Publish or Perish: Māori, Pāsifika, and International Indigenous Scholars’ Critical Contribution to Public Debates Through the Invited NZARE Symposium, International Organisations Session, AERA 2017, San Antonio, Texas

Abstract

The commentary centres on the preparation and collaboration of Māori, Tongan, nehiyaw, and Native Hawaiian cognoscenti for AERA 2017 (Kēpa et al. in International Organisation Sessions at American Education Research Association Conference, San Antonio, 2016, 2017). In the contemporary era where publish or perish has become the dictum for academics amid the mushrooming of numerous journals, the New Zealand Education Act (1989) offers sanctuary, par excellence, for Indigenous scholars to collaborate. The Act offers the burgeoning forte of Indigenous cognoscenti, neutral positions beyond the received wisdom for the publication of quality research, exemplary enthusiasm and devotion to good spirits interwoven with affection and sympathy for other people. Thereby, the Indigenous scholars are provided impartial platforms, where the outcome of our relentless toil to know Indigenous wisdoms and western science finds expression in writing collaboratively. Propitiously, the Act enables the scholarly community to publish, not only for purely informational value; the law enables our writing of appreciation for beautiful ideas, values and things. Critically, the Indigenous scholars are enabled to publish with the purpose to perish prevailing beliefs that Indigenous knowledges do not proffer ‘truth’ or scientific fact.