Teu le va as indigenous relationality in contemporary museological praxis
This paper asks: what are frequently used indigenous relational concepts used by Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand? How do these concepts relate to the field of museology and the subfield of Pacific relational energy? What do conceptual frameworks of Indigenous relational understandings reveal about current museum practices and principles? The authors find that there are similarities and differences between the terms defining the kinds of relationality defined by the institutions and those created by Indigenous peoples. These similarities and differences can be explained in part by their epistemic inclusion or exclusion of the dynamics of relationality as these are enacted by Indigenous peoples in the context of their various vā outlined in the Teu Le Vā Relational Museum Framework (TLVRMF) presented here. How museum practitioners use these vā—in particular how they are used to guide policy—shapes the capacity of their institutions to firstly understand the value and need to teu le vā – to nurture spiritual energy in practices of respect, reciprocity, responsibility and accountability (Anae 2019). Finally, a conceptual framework of museological vā surfaces transformations in ways of knowing, as these move from spiritual energy to material expression, and also reveals the relative capacity of existing institutions to address these transformations through alternatively: a) disrupting and decolonising the mentalities shaping current museology praxis; b) shaping changes in existing museology strategies; c) and adjusting institutional policy and programming.
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