A primary task for refugee families and children who are resettling in a new country is to develop a sense of belonging in that place, time and context. This article theorises the pōwhiri, the traditional Māori ceremony of welcome or ritual of encounter, as a metaphor for refugee families and children coming to belong in Aotearoa New Zealand. The theory-building is derived from observation of pōwhiri at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, where refugees live on their first arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand; pedagogical documentation from the Early Childhood Centre at the Auckland University of Technology Centre for Refugee Education; collaborative discussions with the co-researcher, Ruth Ham, who is the kaiako (‘head teacher’) at the Early Childhood Centre; and recordings of discussions with interpreters. The next phase in this research will be to trial and evaluate this theory and strategies of belonging in three different early childhood centres, two of which include refugee families, and the third, immigrant families.

在新国家定居的难民家庭和儿童的首要任务是在那个地方，时间和背景下建立归属感。本文对传统的毛利人欢迎仪式或遭遇仪式的仪式pōwhiri进行了理论化，以此来隐喻来到新西兰奥特罗阿（Aotearoa）的难民家庭和儿童的身份。该理论的建立是根据在曼格雷难民安置中心对pōwhiri的观察得出的，那里是难民首次抵达新西兰奥特阿罗亚时居住的地方；奥克兰理工大学难民教育中心的幼儿中心的教学资料；与kaiako共同研究人员Ruth Ham的合作讨论（幼儿中心）（“校长”）；以及与口译员的讨论记录。这项研究的下一个阶段将是在三个不同的幼儿中心试验和评估这种归属感的理论和策略，其中两个包括难民家庭，第三个是移民家庭。