title: An Account of Championing Food for Vulnerable Households and Hungry Children in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Dey, Kahurangi Jean

subjects: food

abstract: Global food security became the focus of policy and media attention worldwide following the 2006-2008 food price spikes. In 2013, food security issues in Aotearoa New Zealand relate to access to food, ability to access food, food supply, food distribution and income poverty. I ponder issues of food (in)security and access(ability) to food for vulnerable households and hungry children; and debate the universal benefit to be achieved from various food initiatives. My surveillance of these issues includes consideration of ways people and planet are disadvantaged by, and within, food systems as they are currently determined.  Deprivation of secure access to nutritious food, diversely explained, justified and challenged elsewhere in practice and in literature, is a reality for many families in Aotearoa New Zealand. Current remedies, here as elsewhere, seem not to be making a radical impact.

Advocacy for an approach to organisational research filled with words, imagery and rich descriptions by leading contemporary critical theorists Alvesson & Gabriel (2013) emboldens my intention to creatively engage in what I consider to be a meaningful and socially relevant story about championing food for vulnerable households and hungry children in Aotearoa New Zealand. Aspirations to a society with well-fed children, secure family life, and healthy populations are my focus in this research. In a creative engagement I seek to persuade and argue, to address and debate, “to analyse and to make conscious such naturalized ‘common-sense’ patterns of domination” (Schüssler Fiorenza, 2001, p. 102). 

Considering the vast array of systems and organisational arrangements that together constitute the production, distribution and consumption of food, I have craft three theoretical conceptualisations to organise my thoughts. They are:
1.	those already ‘determined’ notions which follow existing dominant neo-liberal systems, forms, and mind-sets; 
2.	those ‘improved determined’ ideas considered as alternative approaches to existing ‘determined’ ones but that involve some intention to achieve positive adaptation to a ‘determined’ configuration; and
3.	those ‘indeterminate’ perspectives where alternative initiatives or propositions could be considered but outcomes are unknown or yet to be determined.

Through these three conceptualisations, I illuminate the many ways vulnerable individuals and households are disadvantaged through and by current ‘determined’ systems, forms and mind-sets. I argue increasing corporate control over global food production and distribution is evident. I address academic debates around food context and I question the veracity and efficacy of food assistance programs and systems as a remedy for hunger. Specifically in Aotearoa New Zealand I deliberate on the impression being left by the elephants in the paddocks, the giant corporates whose footprints can be followed well beyond the farm gate. 

The extent to which any social researcher can contribute to transformative change while unintentionally participating in a system that dominates, marginalises or oppresses is a contemporary challenge for all activists with critical intent. In this thesis I have characterised stories of domination or marginalisation within food systems and given a space for these stories of the positioning of the vulnerable to be told.

text: An Account of Championing Food for Vulnerable Households and Hungry Children in Aotearoa New Zealand Global food security became the focus of policy and media attention worldwide following the 2006-2008 food price spikes. In 2013, food security issues in Aotearoa New Zealand relate to access to food, ability to access food, food supply, food distribution and income poverty. I ponder issues of food (in)security and access(ability) to food for vulnerable households and hungry children; and debate the universal benefit to be achieved from various food initiatives. My surveillance of these issues includes consideration of ways people and planet are disadvantaged by, and within, food systems as they are currently determined.  Deprivation of secure access to nutritious food, diversely explained, justified and challenged elsewhere in practice and in literature, is a reality for many families in Aotearoa New Zealand. Current remedies, here as elsewhere, seem not to be making a radical impact.

Advocacy for an approach to organisational research filled with words, imagery and rich descriptions by leading contemporary critical theorists Alvesson & Gabriel (2013) emboldens my intention to creatively engage in what I consider to be a meaningful and socially relevant story about championing food for vulnerable households and hungry children in Aotearoa New Zealand. Aspirations to a society with well-fed children, secure family life, and healthy populations are my focus in this research. In a creative engagement I seek to persuade and argue, to address and debate, “to analyse and to make conscious such naturalized ‘common-sense’ patterns of domination” (Schüssler Fiorenza, 2001, p. 102). 

Considering the vast array of systems and organisational arrangements that together constitute the production, distribution and consumption of food, I have craft three theoretical conceptualisations to organise my thoughts. They are:
1.	those already ‘determined’ notions which follow existing dominant neo-liberal systems, forms, and mind-sets; 
2.	those ‘improved determined’ ideas considered as alternative approaches to existing ‘determined’ ones but that involve some intention to achieve positive adaptation to a ‘determined’ configuration; and
3.	those ‘indeterminate’ perspectives where alternative initiatives or propositions could be considered but outcomes are unknown or yet to be determined.

Through these three conceptualisations, I illuminate the many ways vulnerable individuals and households are disadvantaged through and by current ‘determined’ systems, forms and mind-sets. I argue increasing corporate control over global food production and distribution is evident. I address academic debates around food context and I question the veracity and efficacy of food assistance programs and systems as a remedy for hunger. Specifically in Aotearoa New Zealand I deliberate on the impression being left by the elephants in the paddocks, the giant corporates whose footprints can be followed well beyond the farm gate. 

The extent to which any social researcher can contribute to transformative change while unintentionally participating in a system that dominates, marginalises or oppresses is a contemporary challenge for all activists with critical intent. In this thesis I have characterised stories of domination or marginalisation within food systems and given a space for these stories of the positioning of the vulnerable to be told.

year: 2013

title: Formal models for user interface design artefacts

authors: Bowen, Judy

subjects: formal methods

abstract: There are many different ways of building software applications and of tackling the problems of understanding the system to be built, designing that system and finally implementing the design. One approach is to use formal methods, which we can generalise as meaning we follow a process which uses some formal language to specify the behaviour of the intended system, techniques such as theorem proving or model-checking to ensure the specification is valid (i.e., meets the requirements and has been shown, perhaps by proof or other means of inspection, to have the properties the client requires of it) and a refinement process to transform the specification into an implementation. Conversely, the approach we take may be less structured and rely on informal techniques. The design stage may involve jotting down ideas on paper, brainstorming with users etc. We may use prototyping to transform these ideas into working software and get users to test the implementation to find problems. Formal methods have been shown to be beneficial in describing the functionality of systems, what we may call application logic, and underlying system behaviour. Informal techniques, however, have also been shown to be useful in the design of the user interface to systems. Given that both styles of development are beneficial to different parts of the system we would like to be able to use both approaches in one integrated software development process. Their differences, however, make this a challenging objective. In this paper we describe models and techniques which allow us to incorporate informal design artefacts into a formal software development process.

text: Formal models for user interface design artefacts There are many different ways of building software applications and of tackling the problems of understanding the system to be built, designing that system and finally implementing the design. One approach is to use formal methods, which we can generalise as meaning we follow a process which uses some formal language to specify the behaviour of the intended system, techniques such as theorem proving or model-checking to ensure the specification is valid (i.e., meets the requirements and has been shown, perhaps by proof or other means of inspection, to have the properties the client requires of it) and a refinement process to transform the specification into an implementation. Conversely, the approach we take may be less structured and rely on informal techniques. The design stage may involve jotting down ideas on paper, brainstorming with users etc. We may use prototyping to transform these ideas into working software and get users to test the implementation to find problems. Formal methods have been shown to be beneficial in describing the functionality of systems, what we may call application logic, and underlying system behaviour. Informal techniques, however, have also been shown to be useful in the design of the user interface to systems. Given that both styles of development are beneficial to different parts of the system we would like to be able to use both approaches in one integrated software development process. Their differences, however, make this a challenging objective. In this paper we describe models and techniques which allow us to incorporate informal design artefacts into a formal software development process.

year: 2008

title: Mates at the school gates:Investigating peer relationships among rangatahi Māori

authors: Knowles, Anthea Heather

subjects: school attendance

abstract: As a teacher, I have found that while some rangatahi feel connected to school, many others do not. In an attempt to reduce the gap between Māori and non-Māori educational achievement, there have been significant nationwide initiatives implemented into schools across New Zealand. These programmes have been centred mostly around improving school engagement. Despite these efforts, school attendance rates among Māori continue to decline. This thesis explores the role of peer relationships among rangatahi Māori, including how these relationships may influence various domains of engagement at school, such as participation, belonging and orientation to learning. 

This research involves focus group interviews with six rangatahi Māori aged 17-18, and in Years 12 and 13 in a small-town New Zealand High School. The wāhine Māori who contributed to the study, had been identified by the school as successfully engaged through regular attendance and participation of school activites. The findings from this study identify some critical aspects to building strong peer relationships, including: having a social space to gather, practicing manaakitanga, recognising equity, maintaining connection with each other, and welcoming humour. The rangatahi in this study value their peers and social relationships and they freely access these resources as needed. In doing so they are able to collectively critique experiences of marginalisation and acquire a collective source of resilience. The participants in this study then draw on this collective resilience during challenging situations.

text: Mates at the school gates:Investigating peer relationships among rangatahi Māori As a teacher, I have found that while some rangatahi feel connected to school, many others do not. In an attempt to reduce the gap between Māori and non-Māori educational achievement, there have been significant nationwide initiatives implemented into schools across New Zealand. These programmes have been centred mostly around improving school engagement. Despite these efforts, school attendance rates among Māori continue to decline. This thesis explores the role of peer relationships among rangatahi Māori, including how these relationships may influence various domains of engagement at school, such as participation, belonging and orientation to learning. 

This research involves focus group interviews with six rangatahi Māori aged 17-18, and in Years 12 and 13 in a small-town New Zealand High School. The wāhine Māori who contributed to the study, had been identified by the school as successfully engaged through regular attendance and participation of school activites. The findings from this study identify some critical aspects to building strong peer relationships, including: having a social space to gather, practicing manaakitanga, recognising equity, maintaining connection with each other, and welcoming humour. The rangatahi in this study value their peers and social relationships and they freely access these resources as needed. In doing so they are able to collectively critique experiences of marginalisation and acquire a collective source of resilience. The participants in this study then draw on this collective resilience during challenging situations.

year: 2019