Waka, Whanaungatanga and Water Safety: Using Indigenous Knowledge to Educate Future Aquatic Educators about Maori Water Safety in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Waka (ancestral canoes) and water are central to Maori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, New Zealand, yet M & amacr;ori have disproportionately high rates of drowning. New research has begun to examine M & amacr;ori and Indigenous understandings of water safety; however, Indigenous approaches to water safety continue to be an underdeveloped area, particularly in a sport for development (SFD) context. In this study, we demonstrate how waka as an "Indigenous -plus" approach to SFD can provide important insights for a field in which Indigenous views are often absent or marginalized. Underpinned by a kaupapa M & amacr;ori approach (generally, but not exclusively, research by M & amacr;ori, for M & amacr;ori, with M & amacr;ori), we surveyed 74 future aquatic educators of primarily P & amacr;keh & amacr; descent (New Zealand European) who participated in a M & amacr;ori water safety w & amacr;nanga (cultural space of learning) led by Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki Waka Club, an Indigenous canoe club based in New Zealand's South Island. Through our thematic analysis, we found that the participants identified the role of waka as fundamental to learning Indigenous M & amacr;ori water safety in an Aotearoa, New Zealand context. In this paper, we argue that waka provides a vehicle for educating our future aquatic educators about M & amacr;ori water safety, which will support more meaningful drowning prevention for all New Zealanders.