Professor Jerry Coyne: More scientific mishigass based on indigenous “ways of knowing” in New Zealand

The government of New Zealand continues to throw away money by funding ludicrous projects involved indigenous “ways of knowing” (in this case Mātauranga Māori, or “MM”).

One government initiative, while admitting that MM differs in some ways from modern science, not only maintains that MM remains a “knowledge base”, but insists that the practice must remain under Māori control. Science, however, is not under the control of any ethnic group, so this is an attempt to not only sacralize indigenous knowledge, but to prevent others from investigating its claims:

Mātauranga Māori is a knowledge base in its own right. It is Māori knowledge, including values and culture. It is different from modern science. Mātauranga Māori belongs to iwi and should remain under Māori control. Mātauranga Maori is taonga (a treasure) and as such should be protected.

Here’s an example of money thrown down the drain to the end given above. It was, as always, sent to me by a NZ scientist who wishes to remain anonymous, for even sending me stuff like this could endanger someone’s job. Click on the site to see one of the projects underwritten by Kiwi taxpayers:



One of the projects involves trying to stem the death of kauri trees (Agathis australis), the iconic tree of New Zealand. Kauri deforestation, due to logging by Europeans and also burning buy Māori, is now exacerbated by “Kauri dieback,” the death of trees after infection by a funguslike organism. This has resulted in the closure of forests (the infection may be spread by humans carrying soil on their feet), but so far nothing has really been effective in curing the disease or stopping its spread.

But a new government-funded project based on Māori traditions involves trying to stop the disease by, yes, playing whale songs to the trees and dousing them with whale oil. Here’s an excerpt from the project description at the link above (bolding is mine):
“Led by the Pawarenga community, Dr. Valance Smith and his team collaborated with kaitiaki and leaders from Pawarenga to delve into the realm of ‘ihirangaranga’—vibrations and frequencies—as healing sounds, to construct a sonic tapestry of rejuvenation and well-being.

Nestled amidst the Te Auwarawara forest, the soundscape is a layered composition, intricately woven with sonic samples of healthy kauri within its untouched habitat, the whale song of its cetacean kin the tohora, inlayed with the healing sounds of taonga puoro, takutaku, and karakia, representing profound layers of ancient wisdom and knowledge, deeply ingrained in the very fabric of the soundscape.”

In addition, the soundscape of ailing kauri trees has been captured and examined to gather vital baseline data, enabling continuous monitoring and tracking of their healing progress.

This project was supported by an array of mātauranga Māori tools, including pūrākau (oral narratives), maramataka (lunar calendar), and ngā kaupeka (phases of summer and winter) unique to the Pawarenga region. These invaluable resources serve as both treatment modalities and management tools, empowering the community to foster the well-being and vitality of their kauri.

Do I need to add anything to that save to say that there is no underlying “wisdom” or scientific data suggesting that sounds played to ailing trees could cure them, much less the sounds of whale songs. And yes, the project was funded by the National Science Challenges, a government initiative.

Here’s a video of the project with these YouTube notes:

Oranga is a suite of kaupapa Māori projects that aim to restore the collective health of trees, forests and people. The team will do this by connecting to, and resourcing, Māori communities and their environmental knowledge holders to explore solutions embedded in mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).

Click ‘play’ to view what they’ve been up to in the first three years of the programme.

This programme is funded by Ngā Rākau Taketake, which is administered by New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge | Ngā Koiora Tuku Iho.

Note that the video begins with the statement that there are “forms of knowledge” other than science, and that indigenous knowledge gets no respect because the “colonization process” has “tried to remove our knowledge” and outlawed it. In my view, this is pure, ludicrous science-dissing.

The whale nonsense begins at about 2:50 with the claim that “the whale once traversed the face of the earth” (yes, on land, too!) and that there is a “sibling relationship” between whales and kauri trees.

This is what happens when “traditional wisdom” is used instead of modern science (which, by the way, discovered the organism causing the tree infection).

Well, who knows—the tattooed Måori man might be right: whale oil and whale bone might cure the trees, as he claimed it has. But I’m not betting on it. How about a double-blind control test rather than legends and anecdotes?



Professor Jerry Coyne is an American biologist known for his work on speciation and his commentary on intelligent design, a prolific scientist and author. This article was first published HERE