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Item Colonial discourses of deviance and desire and the bodies of wāhine Māori : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Arts at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2024) Allen, Elizabeth AnneThis research traces how colonial ideologies of race, gender, and sexuality contributed to nineteenth and early twentieth-century representations of wāhine Māori and questions how these repetitive inscriptions might continue to have a negative impact on perceptions of wāhine Māori and kōtiro Māori in contemporary culture. As a Mana Wahine study, I demonstrate that fundamental codes of the developing colonial state were affirmed by how Pākehā guarded sexuality, ordered gender, and surveilled race. As a wahine Māori centred project, it examines the colonial dimensions of “domesticity,” the “civilising mission,” and the ‘paternalism of liberalism’ in Aotearoa/New Zealand, specifically, on the assumption that differentiations of race and colonial power were essentially ordered in terms of Western notions of gender. Of particular concern is the management of wāhine Māori sexuality, procreation, child-rearing, and marriage as a mechanism of colonial control of their bodies. Focusing on spaces of perceived proximity and desire as a source from which we can search for newly recognisable forms of social perceptions in relating, it offers an engagement with myriad forms of art across multidisciplinary fields to provide a unique window into a colonial exercise of the imperial project that had a direct impact on the bodies of wāhine Māori. A critical examination of the colonial metaphors around desire and degeneration, of the intimate and affect, attempts to decolonise its representative paradigms by addressing the consequential structural and material histories that, for wāhine Māori, resulted in meting out differential futures based on ‘fabulated’ divisions of worth, prompting the central questions of the dissertation, how are bodies similar or not? How are bodies available or not? How are bodies knowable or not? And to whom?Item Dietary intake, household food insecurity, and their associations with anthropometric status and sociodemographic factors amongst young New Zealand children : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nutritional Science, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2024-04-08) Jupiterwala, Rosario Pillar MonzalesBackground: Household food insecurity is a serious public health concern that may impact young children's dietary intake. In New Zealand (NZ), there are limited studies on young children’s dietary intake. However, comprehensive dietary data is crucial to ensure that young NZ children obtain adequate energy and nutrient intakes to support their optimal growth and development. Certain sociodemographic groups are disproportionately affected by household food insecurity, which may have been reflected by the high proportion of obesity in NZ compared to other high-income countries and poor dietary consumption indicative of suboptimal nutrition. Aim: Therefore, this thesis aims to describe the energy and nutrient intakes, food group consumption, and household food security status of young NZ children, their relationship, and associated correlates such as anthropometric status, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, age, caregiver characteristics, and household size and structure. Methods: Two 24-hour food recalls from 289 children aged 1-3 years participating in the Young Foods NZ (YFNZ) study were analysed to obtain energy, nutrient, and food group intake data. YFNZ is an observational cross-sectional study of children living in Auckland, Wellington, and Dunedin, NZ. Household food security status was measured using the NZ food security scale, a NZ-specific and validated questionnaire. NZ Index of Deprivation was utilised as a proxy measure of socioeconomic status. Anthropometric status was measured using the Body Mass Index (BMI) z-score. Data on other sociodemographic characteristics such as ethnicity, sex, age, caregiver characteristics, household size and structure were collected through online and interviewer-assisted questionnaires. Results: Overall, most nutrient intake recommendations were met except for fibre, iron, calcium, and vitamin C, with a proportion of inadequacy at 54.0%, 15.2%, 3.8%, and 4.8% respectively. Additionally, high protein and saturated fat intakes were observed. Māori, Pacific, Asian, and children living in areas of high deprivation were more at risk of lower fibre intakes than their counterparts, whilst children living in areas of high deprivation had a higher fat intake than those living in low-deprived neighbourhoods. Grains and pasta (n=276 participants), fruits (n=266), and biscuits, crackers, cakes, and desserts (n=242) were most commonly consumed. Formulae (i.e., infant and follow-on formula mixes) and mixed dishes primarily contributed to the intake of energy and most nutrients. Children who were more likely to consume dairy products and dairy-alternative products were children with healthy weight compared to those who were overweight (p=0.036), NZ European compared to Māori, Asian and Pacific children (p=0.005), and children living in areas of low deprivation compared to those who live in highly deprived areas (p=0.014). Food insecure children were more likely to consume pies and pasties (p=0.013), potatoes, kūmara and taro (p=0.040), and beverages (i.e., all fluids except for milk and water) (p=0.011) but less likely to consume biscuits, crackers, cakes and desserts (p=0.001), vegetables (p=0.005), and nuts and seeds (p=0.004). Energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods such as sausages and processed meats; sugar, confectionery, sweet spreads; and pies and pasties were the primary contributors to Pacific children's energy intake and those living in areas of higher deprivation and food insecure households. Over a third of young children experienced food insecurity in the past year. Being overweight, Māori or Pacific, living in areas of high deprivation; having a caregiver who was younger, not in paid employment, or had low educational attainment; living with at least two other children in the household, and living in a sole parent household were associated with household food insecurity. Compared to food-secure children, moderately food-insecure children had higher fat and saturated fat intakes, consuming 3.0 (0.2, 5.8) g/day more fat, and 2.0 (0.6, 3.5) g/day more saturated fat (p<0.05). Moderately and severely food insecure children had lower fibre intake, consuming 1.6 (2.8, 0.3) g/day and 2.6 (4.0, 1.2) g/day less fibre, respectively, compared to food secure children. Severely food-insecure children had three times the prevalence of inadequate calcium intakes and over three times the prevalence of inadequate vitamin C intakes compared to food-secure children. Conclusion: Young NZ children consume a diet that is mostly adequate in terms of most nutrients with the exception of fibre, iron, calcium, and vitamin C. High intakes of nutrients of concern (i.e., saturated fat and protein) were detected and reported to be commonly sourced from low-cost, energy-dense, and nutrient-poor foods. The consumption of these foods mirrors the high prevalence of household food insecurity and obesity amongst young NZ children. Other sociodemographic factors closely related to poverty or low income were associated with food insecurity. Therefore, targeted policies and programmes are imperative, particularly for the most vulnerable groups, to ensure young children's optimal growth and development and attain more equitable health outcomes in NZ.Item Theorising Māori health and wellbeing in a whakapapa paradigm : voices from the margins : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication and Journalism at Massey University, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE)(Massey University, 2022) Elers, ChristineThis thesis explores communication infrastructures at the margins of Indigeneity to understand Māori health and wellbeing meanings, challenges, strategies and solutions, articulated by whānau whose voices have been ignored, or not sought. Māori health and wellbeing understandings, forged amidst ongoing colonial processes of socioeconomic and health inequities, are best articulated by Māori with these lived experiences. The communication platforms established by the settler colonial state are infused with power dynamics that determine the communication rules including who can speak, what can be said and how that should be delivered. The privileging of communicative spaces to experts, leaders, and community champions, shaped by the underlying ideology of whiteness that organises the settler colonial state, forecloses the space to those not fitting these categories. Māori health and wellbeing meanings emphasise the totality of Whakapapa as a basis for communicating health and wellbeing. Kaupapa Māori theory, and Whakapapa as a super-connector of relationships both in the spiritual and physical domains, anchored the research. Rooted in Māori epistemology, the enduring intergenerational relationship between health and land formed the basis for the participants’ understandings of health and wellbeing. Positioned also in dialogue with the Culture-Centered Approach (CCA), we foreground whānau voices through the co-creation of voice infrastructures at the margins of Indigeneity, with whānau members candidly sharing lived experiences navigating health and wellbeing through the establishment of the Feilding advisory group. The interplay of land, rivers and health is a dominant theme. Strategies for improving health and wellbeing include co-creating communicative infrastructures, such as platforms for voices to emerge at the margins of Indigeneity. The campaigns documented buttress the importance of regaining stolen land, (re)connecting to land through the collective establishment of māra kai with the advisory group. Indigenous communication infrastructures disrupt hegemonic, top-down configurations of health and wellbeing campaigns, providing the impetus for localised strategies to emerge into mainstream communicative spaces. Voice and the right for the “margins of the margins” to be listened to by the Crown are also included as taonga in article two, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The co-creation, resource sharing and decision-making about communicative infrastructures can be harnessed to drive health equity.Item Family finds a way : experiences of multigenerational transnational new Chinese immigrant families in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2021) Ran, GuanyuThe Immigration Act 1987 fundamentally transformed New Zealand’s immigration policy from one that was race-based to one based on economic needs of New Zealand society. It opened the borders to immigrants from much wider regions. As a result of this “open-door” immigration policy, a substantial new Chinese immigrant community from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established in New Zealand. Building a closely-tied multigenerational family is an important feature of family life for this immigrant group. Often, multiple generations live together or within close proximity with one another in highly interdependent relationships. However, a growing number have also started to maintain their family lives transnationally, with different family members across generations living apart but maintaining close ties, with frequent interactions across national borders. Given this transnational family arrangement is very different from Chinese traditional practices of family maintenance, the impact of this change on the wellbeing and functioning of these families and their individual family members is an issue of increasing academic interest. This thesis responds to these concerns and explores the relationship between people’s experiences of transnational migration and their multigenerational family dynamics. Through engaging with individual life stories and perspectives of 45 participants across generations from new PRC immigrant families living in New Zealand, this thesis seeks to understand how those families with closely-tied multiple generations cope with dislocation and relocation during the process of transnational migration. It also investigates how transnational migration experiences contribute to new emergent domestic dynamics, including the development of new strategies and practices to maintain family traditions, interests and coherence across national borders, as well as shifting intergenerational relationships. The empirical data demonstrates that despite the increasing proportion of new PRC families living transnationally, their experiences of managing family lives vary. I argue that this diversification of transnational family experiences is largely attributed to the interaction of various impact factors associated with both the internal dynamics of immigrant families themselves and external contexts where those families are closely related. My research also attests that family members’ transnational migration experiences accelerate changes to the way they perform family life, particularly amplifying intergenerational differences and altering intergenerational dependency. Even though those changes introduce vital challenges towards multigenerational family maintenance and coherence, my research reveals that families are resilient and able to actively forge multistranded resources as well as engage various transnational activities in response to those challenges. While this thesis poses intriguing perspectives and culturally-specific scenarios to study immigrant families in New Zealand society, more importantly, it also contributes to the broad theorisation of transnational family formation and maintenance in the increasingly globalised world.Item Work experiences of Chinese migrants : impact on family wellbeing : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Human Resource Management at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Tian, HuiImmigration has rapidly increased throughout the world, especially from developing to developed countries. Through immigration, most people are searching for better career opportunities, better economic outcomes, and a pleasant environment. For a relatively long time, Australia, the United States of America, Canada, Europe, and New Zealand are ranked as the top popular destinations. New Zealand is renowned as a country of immigrants, and the numbers entering are increasing annually. While Europeans used to dominate the early waves of immigration, more recently, especially after the commencement of the points system for skilled migrants, more people are coming from Asian countries, such as China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and India. China, in particular, had been a significant contributor to the inflow of migrants to New Zealand. The Chinese workforce is becoming a critical part of the current labor market in New Zealand (Badkar &Tuya, 2010). Unlike many other Asian countries, those from mainland China do not have English as a key language, which has been the top barrier for Chinese migrants’ employment and settlement in New Zealand. Underemployment has become a collective experience for many Chinese migrants throughout New Zealand. The current study replicated a study that examined the work experiences of Asian immigrants in New Zealand (Sobrun-Maharaj, Rossen, & Kim, 2011), with some changes that have been made. To conduct this research, a 30-45mins qualitative semi-structured interview was undertaken with each participant and were content analyzed. The results showed that a large portion of new Chinese migrants was experiencing underemployed or have the experience of being underemployed. The experience of underemployment has generated many negative effects on their psychological and physical health. Besides, those adverse effects may not only constraint on an individual level but also extend to their families and the social context of their families. However, many factors may have an impact on how people value and adjust to the status of underemployment, such as previous working experience, their motivation for immigration, which may either weaken or even eliminate those negative impacts. The current study hoped to get a whole picture of the impact of underemployment of new Chinese migrants in the Auckland labor market on their family wellbeing. It had provided significant implications for new migrants, employers, communities, government, and further researchers. Even though the underemployment of new migrants is not a new topic, there is still a broad-scale research agenda need to study. More rigorous design and complex models should be applied for future studies. Longitudinal research designs, as well as family studies, can also be designed to examine the broader and more prolonged effects of underemployment.Item Precarious girls : gender, class, and the New Zealand short story : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Creative Writing at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Allan, TiffanyThis thesis seeks to explore experiences of precarity in New Zealand fiction through an analysis of short fiction by Tracey Slaughter and Alice Tawhai, and my own collection of short stories. The critical component of this thesis explores intersections of identity such as gender and culture that influence and at times compound experiences of precarity. Results of these intersections in the fiction of Slaughter and Tawhai are the decrease in hope and feelings of self worth for characters and subsequent acceptance of unequal and at times abusive relationships for women in the precariat, including a lowered perception of rights for these characters. Slaughter and Tawhai also portray the differing levels of power characters wield in differing settings, showing that differing intersections of identity can fluctuate in power depending on the social environment. My own fiction also explores experiences of precarity. Some of these stories explore in particular the experience of community within the precariat as an enabling and comforting device, and experiences of precarity for rural women, in particular the gender roles expected for financial stability. Other stories explore the experience of precarity for those who are trying to escape this part of society, and the prevalence of mental illness in the precariat and ways characters use to cope with it or to feel safe. The last stories in this collection address family and community within the precariat, and the strong bonds created within the precariat to increase feelings of comfort and hope.Item Colonial textile culture in mid-nineteenth century Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2020) McKergow, Fiona MaryHistorians are increasingly paying attention to the intersections between objects, people and places as an aspect of the social and cultural histories of settler colonial societies. This thesis investigates selected textiles of British migrant and settler women in Aotearoa New Zealand as an element of what is defined here as ‘colonial textile culture’. It draws on the collections of mid-nineteenth century clothing and textiles held at two provincial museums in the lower North Island of New Zealand: Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History, in Palmerston North, and Whanganui Regional Museum, in Whanganui. Colonial textile culture is examined through six surviving objects associated with migrant women of English, Irish and Scottish ethnic origin. These are presented as part of a wider re-evaluation of textiles in colonial cultural history. A set of journals, a mourning sampler and a workbox allow insights into the more personal aspects of textile culture, while a silk wedding dress, a battle flag and a straw bonnet reflect its more public dimensions. Many of these are revealed to be highly emotional objects, in addition to their sensory dimensions, that were essential to the making of relationships, identities and experiences. The concept of colonial textile culture encapsulates the ways in which textiles in mid-nineteenth century Aotearoa New Zealand variously created and sustained family memories; contested and reinforced notions of social class; related to both feminine and masculine identities; and served as a site of interaction between British migrant and settler women and Māori communities. Colonial textile culture was also a source of commercial opportunity for some women. Finally, it was part of a wider circulation of commodities, ideas and practices throughout the British Empire that provided an underpinning to the extension of settler colonialism.Item 'No longer bulletproof' : Aotearoa/New Zealand men discuss aging and masculinity : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2020) Lindsay, SamuelResearch on men has proliferated within in recent decades. However, much of this research has focussed on younger masculinities. While research on older men has also increased in recent years, there remains a lack of research on the ways in which masculinities are impacted by aging – particularly within a A/NZ context. This study took a social constructionist approach to exploring the ways in which A/NZ men make sense of masculinity as they age. Twenty-six men between the ages of 65 and 90 were interviewed and interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Analysis revealed a range of themes related to the operations of gendered power such as the invisibility of masculinity, egalitarianism, and a backlash against feminists. The men also reiterated dominant themes related to active aging, enjoyment, disengagement and decline, provision, masculinity as limiting, and increases in wisdom and insight. The ways in which themes of masculinity intersected with those related to aging were discussed with participants. The themes were related to theories of gender as performance, hegemonic masculinity, masculine capital, and selective optimisation and compensation. Implications, limitations, and suggested future directions are also discussed.Item Māori ways-of-being : addressing cultural disruption through everyday socio-cultural practices of [re]connection : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) King, PitaWithin the discipline of psychology, many Indigenous scholars have endeavoured to rethink and re-theorise the foundations, focus, and methods used in an effort to construct psychologies that are more reflective of their own cosmologies and contexts. The presented thesis contributes to this Indigenous project by exploring the ways in which the ruling psychology of our times, and its underlying philosophical assumptions, can disrupt Indigenous peoples’ attempts to articulate our own understandings of being. Drawing on emic and etic approaches and grounded within Kaupapa Māori approach, this thesis engages with the complexities of what it means to be Māori today through two theoretically (chapters 2 and 3) and two community-based publications (chapters 4 and 5). In the first article (chapter 2), I decentre the dominance of ruling psychology by challenging the idea of a single disciplinary space within the discipline and introduce the notion of multiple sphericules that carry numerous cultural philosophical perspectives that combine to make up the discipline of psychology. Building on these ideas in the second article (chapter 3), I contribute to efforts to theorize Māori ways-of-being by drawing on Māori cultural understandings and associated literature, ideas from the European continental philosophical tradition, and personal reflections. Taken together, chapters 2 and 3 carve out conceptual space within psychology that is then explored through culturally immersive and auto-ethnographic techniques in chapters 4 and 5. Specifically, chapter 4 is set within the context of the low socio-economic urban landscape in which I grew up. Chapter 5 speaks more to issues of [re]connecting with ancestral homelands, communities, and ways-of-being. In chapters 4 and 5, I document how Māori cultural selves are preserved amidst histories of colonization and urbanization by paying particular attention to the role of culturally-patterned social practices evident in the conduct of everyday life. Overall, this thesis contributes to present understandings of the ongoing development of Māori subjectivities that often shift in response to the socio-cultural conditions and structural inequalities that many of our communities continue to face. This thesis provides some insights into how urban Māori, such as myself, construct and reproduce novel, creative, and culturally grounded strategies for dealing with the disruptions that have come with colonization. These efforts work to strengthen and preserve cultural connectedness and distinct Māori ways-of-being.Item What political and theatrical considerations are required to write a play inspired by Elizabeth Colenso and the Victorian suffragists in order to show the conflicts of emancipation for 21st century women in positions of power : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Creative Writing in English at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2018) Bushell, LynnleaI am intrigued with the question of whether 21st century liberated women who have broken the glass ceiling are able to sustain positions of power within current social and political contexts. In planning this thesis there were two objectives. Firstly, I wanted to see whether I could write a New Zealand play that showed some aspects of the cost of emancipation through the social and political powers enacted upon both 19th century and 21st century women and create a narrative that would be relatable for a contemporary audience. Secondly, I wanted to reflect on the research and writing process. Stand in Her Shoes has employed both literary and historical research. To be able to write with any understanding of the social and political factors which affected 19th century suffragists and 21st century women in power I have drawn research from books, scholarly articles, photographs, internet databases and the National Library. My thesis essay provides an analysis and overview of my findings. My thesis reports the artistic and dramatic choices made as I shaped my findings Stand in Her Shoes into a theatrical play. I focussed briefly on two seminal plays during my literary research Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, and Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children. I have chosen these two plays to see how they might inform the construction of my female protagonists as well as to enhance my thematic around gender politics. This thesis also provides an overview of the strengths and weaknesses in the play script provided by participants at the first play reading workshop 9 February 2018 at Greytown Little Theatre, South Wairarapa, New Zealand. Finally, I critically reflect on the overall process of writing the play.