Connections

Sharing, Strengthening Connections and Continuing Ceremony

Through our work together, the Bawaka Collective has made wonderful connections with groups and individuals, both near and far. In June 2019, we gathered together with Indigenous knowledge-holders, Elders and scholars from across Australia, Turtle Island/North America, Malaysian Borneo and Aotearoa/New Zealand, and some of their non-Indigenous collaborators. Building on existing and emerging relationships, our gathering involved sharing and deepening connections, from our different places, with more-than-human kin, each other and ourselves. At this gathering the Connections Network of gathering participants was founded. Our group was generously hosted by Kirikiriroa Marae, who guided our engagement in land-based learning, connecting to place and acknowledging Māori as tangata whenua, the people of the land upon which we met.

As a way to continue to nourish these relationships, this section of our website is dedicated to honouring the time we spent together in June 2019 and our ongoing relationships as a network. Here we share, with permission, some of the stories, songs and knowledges offered by the diverse people and places that constitute this group.