A group in Aotearoa is working to bring the Māori language into scientific spaces.
Corey Ruha is part of the Waiwhatu Project, which has created or expanded the definitions of six words in te reo Māori — the language of the Indigenous people of New Zealand — to describe different geothermal processes.
The project takes its name from one of the new words, waiwhatu. It’s a combination of the Māori word wai, for “water” or “liquid,” and whatu, which can mean “rock” or “of the core.” Together, the words have taken on a new meaning: geothermal fluid.
Ruha said that the inspiration for the Waiwhatu Project came from an earlier effort to translate a website on geothermal science into te reo Māori. He and his team noticed certain processes for which there was no word in te reo Māori.
Rather than default to English terms, Ruha and his colleagues decided to create a new te reo Māori vocabulary that reflected the deep connection between Māori iwi, or people, and Aotearoa’s geothermal resources.
Ruha said that at a fundamental level, the Waiwhatu Project is about reclaiming space.
“It's about having our Indigenous worldview implanted within this geothermal science, because it hasn't really, in the past,” he said.
So far, the Māori Language Commission has accepted six words submitted by the Waiwhatu Project. Those six words include:
- Waiwhatu: geothermal fluid
- Tokarewa: magma
- Rangitoto: lava
- Māpuna: reservoir
- Ngaohū: enthalpy
- Kūwhewhewhewhe: wrinkling of the skin, as from a geothermal hot pool
Ruha said the team is now working on a second batch of ten words.
"We would love to see this picked up by both the scientists, whether they are Māori or not Māori, as well as our own people," Ruha said.
HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote spoke with Ruha about what goes into creating a word, the connection between Māori iwi and geothermal resources, and the work of centering Indigenous worldviews in science.
Interview Highlights
On the process of creating a new word
RUTHA: The starting place for us was getting everyone into a room with lots of cups of tea and really kicking off with, “OK, firstly, what words are we wanting to look at?” Once we've got our words, we had to flesh out exactly what the meaning was, and not just in the science, but what the feel of the words were. … We could throw in a word, which could be an entire story, but that's not going to stick, especially not with the scientists. So something that really rolls off the tongue was also really important, how it sounded, and the ease of pronunciation.
On engaging Māori in geothermal science
RUTHA: Our word for haole is Pākehā. And classically, Pakeha scientists are so boring. They're not all like that. But that's the experience that a lot of our people have had when they've been called to hui when they've been called to meetings, and they'll just be bored to death. Our people, whereas our own, we know how to talk to our own. And science communication is just as important as the science itself. If you've come up with this amazing discovery, but you don't know how to communicate it, no one's going to care, and then no one cares, then how is it going to get anywhere?
On the word that gives non-speakers the most trouble
RUTHA: For some reason it's the trickiest for most people: Kūwhewhewhewhe. You say kū, and then you say “feh-feh” twice. And basically this is what the old nannies in the [geothermal] baths would say when they get wrinkly fingers or wrinkly skin — more wrinkly than it already is, I guess. That one was added in more so as a fun one, because it's not just about science and the scientists. We actually want our people to be connecting into these these words as well. And we want our kids, especially, to have more of a connection to the sciences if we can, because they live here and they breathe it, and they bathe in it, and they cook in it every day. So that was a big driver for creating these words.
On the rise of te reo Māori
RUTHA: Since the late '80s or early '90s, our Māori immersion school generation is coming through, and they're carving new paths into different spaces that we haven't had before. It's only getting better. We have our own political issues here in Aotearoa and barriers that we need to break down. But I have a lot of hope for our people in our culture. I've had a lot of my mates that I grew up with, because I grew up in Australia and they would be like, “Oh, you know, it's so sad. The Māori language is like a dying language.” I absolutely disagree. The number of Māori speakers, as few as we are, are on the rise. You do walk around the shops and you do hear in the supermarket te reo Māori being spoken all the time. I was in the park yesterday with my nephews, and actually the majority of parents or people looking after their kids were speaking te reo Māori. So I do have a lot of hope that we're on a really good path, and that it's going to happen for the sciences, as our people begin to take lead in this space.
