Taking taniwha seriously

Abstract Taniwha are powerful water creatures in te ao Māori (the world/worldview). sometimes affect public works Aotearoa New Zealand: for example, consultation between government agencies and tangata whenua people of the land) about proposed roading developments results route being moved to avoid dwelling place a taniwha. Mainstream media responses have tended be hostile or mocking, as you might expect, since on face it dominant western scientific worldview has no beings like However, 2020s, there appears an increased willingness engage with . In this spirit, paper proposes way non-Māori begin take taniwha more seriously, taking its starting point work Dan Hikuroa practical usefulness pūrākau (traditional narratives) encoding information natural hazards. The focus is narrow, but aspects strategy may generalisable both other bicultural multicultural contexts.