title: Critically assessing energy hardship in Aotearoa New Zealand for strategising its eradication

authors: Fernandes Brabo, Luiza

subjects: Energy hardship

abstract: Energy hardship is a condition relating to the lack of energy access and affordability, with the latter being the most relevant aspect to New Zealand. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Kiwis are struggling with the condition, causing financial and health issues.

This doctoral thesis, with publications, uses transition management as the framework to guide the study towards answering the main research question: What are the best interventions needed to eradicate energy hardship in Aotearoa? The first step, (known as the strategic one, according to the transition management framework) was a systematic literature review conducted to understand the recent and relevant international literature on fuel poverty, energy poverty, and energy hardship, all terms that get used in the literature Additionally, semi-structured interviews were carried out with five energy experts in New Zealand to find patterns in their perspectives on the meaning of fuel poverty and energy hardship.

For the second step, tactical, sixteen people employed by sixteen organisations in Aotearoa participated in semi-structured interviews about their current interventions against energy hardship. The themes found in their responses were compared to the energy hardship framework proposed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in 2021 to see if the interventions from the interviewed organisations were effective.

In the operational step, a quantitative study was divided into two parts: one survey with 773 customers from a low-cost electricity retailer (OurPower) in the Waikato region and another survey with 505 respondents in a nationally representative sample. Seventeen energy hardship indicators proposed by MBIE were used and correlated to household and dwelling characteristics and energy behaviours to understand better the causes and consequences of energy hardship in Aotearoa.

In the last step, reflexive, three follow-up surveys were conducted: one with organisations seeking feedback from their operations and plans, another with the nationally representative sample and the OurPower customers, which sought their opinions on survey rewards and other energy interventions they engaged in recently. All the follow-up surveys asked respondents about the role of each type of organisation (such as local government, national government, non-governmental organisations, and energy sector) in reducing energy hardship.

It was found that the best practices mostly related to reducing the energy bills of households. When linking the respondents’ suggestions to the concept of energy democracy, it became clear that more democratic and decentralised decision-making in the energy sector (e.g. community-owned infrastructure) can reduce energy costs, which is a priority for households. Increasing dwelling standards for insulation and overall energy efficiency and ensuring construction companies and landlords follow them is also of essential need. For Aotearoa to achieve energy wellbeing, we need to focus more on collaboration at the community level, not only the household level.

text: Critically assessing energy hardship in Aotearoa New Zealand for strategising its eradication Energy hardship is a condition relating to the lack of energy access and affordability, with the latter being the most relevant aspect to New Zealand. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Kiwis are struggling with the condition, causing financial and health issues.

This doctoral thesis, with publications, uses transition management as the framework to guide the study towards answering the main research question: What are the best interventions needed to eradicate energy hardship in Aotearoa? The first step, (known as the strategic one, according to the transition management framework) was a systematic literature review conducted to understand the recent and relevant international literature on fuel poverty, energy poverty, and energy hardship, all terms that get used in the literature Additionally, semi-structured interviews were carried out with five energy experts in New Zealand to find patterns in their perspectives on the meaning of fuel poverty and energy hardship.

For the second step, tactical, sixteen people employed by sixteen organisations in Aotearoa participated in semi-structured interviews about their current interventions against energy hardship. The themes found in their responses were compared to the energy hardship framework proposed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in 2021 to see if the interventions from the interviewed organisations were effective.

In the operational step, a quantitative study was divided into two parts: one survey with 773 customers from a low-cost electricity retailer (OurPower) in the Waikato region and another survey with 505 respondents in a nationally representative sample. Seventeen energy hardship indicators proposed by MBIE were used and correlated to household and dwelling characteristics and energy behaviours to understand better the causes and consequences of energy hardship in Aotearoa.

In the last step, reflexive, three follow-up surveys were conducted: one with organisations seeking feedback from their operations and plans, another with the nationally representative sample and the OurPower customers, which sought their opinions on survey rewards and other energy interventions they engaged in recently. All the follow-up surveys asked respondents about the role of each type of organisation (such as local government, national government, non-governmental organisations, and energy sector) in reducing energy hardship.

It was found that the best practices mostly related to reducing the energy bills of households. When linking the respondents’ suggestions to the concept of energy democracy, it became clear that more democratic and decentralised decision-making in the energy sector (e.g. community-owned infrastructure) can reduce energy costs, which is a priority for households. Increasing dwelling standards for insulation and overall energy efficiency and ensuring construction companies and landlords follow them is also of essential need. For Aotearoa to achieve energy wellbeing, we need to focus more on collaboration at the community level, not only the household level.

year: 2023

title: Health ‘in queer street’: constituting sickness, sexualities and bodies in the spaces of lesbian health

authors: MacBride-Stewart, Sara

abstract: This thesis explores lesbian health. The appeal of this project is its attention to the constitutions, resistances, and reproductions involved in the construction of ‘lesbian health’. ‘Lesbian health’ provides the context for exploring the meanings of health, sickness, sexuality, and bodies. The analysis takes place in three stages. It begins with a review of gay-positive studies of lesbian health. Second, is a discourse analysis of constructions of ‘health’, ‘illness’, and ‘sexuality’. It concludes with a critical analysis of the fluid and leaky constitutions of gendered sexualities and bodies. 

I conduct a study with 17 self-identified lesbians, using open-ended interviews that cover a variety of topics in the areas of health practices and concerns. Feminist Foucauldian approaches inform the critical discourse analysis of the interviewee’s accounts. An examination of the co-constitution of discourses about ‘health’ and ‘sickness’ in relation to ‘lesbian’ sexualities reveals a binary relationship. That is, health for lesbians is constituted as overcoming the societal pressures and exclusions related to ‘being gay’, avoiding the implication that lesbian ‘health’ or ‘sickness’ may be inherent. I draw on Elizabeth Grosz's critical analysis of the corporeal as I examine lesbian bodies in the contexts of cervical screening and dental dams. In these health promotion contexts, ‘lesbian’ bodies are brought into being, but their presence is potentially threatening. Lesbian bodies are constituted, materially and discursively, as liminal, fluid, and abject. The consequence is that disclosure as ‘lesbian’ is self-regulated. Other consequences for cervical screening and safe sex promotion are explained by the leaky fluidity of bodies and places, which reinsert ‘lesbian’ into the hegemonic space and simultaneously render ‘lesbian’ external to such space.
 
I suggest that health practices, concerns, and promotion are ‘in queer street’, literally troubled by the unsettling of hegemonic assumptions. Focusing on the lived, sexed body in health research, using discursive and critical theoretical tools, may offer one more way of challenging assumptions about sexuality and gender, and raise questions in the practice and analysis of health that address diversity and difference.

text: Health ‘in queer street’: constituting sickness, sexualities and bodies in the spaces of lesbian health This thesis explores lesbian health. The appeal of this project is its attention to the constitutions, resistances, and reproductions involved in the construction of ‘lesbian health’. ‘Lesbian health’ provides the context for exploring the meanings of health, sickness, sexuality, and bodies. The analysis takes place in three stages. It begins with a review of gay-positive studies of lesbian health. Second, is a discourse analysis of constructions of ‘health’, ‘illness’, and ‘sexuality’. It concludes with a critical analysis of the fluid and leaky constitutions of gendered sexualities and bodies. 

I conduct a study with 17 self-identified lesbians, using open-ended interviews that cover a variety of topics in the areas of health practices and concerns. Feminist Foucauldian approaches inform the critical discourse analysis of the interviewee’s accounts. An examination of the co-constitution of discourses about ‘health’ and ‘sickness’ in relation to ‘lesbian’ sexualities reveals a binary relationship. That is, health for lesbians is constituted as overcoming the societal pressures and exclusions related to ‘being gay’, avoiding the implication that lesbian ‘health’ or ‘sickness’ may be inherent. I draw on Elizabeth Grosz's critical analysis of the corporeal as I examine lesbian bodies in the contexts of cervical screening and dental dams. In these health promotion contexts, ‘lesbian’ bodies are brought into being, but their presence is potentially threatening. Lesbian bodies are constituted, materially and discursively, as liminal, fluid, and abject. The consequence is that disclosure as ‘lesbian’ is self-regulated. Other consequences for cervical screening and safe sex promotion are explained by the leaky fluidity of bodies and places, which reinsert ‘lesbian’ into the hegemonic space and simultaneously render ‘lesbian’ external to such space.
 
I suggest that health practices, concerns, and promotion are ‘in queer street’, literally troubled by the unsettling of hegemonic assumptions. Focusing on the lived, sexed body in health research, using discursive and critical theoretical tools, may offer one more way of challenging assumptions about sexuality and gender, and raise questions in the practice and analysis of health that address diversity and difference.

year: 2001

title: The first accurate and precise calendar dating of New Zealand Māori Pā, using Otāhau Pā as a case study.

authors: Hogg, Alan G.

subjects: Māori pā

abstract: This research investigates the potential of radiocarbon wiggle-match dating of palisade posts to provide precise and accurate calendar ages for Māori pā (forts), using Otāhau Pā in the inland Waikato region, New Zealand, as a case study. Even though pā are a dominant element of the pre-European North Island archaeological landscape, they are poorly understood archaeologically, with systematic investigations hampered by the relative lack of precision in radiocarbon dating within the context of New Zealand’s comparatively short prehistory. Using the Southern Hemisphere calibration curve SHCal13, we determine wiggle-match calibrated ages for three palisade posts, using different sampling resolutions to determine the cost- effectiveness of the method. We also test the accuracy of the wiggle-match by obtaining new Southern Hemisphere calibration data from known calendar-age kauri.

text: The first accurate and precise calendar dating of New Zealand Māori Pā, using Otāhau Pā as a case study. This research investigates the potential of radiocarbon wiggle-match dating of palisade posts to provide precise and accurate calendar ages for Māori pā (forts), using Otāhau Pā in the inland Waikato region, New Zealand, as a case study. Even though pā are a dominant element of the pre-European North Island archaeological landscape, they are poorly understood archaeologically, with systematic investigations hampered by the relative lack of precision in radiocarbon dating within the context of New Zealand’s comparatively short prehistory. Using the Southern Hemisphere calibration curve SHCal13, we determine wiggle-match calibrated ages for three palisade posts, using different sampling resolutions to determine the cost- effectiveness of the method. We also test the accuracy of the wiggle-match by obtaining new Southern Hemisphere calibration data from known calendar-age kauri.

year: 2017