Ep 238: On Māori Mother Wisdom (The 'Old Knowings' Episode)

Welcome #fofcpod fam! We’re getting into our second exploration on the Māori series co-produced with the incredible Ieishah Clelland-Lang. This 4-part series centers Māori unschooling mothers’ knowledge and narratives, to invite us to deepen our understandings of the layers within motherhood, childhood, community, and culture. Join us and listen to Ieishah’s conversations with Angella Smith and Tina Talaić, plus a a bit more from Akilah.

If you're feeling these episodes, don’t miss our Feel Trip about this Māori series! On Friday, December 3rd at 4pm EST, Ieishah and Akilah will join the other members of Fare of the Free Child Village to talk, to ask, and to listen, with this series in mind and in heart. It's free and it's part of the My Reflection Matters Community vibe, so put that in your calendar, bruh! Here's the direct link again (it'll prompt you to join My Reflection Matters for free).

As a reminder, last week, Moana Reihana and Mea Rapata shared some unschooling mothers’ wisdom and invitations; go and listen, in case you haven’t: Episode 237: On Māori Mother Wisdom (The Language Episode).

Notes from this week...

Children will show you the way.

Angella grew up in a dichotomous environment, on one side she was sharing Te Reo Māori (Māori language) as a living language at home in her Marae with her family, and on the other, her student life going to a convent school where Christianity was King. She speaks about her transition into unschooling and why she decided to go through that path when she gave birth to her children. Angella also talks about the importance of listening as a point of connection, to surrender and listen to our intuition. She explains that our intuition remembers, and that children already have their inner knowings and that these are important, innate qualities.

White privilege - what we were conditioned to be.

Angella and Ieishah speak about racism, colonialism, and white privilege. Angella explains that white privilege was something she couldn’t understand as a child, her people were conditioned to be compliant and very subservient. Then, as she grew up, she gathered some understanding and was able to make a rediscovery and question for herself what Māori is, what’s hers and what’s not, what has been taken away, and what can be transformed to thrive and survive. This level of madd question-askin is part of what continues to support what the people in her circle have been building as a community. As they build, they create their own definitions of success, and for Angella, part of that succession lives in the way new generations get to grow up to be free people.

Unschooling Camp Reflections.

Tina a