title: Donna Awatere’s Māori Sovereignty: Reflections on White Supremacy and the Racialization of Crime Control and Surveillance in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Dawson, Brian

abstract: Donna Awatere’s examination of whiteness within the Aotearoa New Zealand context, specifically white cultural imperialism, has largely been ignored in academic scholarship. For her, white culture, and its articulation through governance and policy, is the starting point and lens to understanding and addressing historical and contemporary Māori dispossession and ensuing strategies of racialized surveillance, control, and containment. In this essay, we argue that Awatere’s attention to past forms of genocide – mapping them to emerging forms of state confinement of Māori, which engender genocidal characteristics, and problematizing “whiteness” – situates the book Māori Sovereignty as an important text in the field of criminal justice, especially that which manifests in settler-colonial contexts.

text: Donna Awatere’s Māori Sovereignty: Reflections on White Supremacy and the Racialization of Crime Control and Surveillance in Aotearoa New Zealand Donna Awatere’s examination of whiteness within the Aotearoa New Zealand context, specifically white cultural imperialism, has largely been ignored in academic scholarship. For her, white culture, and its articulation through governance and policy, is the starting point and lens to understanding and addressing historical and contemporary Māori dispossession and ensuing strategies of racialized surveillance, control, and containment. In this essay, we argue that Awatere’s attention to past forms of genocide – mapping them to emerging forms of state confinement of Māori, which engender genocidal characteristics, and problematizing “whiteness” – situates the book Māori Sovereignty as an important text in the field of criminal justice, especially that which manifests in settler-colonial contexts.

year: 2023-07-27

title: Te Kotahitanga: culturally responsive professional development for teachers

authors: Bishop, Russell

subjects: indigenous

abstract: Te Kotahitanga is a research and professional development project that aims to support teachers to raise the achievement of New Zealand's indigenous Māori students in public/mainstream classrooms. An Effective Teaching Profile, developed from the voices of Māori students, their families, principals and some of their teachers, provides direction and focus for both the classroom pedagogy and the professional development. While the authors understand that there are many institutional changes necessary at the school level, this paper focuses on the professional learning opportunities developed for classroom teachers within this project to support the development of more effective classroom relationships and interactions with Māori students. This has resulted in Māori students attending school more regularly, engaging as learners and achieving to levels where they begin to realise their true potential.

text: Te Kotahitanga: culturally responsive professional development for teachers Te Kotahitanga is a research and professional development project that aims to support teachers to raise the achievement of New Zealand's indigenous Māori students in public/mainstream classrooms. An Effective Teaching Profile, developed from the voices of Māori students, their families, principals and some of their teachers, provides direction and focus for both the classroom pedagogy and the professional development. While the authors understand that there are many institutional changes necessary at the school level, this paper focuses on the professional learning opportunities developed for classroom teachers within this project to support the development of more effective classroom relationships and interactions with Māori students. This has resulted in Māori students attending school more regularly, engaging as learners and achieving to levels where they begin to realise their true potential.

year: 2010-05

title: Characterization of the potential drug target serine acetyltransferase (CysE) from Acinetobacter baumannii: A Pacific lens on biochemical research

authors: Usu, Jessicca Eva

abstract: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents a critical global health threat, with Acinetobacter baumannii being a key pathogen due to its multidrug resistance. With no new antibiotic classes discovered since the 1980s, novel therapeutic targets are urgently needed. This thesis explores the potential of targeting the cysteine biosynthesis pathway, specifically the enzyme serine acetyltransferase (CysE), as a means to develop innovative antimicrobial strategies. Cysteine plays a pivotal role in bacterial survival and defense, particularly in oxidative stress resistance. Targeting its biosynthesis may impair bacterial virulence and enhance susceptibility to immune responses.

This research focuses on the characterization of CysE from A. baumannii, which uniquely expresses a short and full-length of this enzyme. While we were unable to optimize expression of the short form in this thesis, the long form was successfully expressed, purified, and biochemically and structurally characterized for the first time. Using X-ray crystallography, we present the three-dimensional structure of CysE from A. baumannii to a resolution of 2.14 Å. CysE adopts a homohexameric conformation, forming a dimer of trimers, and features an alpha-helical extension. SAXS analysis validated that the long form exists as a homohexamer in solution. Furthermore, using enzymatic assays we show CysE has serine acetyltransferase activity and is sensitive to feedback inhibition by pathway product L-cysteine, highlighting the regulatory mechanisms of this crucial enzyme. This work improves our understanding of cysteine biosynthesis in A. baumannii and provides a model for structure-based virtual inhibitor screening to identify potential new antimicrobials. 

In addition to its scientific objectives, this research is framed within the Fa'afaletui framework, an Indigenous Samoan methodology that ensures cultural perspectives are integrated into the scientific process. This approach ensures that Pacific values inform the direction of AMR research, fostering solutions that are not only scientifically rigorous but are also culturally relevant and accessible. The research serves to address the health inequities faced by Pacific peoples, particularly in relation to infectious diseases and AMR, and provides a foundation for future antimicrobial drug development efforts.

text: Characterization of the potential drug target serine acetyltransferase (CysE) from Acinetobacter baumannii: A Pacific lens on biochemical research Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents a critical global health threat, with Acinetobacter baumannii being a key pathogen due to its multidrug resistance. With no new antibiotic classes discovered since the 1980s, novel therapeutic targets are urgently needed. This thesis explores the potential of targeting the cysteine biosynthesis pathway, specifically the enzyme serine acetyltransferase (CysE), as a means to develop innovative antimicrobial strategies. Cysteine plays a pivotal role in bacterial survival and defense, particularly in oxidative stress resistance. Targeting its biosynthesis may impair bacterial virulence and enhance susceptibility to immune responses.

This research focuses on the characterization of CysE from A. baumannii, which uniquely expresses a short and full-length of this enzyme. While we were unable to optimize expression of the short form in this thesis, the long form was successfully expressed, purified, and biochemically and structurally characterized for the first time. Using X-ray crystallography, we present the three-dimensional structure of CysE from A. baumannii to a resolution of 2.14 Å. CysE adopts a homohexameric conformation, forming a dimer of trimers, and features an alpha-helical extension. SAXS analysis validated that the long form exists as a homohexamer in solution. Furthermore, using enzymatic assays we show CysE has serine acetyltransferase activity and is sensitive to feedback inhibition by pathway product L-cysteine, highlighting the regulatory mechanisms of this crucial enzyme. This work improves our understanding of cysteine biosynthesis in A. baumannii and provides a model for structure-based virtual inhibitor screening to identify potential new antimicrobials. 

In addition to its scientific objectives, this research is framed within the Fa'afaletui framework, an Indigenous Samoan methodology that ensures cultural perspectives are integrated into the scientific process. This approach ensures that Pacific values inform the direction of AMR research, fostering solutions that are not only scientifically rigorous but are also culturally relevant and accessible. The research serves to address the health inequities faced by Pacific peoples, particularly in relation to infectious diseases and AMR, and provides a foundation for future antimicrobial drug development efforts.

year: 2024