Saturday Morning for Saturday 29 May 2021

This week’s show will be hosted by Julian Wilcox

8:10 Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson: how will the Samoan constitutional crisis end?

Samoa found itself in a constitutional crisis this week when the caretaker HRPP government locked the doors to parliament in an attempt to stop prime minister-elect Fiame Naomi Mata'afa being sworn in to office following her FAST party’s one-seat election win.

The island nation now finds itself in the position of having two governments claiming a mandate to rule, and the UN is urging the party leaders to find a solution through discussion.

Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson is the editor of Pacific Environment Weekly and has been covering events surrounding Samoa’s election.

8:30 Ben Fenton: why fair is fair

The concept of fairness is something most of us are taught about as children, but in reality our brains are already hardwired for it.

In his new book To Be Fair, former Financial Times journalist Ben Fenton explores the ideas of fairness, how it's part of our genetic make-up, and how we need it now more than ever.

In To Be Fair, Fenton advocates for the need to put fairness at the centre of public life and policy. He says the most unfair event to happen in our lifetimes is that the people who caused the global financial crisis of 2007-08 got away scot-free, while others were left to pick up the pieces.

Fenton says through writing the book he also learned New Zealand is the country that spends most time thinking about fairness.

9:05 Mayye Zayed: a peek into Egypt's female weight-lifting scene

Egyptian director Mayye Zayed spent four years immersed in the world of Alexandria's competitive female weight-lifting scene for her new documentary, Lift Like A Girl.

The film follows Zebiba (which means 'raisin' in Arabic), who started training at age nine, with the dream of following in the footsteps of world weightlifting champion Nahla Ramadan. In an effort to reach her goal, she joins the gym run by Nahla's legendary father, Captain Ramadan.

Lift Like A Girl is screening online in New Zealand from 4 June until 11 July as part of the DocEdge Festival. See the full DocEdge programme here.

 

9:30 Emily Karaka: Rāhui and the art of resistance

Emily Karaka's colourful post-modern expressionist paintings explore personal, political, and environmental issues, with an emphasis on the importance of mātauranga Māori.

One of Aotearoa's most respected artists, she spent the start of 2021 as the McCahon House Artist in Residence, living and working at French Bay where she witnessed the devastation kauri dieback is causing.

The works produced during that time can be seen at her exhibition Rāhui, on until 5 June at Visions Gallery in Auckland.

She has also been actively involved in Māori Land Rights and Treaty Claims issues negotiation, including at Ihumātao.

 

10:05 Rereata Makiha: teaching indigenous knowledge in schools

Matua Rereata Makiha (Ngāti Whakaheke, Te Aupōuri, Te Arawa) is a renowned Māori astrologer and a leading authority on the maramataka -  the Māori lunar calendar.

Makiha joins the show to discuss why indigenous knowledge - mātauranga Māori - is now needed in schools more than ever for our tamariki/mokopuna Māori, and how this can be done.

He was the keynote speaker at a waka symposium Te Hau Komaru recently held in Tauranga. He is also a member of the Matariki Expert Advisory Board, advising on the new Matariki Public Holiday in 2022.

10:30 Rachel Huckfeldt: DNA editing to help fix blindness

A historic trial is underway in the United States to help restore vision to blind patients by editing their DNA while it is in their bodies.

CRISPR gene-editing technology has been revolutionising scientific research by allowing doctors to rewrite genetic code to try and help people with conditions such as sickle cell anemia and certain types of cancer. But this is the first time the technology has been used directly inside a patient, and there has already been success in people with inherited retinal diseases.

The trial is being co-led by Massachusetts Eye and Ear, a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital in Boston, where Dr Rachel Huckfeldt is an Associate Surgeon and the Director of the Inherited Retinal Degenerations Fellowship.

11:05 Suzanne Simard: the wisdom and intelligence of the forest

Suzanne Simard started her career in the forestry industry at a young age, just when clear cutting for profit was getting popular in Canada. But her attention was quickly turned to what was going wrong in the forest to cause death and a proliferation of disease among Douglas firs.

Now a world-leading forest ecologist and professor at the University of British Columbia, Dr Simard says her life, her relationships - and even her health - has been deeply intertwined with her research over the years.

Her debut book Finding The Mother Tree explores the intimate world of the trees and how they are bound together, and what we can learn from that.

11:40 Tayi Tibble releases new poetry book Rangikura

Tayi Tibble's first poetry collection Poukahangatus earned her the prize for best first book of Poetry at the 2019 Ockham awards.

Now she has returned with Rangikura - in which she continues to display her talent as a young poet writing about urban Māori life.  

Tibble (Ngāti Porou/Te Whānau ā Apanui) has completed a Masters in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, and has penned pieces for Pantograph Punch, The Spinoff, and The Wireless.

Books mentioned in this show:

To Be Fair: The Ultimate Guide to Fairness in the 21st Century
By Ben Fenton
ISBN: 9781912914241
Published by Mensch Publishing

Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest
By Suzanne Simard
ISBN: 9780241389355
Published by Allen Lane

Rangikura
By Tayi Tibble
ISBN: 9781776564248
Published by VUP