Aotearoa, New-Zealand (2020-2025)

Conducting ethnobotanical research in Aotearoa

Molly has been doing ethnobotanical research in New Zealand for almost 5 years. She has been diving deeper into how Kaitiakitanga affects Māori’s relationship to plants in the Waikato region of Aotearoa. This work has been aimed to promote the symbiosis of ethnobotanical and indigenous knowledge, changes in modern legislation and shift modern perspectives of human-nature relationships. Through participant observation and plant identification, the emic research has discovered that Māori people are quite anthropogenically influenced, believing connections with spirits, plants and the earth relate to the importance of passing down their own cultural heritage.