Patricia Pillay ( @trishtalk18), with four wonderful panellists: Dr Des Kahotea, Mana Laumea, Gena Moses-Te-Kani and Rachel Wesley ( @flakerach). #nzarchaeology

Starting off with a mihi whakatau welcome from Des and Patricia to introduce the panel. Patricia speaking to the need for this korero in light of the BLM movement around the world and its relevance to NZ and #nzarchaeology.

Starting off with how our panellists got into archaeology. Des talking about personal research into carving and history in the 70s leading him to archaeologist Harry Allen, who convinced him to enrol in archaeology, which took him to the Smithsonian & onwards to work in NZ.

Gena is not an archaeologist, but comes at heritage as kaitiaki, protecting wahi tupuna and cultural practice. Mana talking about wanting to know where his ancestors in Samoa came from.

@flakerach now talking about growing up in Ōtākou, seeing the ransacking of wāhi tūpuna by European colonists that had happened in the 20th century, taking taoka/taonga away to museums and feeling the need to protect the heritage and prevent future ransacking.

On the question of what has helped our panellists get to where they are, a shared theme seems to be the significance of community, of access to shared knowledge - whether it's kuia/aunties in the community with knowledge of wāhi tūpuna or the support of other archaeologists.

@flakerach Advice to others - "Don't let your passion for it [archaeology] die" especially in the face of what seems like endless theory at university.

On question of what might have made it easier when they started, @flakerach says that having more Māori around would have made things easier, especially with disconnect between university teaching and Māori/indigenous experience of archaeology.

Gena talking about challenges of finding work as kaitiaki, and trying to grow kaitiakitanga as a valid career for young people. Also expressing concern about the amount of theory - "Touch dirt! Be a kaitiaki!"

Mana "Certain people telling us about our past is limiting the value of archaeology"

Des talking about issues with archaeological priorities - "It ain't about culture, it's about science". From a Māori perspective, the value of the site is where it is, not in a report - the way it has been done has given control of Māori heritage to archaeologists, not Māori.

Mana - the best way to alleviate misconceptions about archaeology and indigenous heritage is to have more and better community engagement and communication. #nzarchaeology

@flakerach talking about misconceptions from her own community that by working as an archaeologist she had become colonised: "Just because I'm an archaeologist doesn't mean I'm not understanding of our tribal histories" #nzarchaeology

Gena & Des both talking about the difficulty balancing mātauranga Māori & the demands of archaeology and science, as part of both communities. Gena talking in particular about the misconception that archaeology is the real science, prioritised at the expense of mātauranga Māori.

Gena talking about her practice of teaching 'wairua safety' on sites, with stakeholders, and the importance of that: "when you are in my place, these are the things that you're going to disturb".

Rachel on an insulting, tokenistic offer to collaborate: "what are the outcomes that are going to benefit mana whenua from your ideas around this?" - if you're going to use archaeology/indigenous work to promote something, then what is coming back to those communities from it?

Mana - there needs to be a big structural, systemic change to change that attitudes that lead to tokenism and exploitation.

On whether universities are making a valid effort to decolonise their teaching, Mana saying well, no. what we're taught at university is pretty narrow, not decolonised. There's a lot of progress to be made.

He suggests more cross-discplinary engagement is necessary - with Māori studies department, with Pacific studies department. - and makes the really good point that it's not encouraging to see Pasifika students going to other disciplines instead of archaeology. #nzarchaeology

@flakerach agreeing that there's no sign of decolonisation at universities. Horror stories of inexperienced green pākehā archaeologists being sent to excavate koiwi tangata.

Rachel mentioning that there's still a perspective that "there's no credibility for Māori [on archaeological sites] without a pākehā archaeologist to back them up".

Gena: "our universities are still institutionally racist".

Rachel talking about excavating a waka at Papanui inlet and the excitement of seeing the stories of the waka come to life in front of her eyes and the dissonance between that experience and the theories of archaeology that remove agency and culture from the actions of tupuna.

It "relegates the actions of people into zoological units" - @flakerach

Gena - maybe the important part with reconciling mātauranga Māori and archaeology is mutual respect, for differing interpretations, for differing perspectives. The technical information is one thing, but the interpretation is another and there are different ways of looking at it.

Rachel - best practice going forward is making sure that you are on the same level as everyone else involved, not just an acknowledgement at the end of a paper.

Gena: "All students in Aotearoa should understand the place that they live in, no matter where in the world they come from....Decolonisation has to be a lifelong, everybody kind of program."

Rachel @flakerach making the extremely salient point that it's incredible (and not in a good way) that you can get through a whole undergrad and postgrad archaeology degree at Otago Uni without having to do any papers, any courses on working with Māori.

Mana - "I'm constantly navigating my own self-awareness of how I engage with my own people" and it's really important for other people working in the same place to be making that same effort.

On what needs to change in the future, Mana with the simple truth: "more Māori and Pasifika in archaeology".

Theme through everyone's answers here is more Māori and Pasifika people and perspectives in archaeology going forward, better communication, more collaborative education at a university level, more respect for iwi and hapū in archaeology and from archaeologists.

Rachel on advice to the next generation - "Be confident in telling your own stories. As soon as other people start trying to talk over you, just talk louder!"

Question on countering racist conspiracy theories of giants and pre-Māori occupation, @flakerach says "it's everyone's responsibility to counter those theories. It's the archaeologist's responsibility to put things right. It's iwi's responsibility to put themselves out there...

....and make sure their stories are loud enough to be heard. It's the wider community's responsibility to educate themselves & put that nonsense to bed."

Advice from the panelists to aspiring archaeologists - talk to people and listen to their perspectives, connect to your people, connect to the whenua, be confident.

And that's a wrap to an absolutely fantastic discussion. Thank you so much to our speakers. I haven't done justice to the depth of the kōrero and insights of the panelists in this thread, so check out the recording if (when?) it's made available. Pō mārie. #nzarchaeology