title: Kitiaga mo fakamahani e hikihikiaga matagi he tau fifine Niue: tau pūhala he tau hiapo Niue women’s perspectives and experiences of climate change: a hiapo approach

authors: Pasisi, Jessica Lili

subjects: Niue

abstract: Indigenous communities in the Pacific are on the front-line of some of the most severe climate change impacts. Pacific leaders have consistently stated the urgent need for climate action (Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, 2019) and fought for larger emitting nations to be more accountable for their inaction. While Pacific leaders fight to be heard, our people are also fighting to reclaim and draw attention to Indigenous knowledge, language and cultural practice as key areas for strategies of sustainability and resilience. To understand the complexities of climate change in the Pacific, people of Oceania must have control in framing and voicing their diverse narratives. As a daughter of Niue, I have a vested interest in the conservation of a dynamic and diverse Niue environment and culture, and the stories of Niue people, by Niue people. In the face of global climate change, drawing attention to the specific experiences and lived realities of Niue people contributes to local, regional and global Indigenous narratives that come from a place of strength and self-determination and challenge dominant Euro-centric coverage of climate change. 
This thesis is about starting conversations that provide a greater platform to recognise and amplify the voices of Niue people. Specifically, this research focuses on Niue women’s experiences of and perspectives on climate change. Niue women are important holders of Niue knowledge and culture. Stories of Niue’s female ancestors are full of strength, resourcefulness, ferocity, and capability; unapologetic women who protect, nurture, provide and lead. Yet, very rarely do these stories make their way into primary school education, let alone any academic spheres. The perspectives and experiences of Niue women are important because in knowing them, it is possible to learn from their insight and culturally specific knowledge that has value and benefit in grappling with complex changes. 
From the intersection of Management Communication and Pacific studies this research draws on specific values around voice; communication that centres and values cultural identity. While interdisciplinary work is common in both fields, very rarely have these two disciplines come into contact. I used my background in Management Communication to critically engage in conversations about the possibilities of meaningful engagement with Niue stories and perspectives to better craft relevant communication that has both strategic and social relevance. This thesis adds to critical thinking in the spaces of Pacific Studies and Management Communication, raising questions of how these two fields might shape and be shaped by each other.
To have a conversation about climate change in Niue, clear and considered attention needs to be given to the specificity and uniqueness of Niue women’s voices and lived experiences. This calls for a Pacific research methodology and methods that centre Niue culture and the diversity of perspectives of Niue women. I developed hiapo methodology as a Niue-specific way to approach this research and create a space where Niue women’s voices are privileged throughout the research process. Drawing on existing Pacific research methodologies, I explore the metaphor of the hiapo as a qualitative methodology that has particular relevance in culturally respectful research of Niue women’s narratives. Hiapo is known to be the domain of women, an embodiment of process, practice, ancestry, herstories, and relationships in and of Niue culture. Metaphors from hiapo allowed me to explore the complexity of climate change through the narratives of Niue women in ways that respect the cultural and gendered relationships that entwine in Niue lived experience. Hiapo methodology necessitates greater dimensionality in foregrounding and privileging Niue knowledge and culture through visual, written, and oral narratives and archives. 
Centring Niue women’s voices highlights intricate culturally-laden meanings and actions in response to the realities of vastly changing environments. Twelve Niue women, all of whom were based in Niue, collaborated with me on this study. Their narratives form precious tāoga for this study and – importantly for Niue people – for generations to come. These women’s voices are thematically analysed which brings into focus a multi-dimensional conceptualisation of climate change that reflects across their life stories and experiences. Climate change perspectives and experiences for these women are not just related to the physical impacts of the environment but much more diverse ancestral and cultural connections to the land, the sea, and our people.
Climate change in this context involves paying attention to family, stories of genealogy and generational knowledge. There is a richness to the insights of thinking about climate change in the stories of Niue grandmothers, mothers and daughters that teach Niue values of strength, resilience and resourcefulness. Niue women’s voices offer different perspectives on how climate change impacts are considered and dealt with in every-day experiences. Paying attention to personal and specific stories that seem beyond the realm of climate change in fact offer sites to challenge dominant perspectives and consider the capabilities embedded in Niue culture and practice that comes from generations of experience and observation. How a vanilla farmer pollinates her flowers, how a mother teaches her children how to live without electricity, how a young mother navigates the convenience of imported foods, are just some of the factors that contribute to lived experiences that are exacerbated by climate change impacts. Yet these narratives also provide insight into the opportunities of climate change, the ability to become more aware of key issues that these women prioritise in order to provide for their families, make a living and how cultural and ancestral practices are vitally embedded in these actions. 
These women’s narratives provide insights into climate change and Niue cultural knowledge that has relevance both in Niue and beyond our rugged coastlines to Pacific and Indigenous communities who are also on the front-line of climate change.

text: Kitiaga mo fakamahani e hikihikiaga matagi he tau fifine Niue: tau pūhala he tau hiapo Niue women’s perspectives and experiences of climate change: a hiapo approach Indigenous communities in the Pacific are on the front-line of some of the most severe climate change impacts. Pacific leaders have consistently stated the urgent need for climate action (Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, 2019) and fought for larger emitting nations to be more accountable for their inaction. While Pacific leaders fight to be heard, our people are also fighting to reclaim and draw attention to Indigenous knowledge, language and cultural practice as key areas for strategies of sustainability and resilience. To understand the complexities of climate change in the Pacific, people of Oceania must have control in framing and voicing their diverse narratives. As a daughter of Niue, I have a vested interest in the conservation of a dynamic and diverse Niue environment and culture, and the stories of Niue people, by Niue people. In the face of global climate change, drawing attention to the specific experiences and lived realities of Niue people contributes to local, regional and global Indigenous narratives that come from a place of strength and self-determination and challenge dominant Euro-centric coverage of climate change. 
This thesis is about starting conversations that provide a greater platform to recognise and amplify the voices of Niue people. Specifically, this research focuses on Niue women’s experiences of and perspectives on climate change. Niue women are important holders of Niue knowledge and culture. Stories of Niue’s female ancestors are full of strength, resourcefulness, ferocity, and capability; unapologetic women who protect, nurture, provide and lead. Yet, very rarely do these stories make their way into primary school education, let alone any academic spheres. The perspectives and experiences of Niue women are important because in knowing them, it is possible to learn from their insight and culturally specific knowledge that has value and benefit in grappling with complex changes. 
From the intersection of Management Communication and Pacific studies this research draws on specific values around voice; communication that centres and values cultural identity. While interdisciplinary work is common in both fields, very rarely have these two disciplines come into contact. I used my background in Management Communication to critically engage in conversations about the possibilities of meaningful engagement with Niue stories and perspectives to better craft relevant communication that has both strategic and social relevance. This thesis adds to critical thinking in the spaces of Pacific Studies and Management Communication, raising questions of how these two fields might shape and be shaped by each other.
To have a conversation about climate change in Niue, clear and considered attention needs to be given to the specificity and uniqueness of Niue women’s voices and lived experiences. This calls for a Pacific research methodology and methods that centre Niue culture and the diversity of perspectives of Niue women. I developed hiapo methodology as a Niue-specific way to approach this research and create a space where Niue women’s voices are privileged throughout the research process. Drawing on existing Pacific research methodologies, I explore the metaphor of the hiapo as a qualitative methodology that has particular relevance in culturally respectful research of Niue women’s narratives. Hiapo is known to be the domain of women, an embodiment of process, practice, ancestry, herstories, and relationships in and of Niue culture. Metaphors from hiapo allowed me to explore the complexity of climate change through the narratives of Niue women in ways that respect the cultural and gendered relationships that entwine in Niue lived experience. Hiapo methodology necessitates greater dimensionality in foregrounding and privileging Niue knowledge and culture through visual, written, and oral narratives and archives. 
Centring Niue women’s voices highlights intricate culturally-laden meanings and actions in response to the realities of vastly changing environments. Twelve Niue women, all of whom were based in Niue, collaborated with me on this study. Their narratives form precious tāoga for this study and – importantly for Niue people – for generations to come. These women’s voices are thematically analysed which brings into focus a multi-dimensional conceptualisation of climate change that reflects across their life stories and experiences. Climate change perspectives and experiences for these women are not just related to the physical impacts of the environment but much more diverse ancestral and cultural connections to the land, the sea, and our people.
Climate change in this context involves paying attention to family, stories of genealogy and generational knowledge. There is a richness to the insights of thinking about climate change in the stories of Niue grandmothers, mothers and daughters that teach Niue values of strength, resilience and resourcefulness. Niue women’s voices offer different perspectives on how climate change impacts are considered and dealt with in every-day experiences. Paying attention to personal and specific stories that seem beyond the realm of climate change in fact offer sites to challenge dominant perspectives and consider the capabilities embedded in Niue culture and practice that comes from generations of experience and observation. How a vanilla farmer pollinates her flowers, how a mother teaches her children how to live without electricity, how a young mother navigates the convenience of imported foods, are just some of the factors that contribute to lived experiences that are exacerbated by climate change impacts. Yet these narratives also provide insight into the opportunities of climate change, the ability to become more aware of key issues that these women prioritise in order to provide for their families, make a living and how cultural and ancestral practices are vitally embedded in these actions. 
These women’s narratives provide insights into climate change and Niue cultural knowledge that has relevance both in Niue and beyond our rugged coastlines to Pacific and Indigenous communities who are also on the front-line of climate change.

year: 2020

title: Language and cultural considerations when implementing innovative approaches to assessments: Reflective learning journals and the perception of non-English speaking students

authors: Zahra, Anne Louise

subjects: learning journals

abstract: There is a call for hospitality educators to incorporate more reflective and critical thinking in curriculum and assessment. This paper explores if non-English speaking students, chiefly from a Confucian heritage background, in an English delivery hospitality management degree course respond to and engage differently to students who have English as their first language, when they undertook a reflective learning journal as an assessment for a hospitality law subject. The hospitality literature argues that Asian students have more reflective learning styles than their Western counterparts who prefer active learning styles. Both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were used to collect and analyse data. The findings show that international students found some aspects of the learning journal more problematic such as writing in the first person, fewer rules and understanding the process and expectations of the assessment. These students also found the reflective and critical thinking components more difficult. The paper concludes that reflection required in a reflective learning journal is different to a reflective learning style and more research is required.

text: Language and cultural considerations when implementing innovative approaches to assessments: Reflective learning journals and the perception of non-English speaking students There is a call for hospitality educators to incorporate more reflective and critical thinking in curriculum and assessment. This paper explores if non-English speaking students, chiefly from a Confucian heritage background, in an English delivery hospitality management degree course respond to and engage differently to students who have English as their first language, when they undertook a reflective learning journal as an assessment for a hospitality law subject. The hospitality literature argues that Asian students have more reflective learning styles than their Western counterparts who prefer active learning styles. Both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were used to collect and analyse data. The findings show that international students found some aspects of the learning journal more problematic such as writing in the first person, fewer rules and understanding the process and expectations of the assessment. These students also found the reflective and critical thinking components more difficult. The paper concludes that reflection required in a reflective learning journal is different to a reflective learning style and more research is required.

year: 2009

title: An evaluation of the cultural supervision prototype undertaken within the Department of Corrections, Hamilton

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

subjects: Maori

abstract: Disproportionately high rates of offending and recidivism among Māori are well documented. As part of its attempt to better meet the needs of Māori offenders, the Department of Corrections is developing cultural supervision for staff in the Community Probation Service, the Public Prisons Service and the Psychological Service. The aims of cultural supervision include improving staff members’ knowledge of Māori cultural values, providing support for staff in managing complex cultural issues, and ensuring safe practice and culturally appropriate behaviour. During 2002, the Māori and Psychology Research Unit was contracted to conduct a survey of current practices in relation to cultural supervision and a process evaluation of a prototype of cultural supervision being trialled in the Waikato among probation officers (Hamilton Area) and sentence planners (Waikeria Prison) (Karapu, Masters, Robertson, Trynes, & Waitoki, 2002). Findings from the survey indicated that most staff had informal cultural support or advice available to them. Usually, this was in the form of Māori colleagues within the Department. Less commonly, support was sought from Māori in other organisations, from knowledgeable non-Māori within the Department, kaumātua and kuia, and whānau members. About a third of Corrections staff were receiving some formal cultural supervision, most of whom regarded it positively. Among other staff, both Māori and non-Māori, there was a high level of interest in cultural supervision, and a view that it would be beneficial to their professional practice. Overall, staff felt that the support and advice currently available to them was inadequate. Findings from the evaluation of the prototype suggested that while many of the participants viewed cultural supervision as important for their job, fewer considered that the supervision they were receiving was meeting their needs. Some experienced non-Māori staff seemed to be resistant to the idea of cultural supervision, feeling that they already knew how to relate to Māori offenders. Māori staff were generally enthusiastic about cultural supervision but wanted it to focus on their personal safety as Māori within a “mainstream” institution rather than on their practice. However, both Māori and non-Māori staff generally felt that the cultural supervision sessions provided a safe environment. The prototype appeared to be a good beginning and the model should be stronger when modified in the light of experience.

text: An evaluation of the cultural supervision prototype undertaken within the Department of Corrections, Hamilton Disproportionately high rates of offending and recidivism among Māori are well documented. As part of its attempt to better meet the needs of Māori offenders, the Department of Corrections is developing cultural supervision for staff in the Community Probation Service, the Public Prisons Service and the Psychological Service. The aims of cultural supervision include improving staff members’ knowledge of Māori cultural values, providing support for staff in managing complex cultural issues, and ensuring safe practice and culturally appropriate behaviour. During 2002, the Māori and Psychology Research Unit was contracted to conduct a survey of current practices in relation to cultural supervision and a process evaluation of a prototype of cultural supervision being trialled in the Waikato among probation officers (Hamilton Area) and sentence planners (Waikeria Prison) (Karapu, Masters, Robertson, Trynes, & Waitoki, 2002). Findings from the survey indicated that most staff had informal cultural support or advice available to them. Usually, this was in the form of Māori colleagues within the Department. Less commonly, support was sought from Māori in other organisations, from knowledgeable non-Māori within the Department, kaumātua and kuia, and whānau members. About a third of Corrections staff were receiving some formal cultural supervision, most of whom regarded it positively. Among other staff, both Māori and non-Māori, there was a high level of interest in cultural supervision, and a view that it would be beneficial to their professional practice. Overall, staff felt that the support and advice currently available to them was inadequate. Findings from the evaluation of the prototype suggested that while many of the participants viewed cultural supervision as important for their job, fewer considered that the supervision they were receiving was meeting their needs. Some experienced non-Māori staff seemed to be resistant to the idea of cultural supervision, feeling that they already knew how to relate to Māori offenders. Māori staff were generally enthusiastic about cultural supervision but wanted it to focus on their personal safety as Māori within a “mainstream” institution rather than on their practice. However, both Māori and non-Māori staff generally felt that the cultural supervision sessions provided a safe environment. The prototype appeared to be a good beginning and the model should be stronger when modified in the light of experience.

year: 2003