title: Tangihanga: Through the eyes of young Maori women

authors: Wihongi, Hemaima

subjects: tangihanga

abstract: Tangihanga describes the Māori customary way of approaching death. The aim of this research is to explore the tangihanga experiences of young Māori women. The meanings they create, the learning they experience, and the social relationships they negotiate whilst at tangihanga are of interest. The contribution that tangihanga makes to mediating bereavement, grief and loss will also be investigated. This research seeks to broaden the understanding around the practices, beliefs and meanings that are associated with the processes of Tangihanga as experienced by young Māori women.
This study interviewed young Māori women between the ages of eighteen to twenty four. Face to face interviews were carried out with the use of a semi-structured interview schedule. The interviews provided access to the participant‟s experiences and understanding of tangihanga and the customary practices that are associated with it.
The findings from this study support the notion that the tangihanga is a fundamental event for Māori. The participants found tangi to be a place where their relationships within both their immediate and extended whānau were strengthened. This setting allowed the young women to express their grief in an open and supportive environment surrounded by their whānau. The tangi also provided a place of learning for the young women as they learned about the tikanga and kawa or customary practices in relation to tangihanga. This learning occurred in a number of ways; by observation, through participation and the receiving of instruction from older family members. Thus the tangi provided the opportunity for the transfer of cultural knowledge between generations. These findings suggest that the tangi plays an important role in young women‟s lives as it provides them with access to Māori communities and cultural learning. The challenge for us today is to ensure that these opportunities continue to occur for young Māori women.

text: Tangihanga: Through the eyes of young Maori women Tangihanga describes the Māori customary way of approaching death. The aim of this research is to explore the tangihanga experiences of young Māori women. The meanings they create, the learning they experience, and the social relationships they negotiate whilst at tangihanga are of interest. The contribution that tangihanga makes to mediating bereavement, grief and loss will also be investigated. This research seeks to broaden the understanding around the practices, beliefs and meanings that are associated with the processes of Tangihanga as experienced by young Māori women.
This study interviewed young Māori women between the ages of eighteen to twenty four. Face to face interviews were carried out with the use of a semi-structured interview schedule. The interviews provided access to the participant‟s experiences and understanding of tangihanga and the customary practices that are associated with it.
The findings from this study support the notion that the tangihanga is a fundamental event for Māori. The participants found tangi to be a place where their relationships within both their immediate and extended whānau were strengthened. This setting allowed the young women to express their grief in an open and supportive environment surrounded by their whānau. The tangi also provided a place of learning for the young women as they learned about the tikanga and kawa or customary practices in relation to tangihanga. This learning occurred in a number of ways; by observation, through participation and the receiving of instruction from older family members. Thus the tangi provided the opportunity for the transfer of cultural knowledge between generations. These findings suggest that the tangi plays an important role in young women‟s lives as it provides them with access to Māori communities and cultural learning. The challenge for us today is to ensure that these opportunities continue to occur for young Māori women.

year: 2013

title: Lessons learned from the MV Rena: Reimagining maritime and resource management law

authors: Paul, Adrienne Joy

subjects: Resource Management Law - New Zealand

abstract: The main research question in this thesis is what lessons can Aotearoa New Zealand learn from the MV Rena grounding accident? This research is an historical account of the legal framework existing at the time of the MV Rena grounding. In addition, the thesis will outline the surrounding marine environment to examine the relevant regulatory system.
In the early morning of 5th October 2011, the MV Rena vessel struck Ōtāiti (Astrolabe Reef).  Initially, the accident concerned a response to the safety of the crew on board the MV Rena. However, the seriousness of the damage to the hull with part of Ōtāiti reef protruding through the keel, presented issues concerning the recovery strategy for the vessel and cargo from the coastal marine area.  The MV Rena grounding released oil, cargo, and equipment into the surrounding marine environment of Ōtāiti. The oil, cargo and equipment travelled by the ocean currents, spreading across large areas of the ocean. This caused environmental effects across the coastal marine area in the Bay of Plenty region. The grounding was the “worst maritime environmental disaster” Aotearoa New Zealand had ever seen. 

The government of the day and the MV Rena owner are committed to international obligations for preparing and responding to maritime disasters and marine pollution. However, the government of Aotearoa New Zealand was not a party to international obligations addressing groundings relative to bunker oil. In addition, when responding to environmental effects from the grounding the legal processes regulating the maritime and resource management system, caused distress to the local community in the Bay of Plenty region. Specifically, the people of Motiti Island (“Motiti”), relative to preserving and protecting their cultural and spiritual relationship with Ōtāiti and Motiti.

An analysis of maritime and resource management law at the international level and domestic level is explored in this thesis. Such as, marine pollution, and indigenous peoples’ rights (iwi Māori) in connection with the Maritime Transport Act 1994, the Resource Management Act 1991, the Waitangi Tribunal process and related planning and policy instruments.  The research concludes that, had the government of the day ratified relevant conventions prior to the MV Rena grounding incident, the outcome of the location of the ship may have been a completely different result, such as a full wreck removal, without opposition. Additionally, the research concludes that the gap in the laws regulating marine environments did not equip iwi Māori with protecting their interests, resulting in a spiritual injustice to the people of Motiti. This research reveals that maritime and resource management law still has a long way to go with supporting the indigenous people’s voice in Aotearoa New Zealand for sustainable marine solutions. This thesis conclude with recommendations directed at better maritime and resource management regulations and indigenous peoples’ involvement.

text: Lessons learned from the MV Rena: Reimagining maritime and resource management law The main research question in this thesis is what lessons can Aotearoa New Zealand learn from the MV Rena grounding accident? This research is an historical account of the legal framework existing at the time of the MV Rena grounding. In addition, the thesis will outline the surrounding marine environment to examine the relevant regulatory system.
In the early morning of 5th October 2011, the MV Rena vessel struck Ōtāiti (Astrolabe Reef).  Initially, the accident concerned a response to the safety of the crew on board the MV Rena. However, the seriousness of the damage to the hull with part of Ōtāiti reef protruding through the keel, presented issues concerning the recovery strategy for the vessel and cargo from the coastal marine area.  The MV Rena grounding released oil, cargo, and equipment into the surrounding marine environment of Ōtāiti. The oil, cargo and equipment travelled by the ocean currents, spreading across large areas of the ocean. This caused environmental effects across the coastal marine area in the Bay of Plenty region. The grounding was the “worst maritime environmental disaster” Aotearoa New Zealand had ever seen. 

The government of the day and the MV Rena owner are committed to international obligations for preparing and responding to maritime disasters and marine pollution. However, the government of Aotearoa New Zealand was not a party to international obligations addressing groundings relative to bunker oil. In addition, when responding to environmental effects from the grounding the legal processes regulating the maritime and resource management system, caused distress to the local community in the Bay of Plenty region. Specifically, the people of Motiti Island (“Motiti”), relative to preserving and protecting their cultural and spiritual relationship with Ōtāiti and Motiti.

An analysis of maritime and resource management law at the international level and domestic level is explored in this thesis. Such as, marine pollution, and indigenous peoples’ rights (iwi Māori) in connection with the Maritime Transport Act 1994, the Resource Management Act 1991, the Waitangi Tribunal process and related planning and policy instruments.  The research concludes that, had the government of the day ratified relevant conventions prior to the MV Rena grounding incident, the outcome of the location of the ship may have been a completely different result, such as a full wreck removal, without opposition. Additionally, the research concludes that the gap in the laws regulating marine environments did not equip iwi Māori with protecting their interests, resulting in a spiritual injustice to the people of Motiti. This research reveals that maritime and resource management law still has a long way to go with supporting the indigenous people’s voice in Aotearoa New Zealand for sustainable marine solutions. This thesis conclude with recommendations directed at better maritime and resource management regulations and indigenous peoples’ involvement.

year: 2022

title: Evolving artificial datasets to improve interpretable classifiers

authors: Mayo, Michael

subjects: Machine learning

abstract: Differential Evolution can be used to construct effective and compact artificial training datasets for machine learning algorithms. In this paper, a series of comparative experiments are performed in which two simple interpretable supervised classifiers (specifically, Naive Bayes and linear Support Vector Machines) are trained (i) directly on “real” data, as would be the normal case, and (ii) indirectly, using special artificial datasets derived from real data via evolutionary optimization. The results across several challenging test problems show that supervised classifiers trained indirectly using our novel evolution-based approach produce models with superior predictive classification performance. Besides presenting the accuracy of the learned models, we also analyze the sensitivity of our artificial data optimization process to Differential Evolution's parameters, and then we examine the statistical characteristics of the artificial data that is evolved.

text: Evolving artificial datasets to improve interpretable classifiers Differential Evolution can be used to construct effective and compact artificial training datasets for machine learning algorithms. In this paper, a series of comparative experiments are performed in which two simple interpretable supervised classifiers (specifically, Naive Bayes and linear Support Vector Machines) are trained (i) directly on “real” data, as would be the normal case, and (ii) indirectly, using special artificial datasets derived from real data via evolutionary optimization. The results across several challenging test problems show that supervised classifiers trained indirectly using our novel evolution-based approach produce models with superior predictive classification performance. Besides presenting the accuracy of the learned models, we also analyze the sensitivity of our artificial data optimization process to Differential Evolution's parameters, and then we examine the statistical characteristics of the artificial data that is evolved.

year: 2014