Kiribati Language Week shines light on identity and women's health

Kiribati Language Week has begun across Aotearoa New Zealand with communities celebrating their language but also the knowledge, identity and traditions it carries from one generation to the next.

Running from Sunday 5 July to Saturday 11 July, this year's theme is "Karina te ang, tauraoi nakon te mwioko ao kabura rikiara ni Kiribati" - "Strive diligently to fulfil our responsibilities and uphold our Kiribati identity."

Although Kiribati is about 4300 kilometres from New Zealand, the country's language and traditions remain strong in Aotearoa.

The 2023 Census recorded 4659 people of i-Kiribati ethnicity living in New Zealand, with just over half speaking the Kiribati language.

For Roi Burnett, an i-Kiribati doctoral researcher, the week is also an opportunity to show that language is about much more than words.

Burnett, who is studying Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, is researching how language shapes the way women in Kiribati understand menstruation and reproductive health.

Burnett, whose family connections are to Beru, Onotoa and i-Matang, says language sits at the heart of culture, identity and everyday life.

"Language is one of the ways we hold onto who we are. It carries our stories, our values and the ways we understand the world," she said in a feature published by Auckland University.

Her research explores how the words people use around menstruation can influence women's health practices and experiences.

Doctoral researcher Roi Burnett, right, and her mother, Takeua, are working together on research exploring how I-Kiribati language and cultural knowledge shape women's reproductive health and wellbeing in Kiribati. Photo/University of Auckland/Supplied

"I'm really interested in the way how we talk about menstruation influences menstrual health practice."

Burnett says her work also challenges the idea that culture is a barrier to better health.

Rather than viewing culture as a barrier, her research seeks to understand the nuanced ways cultural knowledge, language and social practice shape women's experiences.

A unique part of the project is that Burnett is carrying out the research alongside her mother, Takeua.

Watch celebrations to mark the opening of Kiribati Language Week in Aotearoa below.

In Kiribati, it can be culturally inappropriate for a younger, unmarried woman to ask older women directly about sensitive reproductive health topics.

By working together, mother and daughter can have conversations that respect cultural protocols while helping preserve important knowledge.

"I told her, 'Mum, you're a researcher now,'" Burnett said. "She never sees herself as being someone that has a lot of knowledge or expertise. And I'm like, 'No mum, you do.' That knowledge, that skill, that is research."

The research will also be carried out in partnership with Kiribati organisation Nei Mom Uprising, which supports women, teenage mothers and reproductive health programmes across the country.

Watch opening ceremony for the Otan Kiribati Community in Hawke's Bay below.

Beyond the research, Kiribati Language Week will feature community celebrations, language workshops, storytelling, cultural performances and traditional dance across Aotearoa.

Kiribati Language Week will feature community celebrations, language workshops, storytelling, cultural performances and traditional dance across Aotearoa, with organisers hoping the week inspires younger generations to keep speaking the language.

Burnett says protecting the language also means protecting the knowledge, values and stories that define the i-Kiribati people.

For more information on Kiribati Language Week 2026, click here.

Members of the i-Kiribati community in Hawke's Bay celebrate the opening and flagraising ceremony on Sunday. Photo/Facebook/Teala Maheu