title: An Account of Championing Food for Vulnerable Households and Hungry Children in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Dey, Kahurangi Jean

subjects: food

abstract: Global food security became the focus of policy and media attention worldwide following the 2006-2008 food price spikes. In 2013, food security issues in Aotearoa New Zealand relate to access to food, ability to access food, food supply, food distribution and income poverty. I ponder issues of food (in)security and access(ability) to food for vulnerable households and hungry children; and debate the universal benefit to be achieved from various food initiatives. My surveillance of these issues includes consideration of ways people and planet are disadvantaged by, and within, food systems as they are currently determined.  Deprivation of secure access to nutritious food, diversely explained, justified and challenged elsewhere in practice and in literature, is a reality for many families in Aotearoa New Zealand. Current remedies, here as elsewhere, seem not to be making a radical impact.

Advocacy for an approach to organisational research filled with words, imagery and rich descriptions by leading contemporary critical theorists Alvesson & Gabriel (2013) emboldens my intention to creatively engage in what I consider to be a meaningful and socially relevant story about championing food for vulnerable households and hungry children in Aotearoa New Zealand. Aspirations to a society with well-fed children, secure family life, and healthy populations are my focus in this research. In a creative engagement I seek to persuade and argue, to address and debate, “to analyse and to make conscious such naturalized ‘common-sense’ patterns of domination” (Schüssler Fiorenza, 2001, p. 102). 

Considering the vast array of systems and organisational arrangements that together constitute the production, distribution and consumption of food, I have craft three theoretical conceptualisations to organise my thoughts. They are:
1.	those already ‘determined’ notions which follow existing dominant neo-liberal systems, forms, and mind-sets; 
2.	those ‘improved determined’ ideas considered as alternative approaches to existing ‘determined’ ones but that involve some intention to achieve positive adaptation to a ‘determined’ configuration; and
3.	those ‘indeterminate’ perspectives where alternative initiatives or propositions could be considered but outcomes are unknown or yet to be determined.

Through these three conceptualisations, I illuminate the many ways vulnerable individuals and households are disadvantaged through and by current ‘determined’ systems, forms and mind-sets. I argue increasing corporate control over global food production and distribution is evident. I address academic debates around food context and I question the veracity and efficacy of food assistance programs and systems as a remedy for hunger. Specifically in Aotearoa New Zealand I deliberate on the impression being left by the elephants in the paddocks, the giant corporates whose footprints can be followed well beyond the farm gate. 

The extent to which any social researcher can contribute to transformative change while unintentionally participating in a system that dominates, marginalises or oppresses is a contemporary challenge for all activists with critical intent. In this thesis I have characterised stories of domination or marginalisation within food systems and given a space for these stories of the positioning of the vulnerable to be told.

text: An Account of Championing Food for Vulnerable Households and Hungry Children in Aotearoa New Zealand Global food security became the focus of policy and media attention worldwide following the 2006-2008 food price spikes. In 2013, food security issues in Aotearoa New Zealand relate to access to food, ability to access food, food supply, food distribution and income poverty. I ponder issues of food (in)security and access(ability) to food for vulnerable households and hungry children; and debate the universal benefit to be achieved from various food initiatives. My surveillance of these issues includes consideration of ways people and planet are disadvantaged by, and within, food systems as they are currently determined.  Deprivation of secure access to nutritious food, diversely explained, justified and challenged elsewhere in practice and in literature, is a reality for many families in Aotearoa New Zealand. Current remedies, here as elsewhere, seem not to be making a radical impact.

Advocacy for an approach to organisational research filled with words, imagery and rich descriptions by leading contemporary critical theorists Alvesson & Gabriel (2013) emboldens my intention to creatively engage in what I consider to be a meaningful and socially relevant story about championing food for vulnerable households and hungry children in Aotearoa New Zealand. Aspirations to a society with well-fed children, secure family life, and healthy populations are my focus in this research. In a creative engagement I seek to persuade and argue, to address and debate, “to analyse and to make conscious such naturalized ‘common-sense’ patterns of domination” (Schüssler Fiorenza, 2001, p. 102). 

Considering the vast array of systems and organisational arrangements that together constitute the production, distribution and consumption of food, I have craft three theoretical conceptualisations to organise my thoughts. They are:
1.	those already ‘determined’ notions which follow existing dominant neo-liberal systems, forms, and mind-sets; 
2.	those ‘improved determined’ ideas considered as alternative approaches to existing ‘determined’ ones but that involve some intention to achieve positive adaptation to a ‘determined’ configuration; and
3.	those ‘indeterminate’ perspectives where alternative initiatives or propositions could be considered but outcomes are unknown or yet to be determined.

Through these three conceptualisations, I illuminate the many ways vulnerable individuals and households are disadvantaged through and by current ‘determined’ systems, forms and mind-sets. I argue increasing corporate control over global food production and distribution is evident. I address academic debates around food context and I question the veracity and efficacy of food assistance programs and systems as a remedy for hunger. Specifically in Aotearoa New Zealand I deliberate on the impression being left by the elephants in the paddocks, the giant corporates whose footprints can be followed well beyond the farm gate. 

The extent to which any social researcher can contribute to transformative change while unintentionally participating in a system that dominates, marginalises or oppresses is a contemporary challenge for all activists with critical intent. In this thesis I have characterised stories of domination or marginalisation within food systems and given a space for these stories of the positioning of the vulnerable to be told.

year: 2013

title: Coulomb-oscillator duality in spaces of constant curvature

authors: Kalnins, Ernie G.

subjects: Mathematics

abstract: In this paper we construct generalizations to spheres of the well-known Levi-Civita, Kustaanheimo–Steifel, and Hurwitz regularizing transformations in Euclidean spaces of dimensions two, three, and five. The corresponding classical and quantum mechanical analogs of the Kepler–Coulomb problem on these spheres are discussed.

text: Coulomb-oscillator duality in spaces of constant curvature In this paper we construct generalizations to spheres of the well-known Levi-Civita, Kustaanheimo–Steifel, and Hurwitz regularizing transformations in Euclidean spaces of dimensions two, three, and five. The corresponding classical and quantum mechanical analogs of the Kepler–Coulomb problem on these spheres are discussed.

year: 2000-05

title: Applying Kaupapa Māori Processes to Documentary Film.

authors: Waititi, Kahurangi Rora

subjects: Maori documentary

abstract: This thesis explores the application of Kaupapa Māori processes to documentary filmmaking through practiced-led research. The need for this research came to light through the experience of witnessing unacceptable behaviour shown by film crews towards kaumātua who were attending the 2006 28th Māori Battalion Reunion. In reflecting on this experience and considering my own filming experience as a person with a Te Ao Māori background, the basis for this argument was conceived. This thesis argues that there are alternative ways in which filming can be conducted by considering processes that already exist within Māori practices and philosophies.          

This Thesis, therefore, investigates alternative processes of filming that have developed from a Kaupapa Māori perspective through practical filming experience.  An historical overview of the relationship between Māori, media and filming practices have been provided to give context to this discussion.  The application of Kaupapa Māori processes to film was considered through the use of Marae protocol and philosophies. The application of these concepts was supported by the creative research which was utilised by referencing specific examples. The reader is, therefore, instructed to refer to the DVD in the front of the thesis as referenced in the written text.

text: Applying Kaupapa Māori Processes to Documentary Film. This thesis explores the application of Kaupapa Māori processes to documentary filmmaking through practiced-led research. The need for this research came to light through the experience of witnessing unacceptable behaviour shown by film crews towards kaumātua who were attending the 2006 28th Māori Battalion Reunion. In reflecting on this experience and considering my own filming experience as a person with a Te Ao Māori background, the basis for this argument was conceived. This thesis argues that there are alternative ways in which filming can be conducted by considering processes that already exist within Māori practices and philosophies.          

This Thesis, therefore, investigates alternative processes of filming that have developed from a Kaupapa Māori perspective through practical filming experience.  An historical overview of the relationship between Māori, media and filming practices have been provided to give context to this discussion.  The application of Kaupapa Māori processes to film was considered through the use of Marae protocol and philosophies. The application of these concepts was supported by the creative research which was utilised by referencing specific examples. The reader is, therefore, instructed to refer to the DVD in the front of the thesis as referenced in the written text.

year: 2007