Nō ngā iwi o Ngāi Te Rangi, Kōtirana (Scotland), Wera (Wales) and Hāmene (Germany) ōku tīpuna. Ko Ngāi Tūkairangi, Tauranga Moana, ko raua Nan Argeantaich, Eilean Arainn ngā hapū. I whānau au ki Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), ā I auraki au ki Tauranga Moana te tūrangawaewae tō ōku tīpuna tāria te wā.
My ancestors are of the people of Ngāi Te Rangi, Scotland, Wales and Germany. Ngāi Tūkairangi (Tauranga Moana) and Nan Ageantaich (Isle of Arran) are my clans. I grew up in Auckland and eventually returned to the Tauranga Moana, the homelands of my Ngāi Te Rangi ancestors.
I am the Founding Director of the Alliance for Intergenerational Resilience https://www.intergenresil.com/ a collaboration between the not for profit, social innovation, university and government sectors in Indigenous and intercultural approaches to social-ecological well-being. I am also an Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies, Department of Geography and Environment, University of Western Ontario, https://indigenousstudies.uwo.ca/people/fulltime_faculty.html ; an Associate Fellow, Centre for Global Studies, https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/globalstudies/index.php University of Victoria Canada and an Associate Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
As an inter-disciplinary scholar-practitioner I am a community developer, researcher and social innovator and I find myself continually applying these roles to perhaps what has proven to be my most abiding interest and calling – Indigenous Resurgence and Social-ecological Resilience. I am interested in Indigenous and intercultural approaches or innovations that centre the resurgence of Indigenous lands and societies, and the revitalization of indigenous knowledge systems within settler-migrant communities who have become disconnected from their own indigenous cultural roots. Meaningful reconciliation can only be forged if this occurs at epistemological, relation, political and material levels that include and engage all forms of life.
I currently divide my time between London, Ontario, Kanata, the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudensosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron Peoples, and my own homeland – the lands and waterways of the Tauranga Moana, Aotearoa. My people, te iwi o Ngāi Te Rangi are one of three tribes whose tūrangawaewae (standing place / traditional lands) are of the Tauranga Moana – Ki uta, Ki tai – from the mountains to the sea. From 2003-2017 I mainly resided in Canada experiencing life on the prairies of Saskatchewan (city of Saskatoon); then the large culturally diverse urban centre of Toronto, Ontario; and finally keeping close company with the Salish Sea, whilst living in Victoria, Vancouver Island. Another significant part of my adulthood has been my journey with deafness. I am now starting to share my experiences of this more widely. To learn more about this please see my Hearing Journey page. To learn more about me, my areas of expertise and past roles, see my C.V. and also click “About Lewis” in the navigation bar.
The purpose of this website is to represent my professional practice and to share with others some of the material I have produced through action and reflection. It is a growing collection evolving through my experiences and inquiries with others. I hope you enjoy your time here.
Latest Books, Articles and Reviews of my Work
Reshaping colonial subjectivities through the language of the land (2019)
Transformative Sustainability Education and Empowerment Practice on Indigenous Lands: Part One (2018)
Climate change, colonialism and women’s well being in Canada’: What is to be done (2018)
The reindigenization of humanity to Mother Earth (2018)
A Global De-colonial Praxis of Sustainability (2017)