title: Young male and female perceptions and experiences of physical activity in Apia, Samoa

authors: Tuagalu, Taauso Clark

subjects: young people

abstract: The purpose of the study was to investigate young people's perceptions and experiences of physical activity in Apia, Samoa.  Physical inactivity is one of the main risk factors contributing to the prevalence of obesity in Samoa.  Obesity and its health-related diseases are now the major causes of death in Samoa.  
Focus group interviews and a survey were adopted for this study and the findings were based on the data collected from young people between 16 and 24 years of age.  The findings indicated that a majority of young people have a positive attitude towards physical activity and recognize the link between physical activity and health.  A high percentage of young people indicated that physical activity is important to improve health including getting fit and losing weight.  However, there appears to be a significant portion of the respondents in the survey who think they are physically active while the reality is that they do not achieve the recommended national physical activity guidelines of 30 minutes a day over 5 or more days a week.  A key aspect that emerged in the study was the importance of daily living tasks in young people's physical activity.  Although not addressed in the survey, because it was based on a Western understanding of physical activity and daily life, the focus groups revealed that young people are regularly physically active through duties at home such as feeding the pigs, cooking meals on an earth oven and plantation work.  This finding suggests the importance of conducting research focused on a Pacific perspective and taking into account the specific national contexts in which young people live.
The study identified constraints on the ability of young people to be physically active.  A majority of the respondents cited cultural, environmental and discomfort factors related to physical activity as the main barriers.  For instance, the respondents indicated that family duties, lack of footpaths, troublesome dogs and boredom were barriers to physical activity.  
The evidence suggests that many young Samoans want to be more active and lose weight but they need help.  The findings show that young people could be more active if their sources of encouragement such as friends, school, church and village are involved in physical activity promotion campaigns.  A coordinated response engaging all health sector partners to establish and support youth physical activity and health initiatives is recommended.  More importantly, the Government of Samoa could play a key leadership role in coordinating the sector to ensure that everyone accepts the responsibility of preventing and controlling the prevalence of obesity and lifestyle diseases by encouraging more people to be active.

text: Young male and female perceptions and experiences of physical activity in Apia, Samoa The purpose of the study was to investigate young people's perceptions and experiences of physical activity in Apia, Samoa.  Physical inactivity is one of the main risk factors contributing to the prevalence of obesity in Samoa.  Obesity and its health-related diseases are now the major causes of death in Samoa.  
Focus group interviews and a survey were adopted for this study and the findings were based on the data collected from young people between 16 and 24 years of age.  The findings indicated that a majority of young people have a positive attitude towards physical activity and recognize the link between physical activity and health.  A high percentage of young people indicated that physical activity is important to improve health including getting fit and losing weight.  However, there appears to be a significant portion of the respondents in the survey who think they are physically active while the reality is that they do not achieve the recommended national physical activity guidelines of 30 minutes a day over 5 or more days a week.  A key aspect that emerged in the study was the importance of daily living tasks in young people's physical activity.  Although not addressed in the survey, because it was based on a Western understanding of physical activity and daily life, the focus groups revealed that young people are regularly physically active through duties at home such as feeding the pigs, cooking meals on an earth oven and plantation work.  This finding suggests the importance of conducting research focused on a Pacific perspective and taking into account the specific national contexts in which young people live.
The study identified constraints on the ability of young people to be physically active.  A majority of the respondents cited cultural, environmental and discomfort factors related to physical activity as the main barriers.  For instance, the respondents indicated that family duties, lack of footpaths, troublesome dogs and boredom were barriers to physical activity.  
The evidence suggests that many young Samoans want to be more active and lose weight but they need help.  The findings show that young people could be more active if their sources of encouragement such as friends, school, church and village are involved in physical activity promotion campaigns.  A coordinated response engaging all health sector partners to establish and support youth physical activity and health initiatives is recommended.  More importantly, the Government of Samoa could play a key leadership role in coordinating the sector to ensure that everyone accepts the responsibility of preventing and controlling the prevalence of obesity and lifestyle diseases by encouraging more people to be active.

year: 2009

title: Decomposing dense bipartite graphs into 4-cycles

authors: Cavenagh, Nicholas J.

abstract: Let G be an even bipartite graph with partite sets X and Y such that |Y | is even and the minimum degree of a vertex in Y is at least 95|X|/96. Suppose furthermore that the number of edges in G is divisible by 4. Then G decomposes into 4-cycles.

text: Decomposing dense bipartite graphs into 4-cycles Let G be an even bipartite graph with partite sets X and Y such that |Y | is even and the minimum degree of a vertex in Y is at least 95|X|/96. Suppose furthermore that the number of edges in G is divisible by 4. Then G decomposes into 4-cycles.

year: 2015-02-25

title: Virtual hākari:  Sharing Māori culinary traditions in online communities

authors: Muru-Lanning, Charlotte

subjects: Kai Māori

abstract: For Māori, kai is a vital expression of identity, community, place and whakapapa. Traditionally, knowledge about kai is transmitted through customary community groupings and culturally embedded practices. However, with the rise of digital platforms, new spaces have emerged for Māori to gather and to share kai in virtual forms. 
This thesis observes how two Facebook groups – Kai Maori and KAI Basket NZ – operate as contemporary spaces for the transmission of Māori culinary knowledge and cultural identity. Kai Māori is considered alongside global studies of culinary traditions and understood through the notion of kai as whakapapa. The thesis addresses two core research questions: 1) How do Facebook groups contribute to an evolving concept of kai Māori? and 2) What kinds of relationships define these online kai communities? 
Guided by Māori data sovereignty (MDSov) principles, I observed interactions on both Facebook pages in two phases – one involving selective data collection over a twelve-month period from January to December 2024 the other involving systematic data collection over a four-week period from 10 December 2024 to 10 January 2025. The observation periods yielded 115 and 1293 posts respectively. A covert digital approach of ‘lurking’ was adopted as seeking prior consent may have affected the quality of the data and disrupted group dynamics. Lurking, as a method, sits uneasily alongside MDSov principles, particularly the principle of manaakitanga, requiring free, prior and informed consent. To address this I safeguarded the confidentiality of community members by seeking consent before reproducing content, removing group members’ names and excluding sensitive information. To analyse posts I used Ethnographic Content Analysis which allowed me to conduct a reflexive, iterative analysis of the posts in a way that was sensitive to the context in which the content was created.
These digital observations show that these groups serve as platforms for the transmission and innovation of kai Māori, encompassing edible components as well as the values enmeshed within these culinary traditions. Despite the mediated nature of these exchanges – where food is virtually consumed rather than physically shared, separate from traditional notions of community – these groups nurture meaningful connections among members, including those physically distant from their whenua. Through recipes, photos, stories, and commentary, the members of Kai Maori and KAI Basket NZ cultivate community identity and belonging via common cultural understandings, sharing of knowledge, a general spirit of sociality – and, importantly, a mutual love of kai.
I conceptualise these online spaces as virtual hākari, where the act of sharing virtual kai becomes an affirmation of identity and a form of cultural resistance. While online sharing may risk distancing kai practices and knowledge from traditional sites of transmission, the data suggests that these platforms may serve as conduits that encourage deeper cultural engagement offline. This thesis highlights the centrality of food in Māori cultural survival, sovereignty and resistance. In these digital spaces, kai Māori is not only celebrated but continually reimagined – reinforcing that to prepare, share and celebrate kai as Māori is to actively participate in the continuity of cultural identity.

text: Virtual hākari:  Sharing Māori culinary traditions in online communities For Māori, kai is a vital expression of identity, community, place and whakapapa. Traditionally, knowledge about kai is transmitted through customary community groupings and culturally embedded practices. However, with the rise of digital platforms, new spaces have emerged for Māori to gather and to share kai in virtual forms. 
This thesis observes how two Facebook groups – Kai Maori and KAI Basket NZ – operate as contemporary spaces for the transmission of Māori culinary knowledge and cultural identity. Kai Māori is considered alongside global studies of culinary traditions and understood through the notion of kai as whakapapa. The thesis addresses two core research questions: 1) How do Facebook groups contribute to an evolving concept of kai Māori? and 2) What kinds of relationships define these online kai communities? 
Guided by Māori data sovereignty (MDSov) principles, I observed interactions on both Facebook pages in two phases – one involving selective data collection over a twelve-month period from January to December 2024 the other involving systematic data collection over a four-week period from 10 December 2024 to 10 January 2025. The observation periods yielded 115 and 1293 posts respectively. A covert digital approach of ‘lurking’ was adopted as seeking prior consent may have affected the quality of the data and disrupted group dynamics. Lurking, as a method, sits uneasily alongside MDSov principles, particularly the principle of manaakitanga, requiring free, prior and informed consent. To address this I safeguarded the confidentiality of community members by seeking consent before reproducing content, removing group members’ names and excluding sensitive information. To analyse posts I used Ethnographic Content Analysis which allowed me to conduct a reflexive, iterative analysis of the posts in a way that was sensitive to the context in which the content was created.
These digital observations show that these groups serve as platforms for the transmission and innovation of kai Māori, encompassing edible components as well as the values enmeshed within these culinary traditions. Despite the mediated nature of these exchanges – where food is virtually consumed rather than physically shared, separate from traditional notions of community – these groups nurture meaningful connections among members, including those physically distant from their whenua. Through recipes, photos, stories, and commentary, the members of Kai Maori and KAI Basket NZ cultivate community identity and belonging via common cultural understandings, sharing of knowledge, a general spirit of sociality – and, importantly, a mutual love of kai.
I conceptualise these online spaces as virtual hākari, where the act of sharing virtual kai becomes an affirmation of identity and a form of cultural resistance. While online sharing may risk distancing kai practices and knowledge from traditional sites of transmission, the data suggests that these platforms may serve as conduits that encourage deeper cultural engagement offline. This thesis highlights the centrality of food in Māori cultural survival, sovereignty and resistance. In these digital spaces, kai Māori is not only celebrated but continually reimagined – reinforcing that to prepare, share and celebrate kai as Māori is to actively participate in the continuity of cultural identity.

year: 2025