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Item Mental health conceptualisations and perspectives on mental health services of Black Sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees in Aotearoa New Zealand : a doctoral thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu Campus, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025-08-22) Musakwa, MichelleThe number of African migrants and refugees is increasing in Aotearoa-New Zealand (A-NZ). However, there is still limited understanding regarding the mental health experiences of Black Sub-Saharan Africans. Without adequate knowledge of the experiences of this population, it is difficult for mental health professionals to provide culturally appropriate services. As such, it is prudent to develop an understanding of the way this population conceptualises, experiences, and manages mental health and mental distress. This study explores how Black Sub-Saharan Africans in A-NZ conceptualise and manage mental health and their perspectives on mental health services in A-NZ. A qualitative approach was employed, with data collected through nine semi-structured individual interviews and two focus groups (each with four Black Sub-Saharan African women). Individual interview data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, highlighting the role of identity in mental health conceptualisation and the intergenerational and gender differences that exist. Focus group data were analysed through Reflexive Thematic Analysis and key themes identified included barriers to accessing services and participants’ preferences regarding mental health services. Overall, this study found that culture and identity play a critical role in how Black Sub-Saharan Africans perceive mental health. These factors also influence people's experiences with mental health services. Understanding the cultural nuances of Black Sub-Saharans in A-NZ can help mental health clinicians develop an ethos of engagement that promotes better quality of care.Item 'Just a life' : a feminist posthuman reading, thinking and hearing practice with displaced women’s struggles and transformation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Kramnaimuang King, DolruedeeThe lived stories of displaced English-language schoolmate peers inspired me to read and interrogate the literature on trauma, particularly in relation to trauma-informed mental health disorders and interventions. Through a critical, posthumanist feminist approach, I explored how the process of knowledge production in relation to social power relations and responsibility is conceptualised. I found that the current ontological-epistemological process reflects a dominant, dualistic, Eurocentric approach with universal pretensions that circumscribes the meaningful figuration of subject, trauma and transformation. This problem of framing prompted my initial research question: What women’s struggle and transformation assemblages might exist in relation to women’s situated-embodied-embedded experiences and contexts? I conversed with five displaced women, also sharing photos and recollections. A posthuman relational ethics was enacted including a reflexive hearing practice to advance understandings of subject, trauma, and transformation. This practice, including Braidotti’s (2010) ‘by heart and by memory’, and continued engagement with literature and theory, evolved throughout the research process, shifting my research question to: How do displaced women experience and transform their situated struggles through both relational disruptions and capacities and what relational contexts are involved? In effect, I was enabled to hear displaced women’s stories differently, as we made meaning together. Hearing their stories encouraged me to shift away from normative-stereotypical understanding towards multiple-dynamic ways of knowing through the process of becoming. Through our discussion and my analysis, we co-created knowledge that shifted us from ‘assumed’ trauma associated with victimised subjects to engagement with the Deleuzian (1997) concept of ‘just a life’. The displaced women affirmed that they were positioned as less than human at times throughout their journeys, within the complexities of their multi constituent lived experiences associated with gender, history, religion, culture, context, their categorisation and subsequent treatment as ‘refugees’. Their gifted stories challenged the normalisation of trauma discourse and suggested that as subjects, they were multiple, relational and embraced change through more than human, interdependent relations, involving everyday negotiation and resistance. Their ongoing lived stories and experiences present different ontologies, knowledges and practices which substantively, ethically and politically confront and potentially help address imbalance in social power and justice.Item Education as a ‘group project’ : exploring Filipina migrant university students’ stories of ‘achievement’ : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Getalado, Kristine Joyce GorembalemMigrating for the sake of the family—its survival, its betterment, its future—is a prevalent narrative among most Filipinos scattered around the world. Yet the stories of ‘the family’, particularly those of Filipino migrant students, whose parents have invested and sowed their hopes, dreams, and aspirations, remain a narrative that is not well understood. The purpose of my research was to share the stories of Filipina (female Filipino) migrant university students, such that through the lens of their everyday realities and experiences, they could speak about the significance and nuances of their achievements. Guided by a theoretical framework that combines elements of social constructionism, narrative approach, and Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino psychology), I traced the meaningful threads within the photovoice kuwentuhan (storytelling or informal conversations) I had with six Filipina migrant university students in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Particular consideration was placed on how indigenous Filipino cultural beliefs and values saliently textured the women’s stories of achievement. What this thesis captures are the ways in which women’s education, achievement goals, cultural identity, and the notion of self as Filipina migrant university students are deeply intertwined, rich in complexity, and filled with layers of meaning. In particular, this research explores the complex key themes of education as a group project, utang na loob (debt of the inner self) and katatagang loob (inner strength and resilience). Weaving all these together enables previously unexplored opportunities for understanding the interconnected and interdependent nature of being a Filipino student. This research brings to life the educational journeys and overall wellbeing of migrant students, allowing readers and the whole collective kapwa to find pride, confidence, respect, and resilience as they see themselves reflected in these stories.Item Navigating precarity : Korean migrants’ experiences and resilience within formal and informal systems in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025) Shin, Eun-HyeMigration has occurred throughout human history for a range of reasons. Today, various cultures and persons continue to come into closer proximity with one another through their migratory journeys; and the resulting complexities of resettlement warrant further investigation. This thesis explores the lived experiences of precariat Korean migrants in Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing on how participants navigate formal (government) and informal (community) support systems to obtain necessities of life. Drawing insights from Narrative Psychology, I investigate how Korean migrants story cultural values and systemic barriers that inform their strategies for addressing the socioeconomic adversities they face as members of the emergent precariat class. This study documents the experiences of three cases from Korean migrant women who were engaged through four waves of semi-structured enhanced interviews (n=12) using drawing and photo-elicitation exercises. Key findings reveal that barriers related to government policies and systems, such as visa restrictions, precarious employment, and limited access to welfare services can exacerbate settlement challenges. Although the extent of participant engagements with Korean community support systems varied, all articulated these cultural support systems as a key source of resources for their obtaining necessities of successful resettlement. This study contributes to knowledge regarding the nuances of migrant precarity by documenting how households obtained employment, housing, food and emotional support through the re-articulation of core Confucian and Christian cultural principles, 관계 (gwangye; 關係 guanxi; relationship or connections); 인 (in; 仁 ren; benevolence); 체면 (chemyeon; 臉 lian; face); 예 (ye; 禮 li; ritual propriety); 효 (hyo; 孝 xiao; filial piety); 충 (chung; 忠 zhong; allegiance); 정 (jeong; affection and attachment); 양심 (yangshim; moral conscience) and 자비심 (jabishim; merciful heart). The informal system formed within the Korean community emerged as a source for material, psychological, spiritual and cultural buffers against precarity, underscoring the significance of re-articulations of Korean cultural values and relational practices of mutual support in diaspora. Cumulatively, insights generated from research such as this can inform future research and policy developments to enhance support for Korean and other migrant communities navigating precarity in Aotearoa New Zealand.Item Sharing an Aotearoa-Indian perspective through digital-rangoli, experimental cultural experiences in contemporary New Zealand public : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2024) Topiwala, Amul / AbhiThe migration of my family from India to Aotearoa brought a range of traditional values and practices with them including the art of rangoli. The aim of this research is to use motion design as a public intervention within a threshold to reveal interstices for future generations facing kōrero. A threshold, which is a liminal space activated to reveal ‘digital rangoli’ — experimental animation that can explore ideas of whakapapa and tūrangawaewae as an Aotearoa-Indian. The results of this practice often represent acceptance, reflection, and a perspective that can illuminate new pathways into our future. This process has allowed me to understand and unpack many presumptions that are often made of Indians in Aotearoa New Zealand. With autoethnography as my method, I collect knowledge through audio and written reflection, journaling, sketching, motion experiments, and photography. In this research I piece together these findings in such a way that discusses the progress of my digital rangoli experiment in relation to significant moments of my life that elapsed during my postgraduate studies. Identity is something that we all grapple with at our own capacities. This project seeks to offer third culture kids of various backgrounds alternative ways of viewing their own whakapapa through the application of art and design.Item 'But we're just the same humans as you' : refugees negotiating exclusions, belonging and language in Sweden and New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2025-01-28) Svensson, Hanna Lena KatrinRefugee settlement is a complex process requiring the navigation of new linguistic and social spaces and the renegotiation of belonging and identity. The process can also be complicated by the contested nature of national belonging and the politicisation of social cohesion, as well as by forms of everyday exclusion. Drawing on a Bakhtinian dialogical framework, this study used qualitative data from interviews with language teachers, settlement support workers and refugee-background residents in New Zealand and Sweden to investigate dimensions of belonging, social cohesion, and language in relation to refugee settlement. The study sought to discover how belonging and social cohesion are perceived and experienced by refugee-background residents in these contexts, how they are promoted by the two settlement nations, and how they are operationalised in political and public discourse to enforce boundaries and construct national and refugee identities. Of particular interest was the intersection of public discourse and lived experience, and the tensions and contestations that may arise in these spaces. Language learning and use were seen as crucial aspects of belonging and social cohesion and were investigated both in terms of linguistic inequalities in the settlement location and in terms of the unique language learning journeys of adult learners. The findings suggest that there are significant gaps in the understanding of refugee experiences among policy makers and that discursive representations of refugees, particularly in terms of social cohesion and belonging, often impact negatively on the settlement process. The politicisation of belonging and the appropriation of social cohesion discourses as tools for differentiation, and potentially exclusion, can have negative impacts on individuals’ rights and settlement prospects while reductive representations of refugees lead to unrealistic expectations in terms of language acquisition and labour market participation and to restrictive policies that hinder the settlement process. The thesis concludes by arguing that in order to strengthen social cohesion and belonging, it is imperative that refugees are included as dialogical partners, practically and ideologically. It identifies theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the research and raises further questions in relation to gender, language acquisition, incentivisation and dialogical practice in the context of refugee settlement.Item Exploring the experiences of young Afghan men living in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand(Massey University, 2024) Saleh, AbrarullahPeople of Afghanistan for many decades travelled to a neighboring country for safety before seeking refuge in other nations with ambitions for a promising future for themselves and their families who have faced famine and tribulations of war. Many have resettled in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, very little is known about young people and their experiences in the Afghan diaspora particularly young men. This research project is an in-depth exploration of the experiences of six young Afghan men living in Aotearoa New Zealand. The narratives and timelines of events shared by these young Afghan men highlight the adversities they experienced alongside their strengths and resilience. The interviews were conducted as research conversations enabling a dialogue between myself and the six participants and this format was driven by the principle of halaqah. The combined theoretical framework for this research was informed by narrative inquiry and Islamic principles of halaqah. I identified several themes related to the experiences of these young Afghan men. Firstly, collective trauma was prominent amongst all participants and had a domino effect on their everyday practice of life. Trauma was also shared by participants and their families, often unconsciously. The various complex negotiations that participants discussed included the parenting and protection they received, issues of masculinity and responsibility, as well as balancing their felt cultural identities as Afghans living in Aotearoa New Zealand. Participants also highlighted experiences of transformation and rites of passage achieved through attending university as it became a platform for development of their independence and reconnection to their faith and culture and finding peace. This research shed light on a rarely discussed phenomenon – the enduring impact of, and the spillover of collective trauma for those living outside of Afghanistan, and how these young people learned to cope with these dynamics.Item Applying an Asiacentric communication model to explore the experiences of Indian skilled migrants in New Zealand workplaces : a thesis submitted to Massey University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business(Massey University, 2023) Selvaraj, GraceGlobalisation is the norm in the 21st century with global citizens moving around the world for a range of reasons such as work, education, and better opportunities. A significant change in demographics has meant that intercultural communication is no longer an option but has become a crucial component of interactions between people from different cultures. This change is not reflected in the communication frameworks that inform education, workplaces and policymakers which are predominantly US/Eurocentric frameworks. While this has been mentioned and acknowledged, real efforts to build alternate communication frameworks have been limited. In recent years Asiacentric communication research has developed due to the works for scholars such as Chen and Starosta 2003; Chen and Miike 2003; Chen 2006; Gunaratne 2008, Miike 2002, 2006, 2007, 2016, 2017, 2019; Miike & Yin 2022. This study aims to add to Asiacentric communication research by researching the experiences of Indian skilled migrants in New Zealand workplaces through the lens of an Asiacentric communication model, Sadharanikaran, an Indian model of communication. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect detailed accounts of participant experiences. Reflective Thematic Analysis was used along with the Sadharanikaran communication model for analysis of data. Themes regarding the barriers faced by Indian skilled migrants in New Zealand workplaces were identified from the data. The themes are maintaining harmony, indirect Indian ‘can’t say no’ and Indirect New Zealander ‘too polite’, quiet at first – voice, management intercultural communication competence, and racism. Analysis of skilled migrant experiences using the Sadharanikaran communication model allowed for the Asian communicator and Asian practices to be at the centre of inquiry. The findings aligned with the Asiacentric communication model, this shows that all the communication behaviours found although very different from US/Eurocentric communication was well within the scope of competent Asiacentric communication.Item Stories of love and becoming : women’s experiences of migration and everyday life in Aotearoa : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2023) Saldanha, BiancaColonialism, patriarchy and neoliberalism intersect with race and gender to produce partial configurations of ethnic migrant women as vulnerable and deficient, which research then attends to, thus reproducing and reinforcing that migrant women are lacking. However, within the spaces of everyday life, migrant women’s experiences, including my own, contested these dominant narratives. This represented a gap between research and practice, and raised questions about what could become known if we attended to the power relations that form the conditions of migrant women’s everyday lives. The aim of my research was to share migrant women’s stories, so that in and through their multiple and diverse locations, they could speak into the gap and tell about the meaning that difference makes in their everyday lives. To do difference differently, I conceptualised women’s stories as gifts, which required me to respond in responsible ways. Hearing responsibly enabled me to hear the sticky moments and relationships of difference present in women’s lives, and to reimagine experiences of migration and everyday life in ways that showed the vitalities and joys of difference. What is represented in this research is a rearticulation of the meaning(s) of difference(s) that I became enabled to hear through my conversations with eight ethnic migrant women. By hearing responsibly, women’s differences became reimagined as resistances, new narratives of diversity, stories of potentials and stories of affirming love. Through my analysis, possibilities are opened for understanding migrant women’s differences as expressed in their daily lives in celebratory and unbounded ways.Item Ethnic minority world travellers & arrogant perceptions : an Aotearoa New Zealand employment narrative : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Business Studies in Management at Massey University, Albany, Aotearoa New Zealand(Massey University, 2021) Joshi, DoreenCurrently, there remains a gap within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, whereby a single study has explored multiple ethnic minority group experiences, focusing specifically on the interaction of their ethnic identity with their employment experience and how these are shaped through their interactions with their dominant group counterparts. This narrative research aimed to fractionally address such a gap by creating an understanding of how tertiary qualified ethnic minority individuals experience the world of employment in Zealand. To contextualise understandings, the research also focused on constructing an understanding of how ethnic minority individuals establish their ethnic minority identity within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. Additionally, the significance of having a tertiary qualification for ethnic minority individuals was also explored. The current study was motivated by higher levels of workplace discrimination reported by ethnic minority groups and their high uptake of tertiary qualification. Ten participants were engaged in this narrative inquiry via semi-structured interviews. Maria Lugones’ theory of world travelling, particularly the notion of ‘arrogant perception,’ was utilised to mobilise subsequent understandings. The ethnic minority participants in this research experienced the world of employment as an object of their ‘dominant other’s arrogant perception. Such objectification was perpetrated by the participants’ ‘dominant other’ and often involved the separation of the participants’ ethnic minority lived experience from their ethnic minority body and the dismissal of the former. The ethnic minority lived experience of the participants was disregarded by their ‘dominant other,’ and as such, only their ethnic minority body was seen and taken into consideration. Subsequently, the ‘dominant other’ came to see the ethnic minority body of the participants as having a vacuum; hence they then filled it with constructions of how they perceived the ethnic minority person to be. For the participants, such acts of their ‘dominant other’ were typically experienced in two ways, the constant racialisation of their ethnic minority bodies and being constructed as a perpetual foreigner, despite their civic efforts. Both experiences were unwelcomed by the participants and often left their ethnic minority body falsely constructed and thus distorted. The invisible nature of interactions and its deep-seated connections to sociocultural and historical legacies, contributed to the complexity of meanings and navigations within this space. While the arrogant perceptions of the ‘dominant other’ went largely unchallenged. Participants in this research emerged as resilient and skilled ethnic minority world travellers through their narratives, who held out hope and fondness for Aotearoa New Zealand. Findings within such spaces could be particularly of interest to agencies monitoring equitable employment conditions and outcomes for ethnic minority communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. As well as agencies looking to inform workplace diversity and inclusiveness strategies.