Te Heke o Kaiamio: Kāi Tahu Wāhine and Gender Diverse Stories of Navigating Gender, Sexuality, and Identity

As we navigate manako of Kāi Tahu futures, stories of diversity in gender and sexuality are imperative to an inclusive iwi identity. This project seeks to answer three questions in revealing how we become ourselves as wāhine and gender diverse Kāi Tahu, and how this can support the identities of our mokopuna. This is embodied in the three research questions: • Question tuatahi: as wāhine and gender diverse Kāi Tahu, where does our identity come from and how do we learn it? • Question tuarua: what tensions and pressure do we, as wāhine and gender diverse Kāi Tahu, face around identity? • Question tuatoru: how do we, as wāhine and gender diverse Kāi Tahu, embody our layered identities and vision our futures? The undertaking of this project is grounded fundamentally in an iwi and community specific Indigenous research paradigm of Kāi Tahutaka, and draws on a range of Indigenous methodological threads including pūrākau, mahi toi, Kaupapa Māori, Mana Wāhine, and resurgence. This scaffolds a mahi toi—arts-based—research methodology. Through creative expression and collective conversation this project articulates our individual stories before weaving them together into a mōkihi—a traditional Kāi Tahu vessel. From the reflections shared, we learn that our identities grow and are nurtured in relationship; to whakapapa, to whānau and kāika, to hapori, to media and representations, and to whenua. Reflecting on these spheres of relational identity formation, we encounter pressures to be in a certain way, and challenges in embodying multiple and layered identities. Collectively we articulate a shared vision for our mokopuna: to grow up connected to their Kāi Tahu identities; to have space to be both Kāi Tahu and queer; to always feel ‘enough’; and, to be wrapped in support to be in our diversity. This project is a labour of love, to reveal and share wāhine and gender diverse stories of becoming ourselves, and to articulate a manako to work towards.