title: Women's contemporary yoga lifestyles: An embodied ethnography of becomings

authors: Jeffrey, Allison

subjects: Yoga

abstract: Within this thesis, I offer insight into the lifestyles of contemporary women Yoga practitioners. Delving into complex and nuanced experiences of women embodying Yoga lifestyles offers multiple opportunities to extend upon current understandings. In examining the various ways that the women of this study are navigating an increasingly popular movement culture that has foundations in ancient texts from India, I illustrate how today’s Yoga lifestyles are a cumulative expression of ancient and contemporary knowledges.

Moving alongside women practitioners throughout an embodied ethnographic study, I gained deep insights into the philosophies and practices of the women. Informed by the experiences of 19 women living in the Waikato region of Aotearoa/New Zealand through in-depth and informal interviews, observations, journals and focus groups, I offer rich, embodied knowledge from the women alongside my own creative writing. Engaging in feminist methods and in dialogue with yogic principles, I build an entangled ethnographic approach inspired by both the embodied philosophies of Yoga practitioners and contemporary feminist theory. Working at this intersection, I develop a mutually enriching research experience where multiple ways of knowing and a complex engagement with both theory and method can resonate. 

Findings are presented in three empirical chapters that demonstrate nuanced and complex understandings of women’s Yoga lifestyles. The first addresses the concept of lifestyle as understood by contemporary women Yoga practitioners. Drawing upon feminist lifestyles research, this chapter follows these women’s journeys as they claim and maintain Yoga lifestyles. The second chapter moves into a dialogue with feminist new materialisms, and in particular, Karen Barad’s (2007) concept of entanglement. I conceptualise an entangled Yoga body as always intra-acting and continually becoming. Using the women’s experiences, Barad’s concept, and evocative writing, I provide three examples (breath, Yoga mats and the heart) to represent an entangled Yoga body. The third and final empirical chapter weaves together recent work from Rosi Braidotti (2019) with insights from the women to contemplate the components of Yoga lifestyles as expressed by the women’s daily choices. This chapter suggests the women find meaning for their contemporary Yoga lifestyles through everyday ethically-informed acts contributing to an affirmative becoming. 

Moving, teaching and embodying Yoga philosophy as a researcher and experienced member of the Yoga community, I consider the complexity of the women’s lived experiences and my place amongst them. Inquiring deeply into questions around embodiment, materiality, and posthumanism, I develop an ethico-onto-epistemological stance that extends upon previous Yoga lifestyle research and contributes to the growing body of literature on women’s lived experiences in moving bodies.

text: Women's contemporary yoga lifestyles: An embodied ethnography of becomings Within this thesis, I offer insight into the lifestyles of contemporary women Yoga practitioners. Delving into complex and nuanced experiences of women embodying Yoga lifestyles offers multiple opportunities to extend upon current understandings. In examining the various ways that the women of this study are navigating an increasingly popular movement culture that has foundations in ancient texts from India, I illustrate how today’s Yoga lifestyles are a cumulative expression of ancient and contemporary knowledges.

Moving alongside women practitioners throughout an embodied ethnographic study, I gained deep insights into the philosophies and practices of the women. Informed by the experiences of 19 women living in the Waikato region of Aotearoa/New Zealand through in-depth and informal interviews, observations, journals and focus groups, I offer rich, embodied knowledge from the women alongside my own creative writing. Engaging in feminist methods and in dialogue with yogic principles, I build an entangled ethnographic approach inspired by both the embodied philosophies of Yoga practitioners and contemporary feminist theory. Working at this intersection, I develop a mutually enriching research experience where multiple ways of knowing and a complex engagement with both theory and method can resonate. 

Findings are presented in three empirical chapters that demonstrate nuanced and complex understandings of women’s Yoga lifestyles. The first addresses the concept of lifestyle as understood by contemporary women Yoga practitioners. Drawing upon feminist lifestyles research, this chapter follows these women’s journeys as they claim and maintain Yoga lifestyles. The second chapter moves into a dialogue with feminist new materialisms, and in particular, Karen Barad’s (2007) concept of entanglement. I conceptualise an entangled Yoga body as always intra-acting and continually becoming. Using the women’s experiences, Barad’s concept, and evocative writing, I provide three examples (breath, Yoga mats and the heart) to represent an entangled Yoga body. The third and final empirical chapter weaves together recent work from Rosi Braidotti (2019) with insights from the women to contemplate the components of Yoga lifestyles as expressed by the women’s daily choices. This chapter suggests the women find meaning for their contemporary Yoga lifestyles through everyday ethically-informed acts contributing to an affirmative becoming. 

Moving, teaching and embodying Yoga philosophy as a researcher and experienced member of the Yoga community, I consider the complexity of the women’s lived experiences and my place amongst them. Inquiring deeply into questions around embodiment, materiality, and posthumanism, I develop an ethico-onto-epistemological stance that extends upon previous Yoga lifestyle research and contributes to the growing body of literature on women’s lived experiences in moving bodies.

year: 2020

title: Laptops for teachers: practices and possibilities

authors: Cowie, Bronwen

subjects: teachers’ laptops

abstract: The Laptops for Teachers scheme in New Zealand provides teachers whose schools opt into the scheme access to a laptop for their exclusive use. This paper reports on the findings of the three‐year evaluation of the impact of the laptops on secondary teachers’ work. The findings indicate that school leadership has been pivotal to the provision of the technological infrastructure and organisational support needed for teacher use of the laptops. Departmental leadership has been crucial in supporting teacher use of laptops for teaching and learning. Teachers described gains in expertise, indicating that they used the laptop for a range of purposes to support their teaching. These included lesson planning and preparation, and reporting. Where teachers had easy access to a laptop‐plus‐data projector they found that students responded to material that included images and up‐to‐date real‐world examples. Colleagues were identified as the main source of professional development for the use of the laptop for teaching purposes. The findings of the study suggest schools are advised to consider how to support teachers to work collaboratively to share expertise as a way of supporting and extending teacher use of laptops.

text: Laptops for teachers: practices and possibilities The Laptops for Teachers scheme in New Zealand provides teachers whose schools opt into the scheme access to a laptop for their exclusive use. This paper reports on the findings of the three‐year evaluation of the impact of the laptops on secondary teachers’ work. The findings indicate that school leadership has been pivotal to the provision of the technological infrastructure and organisational support needed for teacher use of the laptops. Departmental leadership has been crucial in supporting teacher use of laptops for teaching and learning. Teachers described gains in expertise, indicating that they used the laptop for a range of purposes to support their teaching. These included lesson planning and preparation, and reporting. Where teachers had easy access to a laptop‐plus‐data projector they found that students responded to material that included images and up‐to‐date real‐world examples. Colleagues were identified as the main source of professional development for the use of the laptop for teaching purposes. The findings of the study suggest schools are advised to consider how to support teachers to work collaboratively to share expertise as a way of supporting and extending teacher use of laptops.

year: 2011

title: Riariakina ō rongo hirikapo From kōhanga reo to kura

authors: Hohepa, Margie Kahukura

abstract: Ko te kaupapa tonu, ko te whakatupu i te mahara o te hirikapo kia tiu ai ki te muri, arā, kia puta he whakaaro i pokepokengia nō roto tonu i ngā whakahekenga kāwai o ngā tūpuna o te tamaiti, kua maranga te wā e kaumātua haere ana te tamaiti, ngōna kanohi kua huaki, ngōna taringa kua pīkari, ngā whakaaro kua korikori, tōna wairua hīkaka kua ngawhā, ngērā kaupapa katoa o te tamaiti i taua wā o te tupu. Mā tēnei kōrero hoki hei kawe te taonga o te rongo hirikapo, arā, ngā whakaaro, ngā mahara, nāna ko te waha, nā te waha ko te kupu kōrero e makere iho ai i te ārero tarapepe. Heoi anō he tohutohu anō kei roto e kī ana, manaakingia ngā kai o te hirikapo o te tamaiti, he taonga. Ki te kore e tika te manaakingia e ngā mātua, tērā te wā ka ātitirauhea i te puāwaitanga o te rau. Ngērā kaupapa katoa. (Haki Tuaupiki, 2013)
This project grew out of the desire of a kōhanga and a kura—Te Kōhanga Reo o Ngā Kuaka and Tōku Māpihi Maurea Kura Kaupapa Māori respectively—to enhance transitions between their two sites for tamariki and whānau. Although visits to Tōku Māpihi Maurea before beginning at the kura were available for Ngā Kuaka tamariki on acceptance for enrolment, the instigators of this project believed a more formal transition programme would be beneficial to tamariki and their whānau. The kōhanga and kura were interested in tamariki and whānau experiencing a more effective transition across the two environments and the learning and curriculum in those respective sites.
The kōhanga and kura approached researchers at the University of Waikato Te Kura Toi Tangata Faculty of Education with the research question below and together we developed the proposal. From the outset the project was collaborative, cross-sector, and involved researchers from the kōhanga, the kura and the university.

text: Riariakina ō rongo hirikapo From kōhanga reo to kura Ko te kaupapa tonu, ko te whakatupu i te mahara o te hirikapo kia tiu ai ki te muri, arā, kia puta he whakaaro i pokepokengia nō roto tonu i ngā whakahekenga kāwai o ngā tūpuna o te tamaiti, kua maranga te wā e kaumātua haere ana te tamaiti, ngōna kanohi kua huaki, ngōna taringa kua pīkari, ngā whakaaro kua korikori, tōna wairua hīkaka kua ngawhā, ngērā kaupapa katoa o te tamaiti i taua wā o te tupu. Mā tēnei kōrero hoki hei kawe te taonga o te rongo hirikapo, arā, ngā whakaaro, ngā mahara, nāna ko te waha, nā te waha ko te kupu kōrero e makere iho ai i te ārero tarapepe. Heoi anō he tohutohu anō kei roto e kī ana, manaakingia ngā kai o te hirikapo o te tamaiti, he taonga. Ki te kore e tika te manaakingia e ngā mātua, tērā te wā ka ātitirauhea i te puāwaitanga o te rau. Ngērā kaupapa katoa. (Haki Tuaupiki, 2013)
This project grew out of the desire of a kōhanga and a kura—Te Kōhanga Reo o Ngā Kuaka and Tōku Māpihi Maurea Kura Kaupapa Māori respectively—to enhance transitions between their two sites for tamariki and whānau. Although visits to Tōku Māpihi Maurea before beginning at the kura were available for Ngā Kuaka tamariki on acceptance for enrolment, the instigators of this project believed a more formal transition programme would be beneficial to tamariki and their whānau. The kōhanga and kura were interested in tamariki and whānau experiencing a more effective transition across the two environments and the learning and curriculum in those respective sites.
The kōhanga and kura approached researchers at the University of Waikato Te Kura Toi Tangata Faculty of Education with the research question below and together we developed the proposal. From the outset the project was collaborative, cross-sector, and involved researchers from the kōhanga, the kura and the university.

year: 2017