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    Ngā kaipara Māori : ngā pūmahara o te tuakiri Māori me te ao hākinakina = Māori athletes : perceptions of Māori identity and elite sport participation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Management, Massey Business School, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Erueti, Bevan
    This research explores how Maori athletes experience, interpret and negotiate their Maori identity while competing in elite sport. Since its arrival, organised sport has become an integral social phenomenon in Aotearoa New Zealand society for Maori and Pakeha. This increased appeal of sport has provided Maori an avenue in which to escape deep-rooted colonial ideologies that described Maori in deficit ways. As such, the number of Maori participating in elite sport is proportional to the Maori population as a whole. Although the field of sport is a vibrant area of scholarly inquiry in Aotearoa New Zealand, Maori athlete participation in elite sport with respect to Maori identity remains relatively unexplored. This research responds to that void by discussing the experiences of 10 Maori athletes who illustrate that a variety of challenges and implications exist when Maori identity is examined within the context of elite sport. A kaupapa Maori qualitative strategy in the form of oral histories and storytelling referred to as purakau was used. Participants were selected based on two criteria: a) they either currently, or had in the past, represented Aotearoa New Zealand in their chosen sport or similarly achieved professional status as an athlete; and b) self-identified as Maori, through personal communication with the researcher. Five male and five female Maori athletes aged between 19 and 48 years were interviewed. Four participants had retired, seven had participated in team sports, and seven had represented Aotearoa New Zealand at either the Olympic or Commonwealth games. There were several key findings. The first is that all Maori athletes express a direct association of their Maori identity through turangawaewae and/or whakapapa, yet some exemplified an acute self-awareness that they exhibit few specific Maori cultural behaviours associated with it. As a part of this, nearly all discuss that te reo Maori remains a critical Maori cultural element that influences how they perceive their Maori identity. Second, participants highlight the impact of matauranga Maori (Maori knowledge and cultural practices), that when integrated during competition at world events, such as the Olympic/Commonwealth games provided a sense of solace and pride with respect to their Maori identity and invoked feelings of membership, belonging and national identity that in this research is referred to as kaupapa whanau. Third, participants revealed how participating in iwi and Maori sporting events, engaging with the public via television and the media, the role of their athlete-coach relationships and social responsibility influence their perceptions of Maori identity. Several participants also shared private traditional rituals and cultural practices they employ while competing in elite sport, and how these practices assist in creating meaning of their Maori identity. A metaphorical depiction referred to as Te Whariki Tuakiri-the identity mat, is presented to illustrate the convergence of these themes and to better understand the diversity of Maori identity that exists for Maori athletes.
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    Matua te reo, matua te tangata : speaker community : visions, approaches, outcomes : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Hond, Ruakere
    It is a well-documented fact that, globally, the number of languages spoken is diminishing. Māori is a threatened language. While much effort has gone into language revitalisation efforts to reverse language shift for Māori, in the past few decades it has focused on state as opposed to community mechanisms and community capacity has reduced. This is at odds with international evidence of the critical nature of intergenerational language transmission, a community-based strategy, in the achievement of language vitality. This research is about Māori language revitalisation and investigates how it facilitates intergenerationally sustainable health outcomes. It explores three main areas: the characteristics of Māori language revitalisation, the form of community development approaches used, and the Māori health outcomes that arise from language revitalisation practice. The research was located within a constructivist paradigm, took a qualitative approach, and applied a case study research strategy. Three case study groups that displayed features of language revitalisation participated in the research. They were: Te Ataarangi – nationally based; Te Reo o Whanganui – regionally based; and, Te Kōpae Piripono – locally based. The primary source of data was in-depth open-ended interviews carried out with knowledgable group representatives. This study has proposed a new term, speaker community, which signals a shift in understanding the process by which restoring vitality to a threatened language is achieved. First, language vitality is viewed as a state of language strength arising from the restoration of conditions that enable language use among a community of speakers where another language is dominant. Second, that language revitalisation is a community-level endeavour that provides a means to achieve language vitality. This research has also explained the role of language revitalisation in the achievement of positive Māori health outcomes. The framework ‘Matua te Reo’ describes the relationship between the core activities of speaker communities and the achievement of positive Māori health outcomes. The identified health outcomes underpin a secure Māori identity and are community defined. It is further argued that the sustainability of outcomes can be enhanced by encouraging a key language revitalisation approach based on the re-engagement of natural intergenerational transmission of language, culture and identity.
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    Ahakoa he kiri mā : a fire in our blood : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Arts, Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Roestenburg, Michelle Waireti Maria
    This study approaches the nexus of whakapapa, Māori ethnic identity and non-conventional presentations of Māoriness. The factors and forces that enable or disable positive Māori identity development are examined through the experiences and meanings of six Māori women who are strongly and positively identified as Māori yet unidentifiable as Māori in appearance. By privileging kaupapa Māori research methodology, Māori participants and researcher, within mātauranga and tikanga Māori, a research paradigm capable of congruent cultural interpretation of Māori identity was developed. After the conversations were transcribed, close reading of the transcript identified and critiqued factors and forces that indicated either ‘tangibly sheltering’ identity development environments of mana Māori that were incongruent with wider societal positioning of Māori, or ‘tangibly traumatising’ environments that denigrated Māori and mirrored societal attitudes to Māori. Contemporary and historical socio-political colonial influences articulated with Māori-centric forces. Whānaungātanga or collectivity as an outcome of tikanga or the tipuna inspired desire to seek what is right and good at the intra-personal and inter-subjective levels was revealed as the indomitable heart force of Māori identity. A felt and embodied connection to ancestors led the participants deeper into who they were as Māori women, this presence and pulse was either enhanced by, or continued in spite of socio-political forces. A comparative focus on ‘Māori dignity’ revealed a rigid incapacity in New Zealand society generally and the ‘helping professions’ particularly, to move beyond an artificially entrenched ‘Māori deficit’ position. What is powerful and distinct about Māori is ignored when history and holisim are disallowed. Holistic and historical reconnection are indicated for Māori and Non-Māori to make existential sense of current day Māori and Non-Māori realities and to move out of a fixation on the outcomes of colonisation without attention to cause. Implications for the re-emergence of collaboratively intelligent ways to critique the existing and imminent flows of power within and without Te Ao Māori are discussed for the restoration of dignity to Māori and Non-Māori identities.
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    Ngā kiritea Māori : walking between two worlds : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Herbert, Sarah
    Current statistics illustrate the diversity of the Māori population in Aotearoa. Many Māori individuals do not necessarily "fit‟ the narratives used in contemporary society of what it means to be Māori, and this may affect their identity as Māori. In particular, those who do not physically look Māori but who identify as Māori and who have Māori whakapapa. I have termed these people ngā kiritea Māori. The research was grounded in a Māori centred qualitative research approach. Semi structured interviews were carried out with eight participants in order to obtain information around their experiences of growing up in Aotearoa and how these experiences helped or hindered them in their development of their Māori identity. In addition, the interviews drew out stories about what their Māori identity meant to them in today‟s society. These stories were analyzed using narrative analysis to explore some of the factors that affect Māori identity development. Five public narratives were identified: „Māori/Pākehā division‟, "Māori as second class citizens‟, "The ideal Māori figure‟, „Māori as the sports hero‟ and „Valorisation of Māori‟. Within the personal stories there were four identified themes: „The desire to connect to things Māori‟, "The importance of whakapapa‟ "Painful and conflicting journey‟s‟, and „Positive Māori identities‟. The analysis reveals how participants drew on the public narratives as a way of explaining their own personal stories and how the public narratives contributed to the four personal themes identified. This research will not only contribute to the limited literature existing on ngā kiritea Māori identities but it will also provide a means for ngā kiritea Māori voices to be heard in Aotearoa.
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    Belonging and whakapapa : the closed stranger adoption of Māori children into Pākehā families : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work, School of Health and Social Sciences, Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Haenga Collins, Maria
    Between 1955 and 1985, approximately forty-five thousand closed stranger adoptions took place in Aotearoa New Zealand, with adoption directly affecting twenty-five per cent of the total population. A significant proportion of closed stranger adoptions involved children who could claim Māori ancestry through at least one of their birth parents. The majority of these Māori children were placed within Pākehā families. This research explored the narratives of six self-identified Māori adults who were adopted into Pākehā families by way of closed stranger adoption. The study utilised a Māori-centred research approach, and a thematic narrative analysis of the participants’ accounts was undertaken. The study found that adoption is not a one off event, but is an on-going life experience. The multiple and complex ways the participants narrated their cross-cultural adoption experience reflected the diverse and contradictory narratives Māori adopted into Pākehā families navigate. The narratives clustered around the idea of ‘walking between worlds’, with two major themes of ‘belonging’ and ‘whakapapa’ emerging from the analysis process. Participants told stories on a continuum between ‘belonging’ and ‘not belonging’ within their birth and adoptive families, and in Māori and non-Māori worlds. Specific to Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand is ‘belonging’ through whakapapa. Whakapapa is essential to a Māori identity and to whānau inclusion. This study found that without knowledge of whakapapa, Māori become socially and culturally invisible within te ao Māori. In the telling of these narratives, participants have sought to repair the rupture in their lives when the dominant familial narrative of growing up in a birth family with a shared cultural heritage was not possible. For Māori adopted into Pākehā families, their identities as Māori and as adopted people are inseparable.
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    Exploring personal and political issues of identity for white Maori women : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Policy and Social Work at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1999) Bevan, Kelly
    The aim of this research is to explore the personal and political issues of identity for white Maori women in Aotearoa. This was inspired by recognition that the lives of white Maori women are not accounted for in our present society. The life stories of eight women from multi-tribal backgrounds were gathered in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. My life story was written and incorporated both as a reason for conducting this research and as data. The focus of the study is on Maori women, which reflects my gender and cultural identity. Hence my Mana Wahine and Kaupapa Maori values influenced the methodology and theoretical concepts used to add meaning to the narratives. A desire to produce research which would empower and not further colonise those I was researching led me to utilise a structural analysis framework for the structure and analysis of the research. The strategy of 'researching back' was used to locate colonising aspects in the theoretical and historical literature. The design is qualitative, the method is kaupapa Maori and a strategy of multiple triangulation is used. I utilised storytelling in gathering data and content analysis to locate the narrative themes. The participants identify as tangata whenua. The findings support this chosen position and highlight the influential social, political and legislative factors which have shaped their identification processes.