معرفی
Dr Johnson Witehira (Tamahaki, Ngāi Tū-te-auru, Ngāti Hinekura) serves as Professor and Head of the School of Music and Screen Arts at Massey University, where he integrates Mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge) with contemporary creative technologies to decolonize design and digital media.
Education:
- Doctor of Philosophy (Creative Arts), Massey University, 2014
His research spans Indigenous food sovereignty, kaitiakitanga (guardianship), and Māori typography, challenging colonial paradigms through visual arts, game development, and storytelling. Key projects include multimedia public artworks and exhibitions exploring Māori identity and knowledge transmission.
Publication trends reveal increasing focus on applied Indigenous knowledge: food systems ("Pātaka Kai", 2025) and typography ("Mana Mātātuhi", 2026) demonstrate practical pathways for cultural sustainability in ecological and digital realms, moving beyond theoretical frameworks to community-centered solutions.
Scientific Awards:
- No specific awards mentioned
Witehira co-leads the Marsden Fund project "Storying Kaitiakitanga" examining Māori agrifood practices. As Head of School, he supervises doctoral students in Indigenous design education though individual advisees aren't listed, and collaborates internationally with curators like Julie Nagam.
Exhibition projects including "Knowledge Flows" (2022) and "Ngā Tamariki a Tangaroa" (2018) involve cross-institutional teams with galleries and Indigenous communities, though no permanent research lab is specified.
