Tangi Mei Moana - (Cry from the Ocean)
Dr Losa Moata'ane and her son Taiarahia Moata'ane-Mika wearing ta'ovala around their waists woven by her mother. Lālanga is the core of her framework (photo supplied).
Tangi mei Moana which literally translates to a cry from the ocean but the concept is to explain the urgency or desperation for help from the Pacific community. Science in the Pacific world is our everyday living however, science has been described as one of the hardest subject for our Pacific young people. This research project is designed to re-claim and re-explain our indigenous knowledge as part of our everyday activities. The processes or Lālanga or weaving will be outlined in this project to illustrate the science and cultural values of our Tongan fine mats. One of the outcome of this research is to elaborate on Lālanga as a Science research framework. The research will begin with talanoa with Tongan weavers and elders in the communities to share their understanding and perspective of what is science. The second part of the research is to experiment from planting the pandanus (kie) and to go through the whole process of making the fine-mats. The researcher envisages that going through the process of planting, harvesting leaves, boiling, bleaching, drying and then getting the strands ready for weaving is a very important part to describe science and culture. In addition, the weaving itself shows another important research aspect of bringing ideas and people together to find solutions to the identified problem. This will be part of explaining the Lālanga framework. The research also aim to produce a list of relevant translated narrative in the Tongan language. This will encourage a family friendly learning environment of science activities in our Pacific communities. This first part of the research, talanoa and focus groups will be held in Aotearoa, the second part field work will be carried out in Tonga. The final part of the weaving will be both here in Aotearoa and in Tonga.