title: The Nourishing Revolution: Exploring the Praxis of the Weston A. Price Foundation

authors: Ritchie, Isa Pearl

subjects: Weston A. Price Foundation

abstract: As consumers of food, we are faced with many choices every day. We are encouraged to make healthy choices, but ‘healthy’ in today’s supermarket can mean many things: heart healthy, light, lite, cholesterol reducing, gluten or dairy free, organic, locally made or biodynamic. The discourses around food are now expansive, confusing and contradictory. Using a lens of Freirean praxis, this thesis explores the dispraxia of modern food and the praxis of the Weston A. Price foundation (WAPF) and wider Nourishing Food Movement, (NFM), which offers an alternative. The movement calls for a return to more traditional ways of selecting, preparing and eating food. For example, it emphasises soaking grains, preparing meals from scratch, and using less processed saturated fat and non-pasteurised milk. The thesis also challenges and debunks the discourse of modern food by exploring the controversy around the consumption of animal fat and raw milk. The praxis of the WAPF and NFM is explored more deeply through qualitative case studies investigating internet blogs. The blogs serve as a dynamic and interactive example of libratory education, in comparison with messages and recipes provided by the dominant, corporate, food industry. The interplay of multiple discourses and subject positions around gender and class in food blogging are examined in a reflexive blog-based discussion, highlighting the layered complexity which must be navigated and reconciled by individuals when making food choices. Overall, this thesis argues that the praxis of the WAPF acts to help empower consumers to make more genuine choices by providing techniques and information with which they can navigate the modern food context.

text: The Nourishing Revolution: Exploring the Praxis of the Weston A. Price Foundation As consumers of food, we are faced with many choices every day. We are encouraged to make healthy choices, but ‘healthy’ in today’s supermarket can mean many things: heart healthy, light, lite, cholesterol reducing, gluten or dairy free, organic, locally made or biodynamic. The discourses around food are now expansive, confusing and contradictory. Using a lens of Freirean praxis, this thesis explores the dispraxia of modern food and the praxis of the Weston A. Price foundation (WAPF) and wider Nourishing Food Movement, (NFM), which offers an alternative. The movement calls for a return to more traditional ways of selecting, preparing and eating food. For example, it emphasises soaking grains, preparing meals from scratch, and using less processed saturated fat and non-pasteurised milk. The thesis also challenges and debunks the discourse of modern food by exploring the controversy around the consumption of animal fat and raw milk. The praxis of the WAPF and NFM is explored more deeply through qualitative case studies investigating internet blogs. The blogs serve as a dynamic and interactive example of libratory education, in comparison with messages and recipes provided by the dominant, corporate, food industry. The interplay of multiple discourses and subject positions around gender and class in food blogging are examined in a reflexive blog-based discussion, highlighting the layered complexity which must be navigated and reconciled by individuals when making food choices. Overall, this thesis argues that the praxis of the WAPF acts to help empower consumers to make more genuine choices by providing techniques and information with which they can navigate the modern food context.

year: 2011

title: In situ collection and preservation of intact Microcystis colonies to assess population diversity and microcystin quotas

authors: Puddick, Jonathan

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Understanding of colony specific properties of cyanobacteria in the natural environment has been challenging because sampling methods disaggregate colonies and there are often delays before they can be isolated and preserved. Microcystis is a ubiquitous cyanobacteria that forms large colonies in situ and often produces microcystins, a potent hepatotoxin. In the present study a new cryo-sampling technique was used to collect intact Microcystis colonies in situ by embedding them in a sheet of ice. Thirty-two of these Microcystis colonies were investigated with image analysis, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction and high-throughput sequencing to assess their volume, microcystin quota and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) genotype diversity. Microcystin quotas were positively correlated to colony volume (R² = 0.32; p = 0.004). Individual colonies had low Microcystis ITS genotype diversity and one ITS operational taxonomic unit predominated in all samples. This study demonstrates the utility of the cryo-sampling method to enhance the understanding of colony-specific properties of cyanobacteria with higher precision than previously possible.

text: In situ collection and preservation of intact Microcystis colonies to assess population diversity and microcystin quotas Understanding of colony specific properties of cyanobacteria in the natural environment has been challenging because sampling methods disaggregate colonies and there are often delays before they can be isolated and preserved. Microcystis is a ubiquitous cyanobacteria that forms large colonies in situ and often produces microcystins, a potent hepatotoxin. In the present study a new cryo-sampling technique was used to collect intact Microcystis colonies in situ by embedding them in a sheet of ice. Thirty-two of these Microcystis colonies were investigated with image analysis, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction and high-throughput sequencing to assess their volume, microcystin quota and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) genotype diversity. Microcystin quotas were positively correlated to colony volume (R² = 0.32; p = 0.004). Individual colonies had low Microcystis ITS genotype diversity and one ITS operational taxonomic unit predominated in all samples. This study demonstrates the utility of the cryo-sampling method to enhance the understanding of colony-specific properties of cyanobacteria with higher precision than previously possible.

year: 2019

title: Bilingual behaviour checklists: initiating a student, teacher and parent partnership in behaviour management.

authors: Glynn, Ted

subjects: bilingual education

abstract: Three bilingual (Maori and English) behavioural checklists formed part of a project designed to facilitate student, teacher and whanau collaboration in overcoming behavioural difficulties experienced by Maori students, (Hei Awhina Matua). The checklists assessed rankings by 163 students, 21 teachers and 96 whanau members of (1) contexts in which problem behaviours occur, (2) specific problem behaviours and (3) specific most valued behaviours. Data were gathered in three schools: a mainstream intermediate school with a Māori medium syndicate of three classes, a rural Kura Kaupapa Maori (Maori-controlled total immersion school) and a bilingual contributing primary school. While the three schools differed markedly in location, size, and in the proportion of Maori students enrolled, the rankings of settings and behaviours by students, teachers and whanau in each school were highly similar. The paper discusses how these data contributed to the design and development of the Hei Awhina Matua video and training manual, and provided a first step towards a collaborative student teacher and parent partnership in the management of student behaviour.

text: Bilingual behaviour checklists: initiating a student, teacher and parent partnership in behaviour management. Three bilingual (Maori and English) behavioural checklists formed part of a project designed to facilitate student, teacher and whanau collaboration in overcoming behavioural difficulties experienced by Maori students, (Hei Awhina Matua). The checklists assessed rankings by 163 students, 21 teachers and 96 whanau members of (1) contexts in which problem behaviours occur, (2) specific problem behaviours and (3) specific most valued behaviours. Data were gathered in three schools: a mainstream intermediate school with a Māori medium syndicate of three classes, a rural Kura Kaupapa Maori (Maori-controlled total immersion school) and a bilingual contributing primary school. While the three schools differed markedly in location, size, and in the proportion of Maori students enrolled, the rankings of settings and behaviours by students, teachers and whanau in each school were highly similar. The paper discusses how these data contributed to the design and development of the Hei Awhina Matua video and training manual, and provided a first step towards a collaborative student teacher and parent partnership in the management of student behaviour.

year: 2001