title: Developing community and social psychology for Aotearoa: Experiences from a New Zealand programme of indigenization

authors: Thomas, David R.

subjects: indigenous psychology

abstract: Experiences related to developing an indigenous community and social psychology
in the teaching of psychology at the University of Waikato in Aotearoa/New Zealand
are described. The process of localization emphasizes the need to interpret
"universal" concepts in terms of local cultural patterns and to elaborate psychological
concepts derived from the cultures of indigenous peoples. The localization of
psychology in New Zealand involves: (a) differences between the dominant United
States cultural pattern, in which much English-language psychology is embedded,
and New Zealand cultural patterns; and (b) differences between the dominant
Pakeha (Anglo-New Zealander) cultural patterns and the cultural patterns of
indigenous Maori peoples. These cultural differences involve contrasts between
individualistic and collective conceptions of self-identities and social identities, and
alternative conceptions of community needs.
Three processes relevant to localization are outlined: socio-cultural contextualization,
agenda-setting, and knowledge of cultural styles. Socio-cultural contextualization
refers to the relevance of psychological knowledge, taught in dominant national
institutions, to local social, cultural and political systems. Agenda-setting focuses on
how the dominant themes in teaching and research within psychology are selected,
and the relevance of these themes to community needs. Knowledge of local cultural
styles is required to describe and teach professional roles that are congruent with
such cultural styles.

text: Developing community and social psychology for Aotearoa: Experiences from a New Zealand programme of indigenization Experiences related to developing an indigenous community and social psychology
in the teaching of psychology at the University of Waikato in Aotearoa/New Zealand
are described. The process of localization emphasizes the need to interpret
"universal" concepts in terms of local cultural patterns and to elaborate psychological
concepts derived from the cultures of indigenous peoples. The localization of
psychology in New Zealand involves: (a) differences between the dominant United
States cultural pattern, in which much English-language psychology is embedded,
and New Zealand cultural patterns; and (b) differences between the dominant
Pakeha (Anglo-New Zealander) cultural patterns and the cultural patterns of
indigenous Maori peoples. These cultural differences involve contrasts between
individualistic and collective conceptions of self-identities and social identities, and
alternative conceptions of community needs.
Three processes relevant to localization are outlined: socio-cultural contextualization,
agenda-setting, and knowledge of cultural styles. Socio-cultural contextualization
refers to the relevance of psychological knowledge, taught in dominant national
institutions, to local social, cultural and political systems. Agenda-setting focuses on
how the dominant themes in teaching and research within psychology are selected,
and the relevance of these themes to community needs. Knowledge of local cultural
styles is required to describe and teach professional roles that are congruent with
such cultural styles.

year: 1994-08

title: Demystifying a relationship between voluntary work and Māori

authors: Te Momo, Oliver Helena Fiona

abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to provide evidence that critically reviews the relationship between Māori and voluntary work in social service organisations. Since colonisation very little research has been initiated that investigated the involvement of Māori in voluntary activity yet recent statistics show that Māori are the highest participants in this type of work. This thesis provides an analysis of the relationship of Māori to voluntary work and its evolution in a Colonial State, Liberal State, Welfare State, and Neo-Liberal State in New Zealand. Three perspectives of Māori voluntary work provide the foundation for the analysis of this relationship. The first perspective describes voluntary work from a personal experience as an insider. The second perspective explores literature that records Māori involvement in voluntary activity. The third perspective documents life experiences from Māori voluntary workers in New Zealand communities. The three perspectives provide an empirical foundation for the type of relationship that has developed between Māori and voluntary work; Māori and the State; Māori and their place in New Zealand society. My interest in Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) as a valid and thriving ontological position and my academic interest in critical theory provide the theoretical lens for my analysis. 

Personal experience as a Māori volunteer opened doors to the communities I entered and added strength to the research, the first perspective. Western research in Māori communities often by non-Māori researchers, was conducted to gather knowledge for Western policy makers. Māori knowledge was not recognised as valid and the people were treated as objects. Knowing this, I searched for an approach that valued Māori participants, valued Māori people, and contained cultural aspects that separated the procedure from Western research. A review of literature, the second perspective, introduced a cultural approach to research termed kaupapa Māori research, generated out of and for Te Ao Māori detailed further in Chapter Three.

Participants’ life experiences coupled with literature provide a wealth of knowledge and a testimony to the type of relationship that exists between Māori and voluntary work. Criticism from Māori communities as to the exploitation of Māori volunteers has swelled in recent years so that the environment volunteers work in is no longer attractive to Māori people. Therefore, documenting the life experiences of Māori who participate in voluntary work as the primary source of information was imperative and produced evidence to describe the relationship between Māori and voluntary work in the thesis. A triangular study: case study, community study, and cross-section study (Chapters Six, Seven, and Eight), provide the ‘grass roots voices’ and represent the third perspective. 

My observation of Māori organisations’ involvement in voluntary work generated in me a deep concern in what appeared to be an involvement in activity that improved neither the lives of the volunteers nor the wider problems to which they attributed their aroha. This involvement activity is a product of historical developments whereby the Western ideology of voluntary work became confused with a Māori ideology of collective participation. This confusion has created an environment where Māori voluntary organisations are working unpaid with insufficient resources in oppressive conditions in the attempt to provide social solutions. I argue that the Māori ideology of collective participation has been co-opted in the emerging conflict of neo-liberalism to provide social services in communities which government agencies exploit. In conclusion, the thesis is a journey through the world of voluntary work for Māori in communal organisations.

text: Demystifying a relationship between voluntary work and Māori The purpose of this thesis is to provide evidence that critically reviews the relationship between Māori and voluntary work in social service organisations. Since colonisation very little research has been initiated that investigated the involvement of Māori in voluntary activity yet recent statistics show that Māori are the highest participants in this type of work. This thesis provides an analysis of the relationship of Māori to voluntary work and its evolution in a Colonial State, Liberal State, Welfare State, and Neo-Liberal State in New Zealand. Three perspectives of Māori voluntary work provide the foundation for the analysis of this relationship. The first perspective describes voluntary work from a personal experience as an insider. The second perspective explores literature that records Māori involvement in voluntary activity. The third perspective documents life experiences from Māori voluntary workers in New Zealand communities. The three perspectives provide an empirical foundation for the type of relationship that has developed between Māori and voluntary work; Māori and the State; Māori and their place in New Zealand society. My interest in Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) as a valid and thriving ontological position and my academic interest in critical theory provide the theoretical lens for my analysis. 

Personal experience as a Māori volunteer opened doors to the communities I entered and added strength to the research, the first perspective. Western research in Māori communities often by non-Māori researchers, was conducted to gather knowledge for Western policy makers. Māori knowledge was not recognised as valid and the people were treated as objects. Knowing this, I searched for an approach that valued Māori participants, valued Māori people, and contained cultural aspects that separated the procedure from Western research. A review of literature, the second perspective, introduced a cultural approach to research termed kaupapa Māori research, generated out of and for Te Ao Māori detailed further in Chapter Three.

Participants’ life experiences coupled with literature provide a wealth of knowledge and a testimony to the type of relationship that exists between Māori and voluntary work. Criticism from Māori communities as to the exploitation of Māori volunteers has swelled in recent years so that the environment volunteers work in is no longer attractive to Māori people. Therefore, documenting the life experiences of Māori who participate in voluntary work as the primary source of information was imperative and produced evidence to describe the relationship between Māori and voluntary work in the thesis. A triangular study: case study, community study, and cross-section study (Chapters Six, Seven, and Eight), provide the ‘grass roots voices’ and represent the third perspective. 

My observation of Māori organisations’ involvement in voluntary work generated in me a deep concern in what appeared to be an involvement in activity that improved neither the lives of the volunteers nor the wider problems to which they attributed their aroha. This involvement activity is a product of historical developments whereby the Western ideology of voluntary work became confused with a Māori ideology of collective participation. This confusion has created an environment where Māori voluntary organisations are working unpaid with insufficient resources in oppressive conditions in the attempt to provide social solutions. I argue that the Māori ideology of collective participation has been co-opted in the emerging conflict of neo-liberalism to provide social services in communities which government agencies exploit. In conclusion, the thesis is a journey through the world of voluntary work for Māori in communal organisations.

year: 2003

title: Invigorating the Church for Mission.  Action Research with Local Parishes

authors: Prebble, Edward Howard

subjects: Action Research

abstract: By drawing together the insights of Action Researchers and a personal theological/spiritual conviction of the total and limitless Love of God I present a bridge between the discourse of faith, worship and spirituality on the one hand, and the discourse of management/organisation studies on the other.  This bridge is akin to the steering platform on a metaphoric double-hulled canoe. I have brought the collective wisdom of each hull to the setting of the direction of my thesis and my guidance to its destination.

An open, inclusive, and questioning epistemological approach implied by the integration of those diverse ontological assumptions was applied to a research project with members of five Anglican parishes who wanted to explore how they could bring about change among themselves and how they could connect more effectively with their neighbouring communities.  I crafted a participatory action process described as ethnographic pastoral inquiry. Key characteristics of this process include a deliberate inclusion of spiritual considerations, a high degree of mutual trust, an unhurried pace, a willingness to change on the part of the facilitator and the target group, and an openness to the unexpected.  The working groups in the five parishes were facilitated to identify several new initiatives of community-facing work.  

Reflections on the research project led to advocating for Missional Viability as the recommended organising principle for local parishes.  If a parish is missionally viable its members can commit to reflect more adequately the Christian principles from which the Church as a whole takes its direction.  Three components of missional viability were identified:
a.	An functional relationship with an observable community of people outside of its worshipping members
b.	A well-developed (or rediscovered) sense of the congregation’s mission, 
c.	A commitment to a deepening of spirituality among its members and others with whom they have contact.
By emphasising spirituality as a dimension of the research process itself rather than simply an insight emerging from but still incidental to the central point of a research project, I make a contribution to the elaboration of the field of intentional action research genres. I argue that an overt acknowledgement of spirituality should be an integral aspect of the holistic approach typically advocated by Action Research theorists.  At the same time, the project reported here gives strong support to the view that in the study of churches and other religious organisations the methods associated with Action Research are particularly compatible with theological foundations of religious orientations to ‘being in the world’.  The project draws on the emancipatory or salvific power of research as organisations are regarded as partners in the inquiry. The findings become material for their members to use in discerning their own sense of vision and direction, thereby assisting them in finding strength to take the necessary risks involved in bringing about change.

text: Invigorating the Church for Mission.  Action Research with Local Parishes By drawing together the insights of Action Researchers and a personal theological/spiritual conviction of the total and limitless Love of God I present a bridge between the discourse of faith, worship and spirituality on the one hand, and the discourse of management/organisation studies on the other.  This bridge is akin to the steering platform on a metaphoric double-hulled canoe. I have brought the collective wisdom of each hull to the setting of the direction of my thesis and my guidance to its destination.

An open, inclusive, and questioning epistemological approach implied by the integration of those diverse ontological assumptions was applied to a research project with members of five Anglican parishes who wanted to explore how they could bring about change among themselves and how they could connect more effectively with their neighbouring communities.  I crafted a participatory action process described as ethnographic pastoral inquiry. Key characteristics of this process include a deliberate inclusion of spiritual considerations, a high degree of mutual trust, an unhurried pace, a willingness to change on the part of the facilitator and the target group, and an openness to the unexpected.  The working groups in the five parishes were facilitated to identify several new initiatives of community-facing work.  

Reflections on the research project led to advocating for Missional Viability as the recommended organising principle for local parishes.  If a parish is missionally viable its members can commit to reflect more adequately the Christian principles from which the Church as a whole takes its direction.  Three components of missional viability were identified:
a.	An functional relationship with an observable community of people outside of its worshipping members
b.	A well-developed (or rediscovered) sense of the congregation’s mission, 
c.	A commitment to a deepening of spirituality among its members and others with whom they have contact.
By emphasising spirituality as a dimension of the research process itself rather than simply an insight emerging from but still incidental to the central point of a research project, I make a contribution to the elaboration of the field of intentional action research genres. I argue that an overt acknowledgement of spirituality should be an integral aspect of the holistic approach typically advocated by Action Research theorists.  At the same time, the project reported here gives strong support to the view that in the study of churches and other religious organisations the methods associated with Action Research are particularly compatible with theological foundations of religious orientations to ‘being in the world’.  The project draws on the emancipatory or salvific power of research as organisations are regarded as partners in the inquiry. The findings become material for their members to use in discerning their own sense of vision and direction, thereby assisting them in finding strength to take the necessary risks involved in bringing about change.

year: 2012