Dr Khyla Russell
"For Maori, landscape is us – we are of it, not just something that sits on it."
As Otago Polytechnic Kaitohutohu, Russell oversees the embedding of the Treaty of Waitangi across the Polytechnic, including the incorporation of its Memorandum of Understanding with the Ara-i-Te-uru Papatipu Runaka into day-to-day operations. In addition, she advises researchers on Maori research within the Polytechnic and also plays a research and consultancy role herself outside of the organisation. Russell came to academia relatively late in life, realising that she missed "the piece of paper" when it came to recognising her years of teaching te reo and tikaka. Her fi rst degree was a Bachelor of Arts, studied extramurally through Massey University. It was followed soon after by a postgraduate diploma and then a PhD from the University of Otago.
Her research is based on reclaiming the true Maori meaning of words, which have been redefi ned by others over previous decades. "Nearly everything we read about ourselves was written by someone else and it got redefi ned. In doing so – deliberately or inadvertently – their versions removed intended meanings of our words. A striking moment came when my granddaughter, Takiwai, went to kindy and pointed out a ti kouka, only to be told ‘No it wasn't, it was a cabbage tree'."
That incident decided Russell on her PhD topic – Landscape; Perspectives of Kai Tahu, I mua, Aianei, A muri Ake – articulating her understanding of indigenous epistemology. "I take a term that others have made theirs, and make it ours again. One example of that is ‘landscape'. The interviewees in Britain held England's traditional defi nition of landscape's artistic representations. For Maori, landscape is us – we are of it, not just something that sits on it."