title: Kotahi anō te tupuna o te tangata Māori, ko Ranginui e tū nei, ko Papatūānuku e takato nei. Colonisation through Christianity

authors: Wallace, Ritane

subjects: Christianity

abstract: This thesis will look at the role that Christianity and the missionaries played in the colonisation of Māori during the 1800s. With discussion about the colonisation of Aotearoa, it is generally felt within the Christian community that the work of the missionaries and the Crown are separate and therefore the universal belief is that the missionaries are pardoned from the critique of their work here in Aotearoa. However, Christianity throughout history has always been a doorway for the British Empire to enter land that was not their own.
  
It is widely accepted from the viewpoint of Christianity that it holds a religious superiority over all Indigenous people and their religions dating back to Pope Alexander VI and the issuing of the Papal Bull “Inter Caetera” in 1493 to justify Christian European explorers’ claims on land and waterways they allegedly discovered. Christian hegemony shaped missionary views of the ‘other’ and justified the assimilation of Indigenous people into European Christianity. The negative effects of Christianity on Māori far outweigh the positives as mission stations up and down Aotearoa contributed heavily to the loss of language, religion, and land, the three foundational pillars of Māori and other Indigenous peoples around the world.
   
The thesis seeks to hold the missionaries and Christianity to account for its contribution to the colonisation and religious assimilation of Māori into a foreign and unrelated belief system.

text: Kotahi anō te tupuna o te tangata Māori, ko Ranginui e tū nei, ko Papatūānuku e takato nei. Colonisation through Christianity This thesis will look at the role that Christianity and the missionaries played in the colonisation of Māori during the 1800s. With discussion about the colonisation of Aotearoa, it is generally felt within the Christian community that the work of the missionaries and the Crown are separate and therefore the universal belief is that the missionaries are pardoned from the critique of their work here in Aotearoa. However, Christianity throughout history has always been a doorway for the British Empire to enter land that was not their own.
  
It is widely accepted from the viewpoint of Christianity that it holds a religious superiority over all Indigenous people and their religions dating back to Pope Alexander VI and the issuing of the Papal Bull “Inter Caetera” in 1493 to justify Christian European explorers’ claims on land and waterways they allegedly discovered. Christian hegemony shaped missionary views of the ‘other’ and justified the assimilation of Indigenous people into European Christianity. The negative effects of Christianity on Māori far outweigh the positives as mission stations up and down Aotearoa contributed heavily to the loss of language, religion, and land, the three foundational pillars of Māori and other Indigenous peoples around the world.
   
The thesis seeks to hold the missionaries and Christianity to account for its contribution to the colonisation and religious assimilation of Māori into a foreign and unrelated belief system.

year: 2021

title: Weaving Mana Wahine and Masi methodology: Centring the embodied experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine in physical activity and everyday life

authors: Nemani, Mihi Joy

subjects: Aotearoa New Zealand

abstract: Young Indigenous Māori and Pasifika wāhine (women) in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter Aotearoa) have too often been framed as vulnerable, ‘at risk’ and problematic in the media, policy and research. This thesis moves beyond these deficit framings and uses an Indigenous feminist, strengths-based approach by centring the voices and lived experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine who are agentic in their everyday lives, celebrate their strong brown bodies and are physically active. 

Being an Indigenous feminist early career researcher of Māori-Samoan ancestry, I intentionally weave Mana Wahine (Māori) and Masi (Pasifika) methodologies throughout all aspects of this research. Employing wānanga (focus group discussions), individual interviews and digital methods, I gather knowledge from a total of 31 young Māori and Pasifika wāhine residing in two low socio-economic urban regions (Porirua and South Auckland) in Te Ika-a-Maui, the North Island of Aotearoa. Centring their voices and lived experiences, I examine how the young wāhine embrace and weave their intersectional identities with culture, body image and physical activity. 

This is a PhD with publication. It begins with an introductory chapter and a literature review chapter that locates the project in the context of Aotearoa and the local and international literature. In the methods chapter, which is a published article, I focus on the importance of creating culturally safe and supportive spaces for young wāhine to participate in research that feels meaningful to them. The empirical chapters are presented in three different manuscripts. Chapter Four contains a manuscript (currently under review) that focuses on the intersectional identities of the young wāhine. It is structured using three key themes, including 1) ethnic and cultural identities, 2) navigating, and 3) how they embrace cultural pride, particularly through family values, customs and responsibilities. Chapter Five is a published manuscript that explores body image through an intersectional Indigenous feminist lens. This publication examines cultural perspectives that influence their views on body image and provides insights into how the young wāhine navigate body image stereotypes. Chapter six is the final empirical manuscript (currently under review) that evaluates the motivations the young wāhine have for participation in physical activity. It examines the types of activities they enjoy and provides insights into how and why they use cultural knowledge as a motivator for participation.

This research contributes to international literature conducted with, for and by Indigenous feminist scholars on young women’s identities, body image and physical activity. It responds to the limited academic scholarship that explores the lived experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine in Aotearoa and their nuanced cultural knowledge of their bodies. In so doing, this research offers insights and new ways of understanding the complex lives of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine, and highlights the importance of intersectional approaches and localized Indigenous methods that listen to, and amplify the voices of young wāhine.

text: Weaving Mana Wahine and Masi methodology: Centring the embodied experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine in physical activity and everyday life Young Indigenous Māori and Pasifika wāhine (women) in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter Aotearoa) have too often been framed as vulnerable, ‘at risk’ and problematic in the media, policy and research. This thesis moves beyond these deficit framings and uses an Indigenous feminist, strengths-based approach by centring the voices and lived experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine who are agentic in their everyday lives, celebrate their strong brown bodies and are physically active. 

Being an Indigenous feminist early career researcher of Māori-Samoan ancestry, I intentionally weave Mana Wahine (Māori) and Masi (Pasifika) methodologies throughout all aspects of this research. Employing wānanga (focus group discussions), individual interviews and digital methods, I gather knowledge from a total of 31 young Māori and Pasifika wāhine residing in two low socio-economic urban regions (Porirua and South Auckland) in Te Ika-a-Maui, the North Island of Aotearoa. Centring their voices and lived experiences, I examine how the young wāhine embrace and weave their intersectional identities with culture, body image and physical activity. 

This is a PhD with publication. It begins with an introductory chapter and a literature review chapter that locates the project in the context of Aotearoa and the local and international literature. In the methods chapter, which is a published article, I focus on the importance of creating culturally safe and supportive spaces for young wāhine to participate in research that feels meaningful to them. The empirical chapters are presented in three different manuscripts. Chapter Four contains a manuscript (currently under review) that focuses on the intersectional identities of the young wāhine. It is structured using three key themes, including 1) ethnic and cultural identities, 2) navigating, and 3) how they embrace cultural pride, particularly through family values, customs and responsibilities. Chapter Five is a published manuscript that explores body image through an intersectional Indigenous feminist lens. This publication examines cultural perspectives that influence their views on body image and provides insights into how the young wāhine navigate body image stereotypes. Chapter six is the final empirical manuscript (currently under review) that evaluates the motivations the young wāhine have for participation in physical activity. It examines the types of activities they enjoy and provides insights into how and why they use cultural knowledge as a motivator for participation.

This research contributes to international literature conducted with, for and by Indigenous feminist scholars on young women’s identities, body image and physical activity. It responds to the limited academic scholarship that explores the lived experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine in Aotearoa and their nuanced cultural knowledge of their bodies. In so doing, this research offers insights and new ways of understanding the complex lives of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine, and highlights the importance of intersectional approaches and localized Indigenous methods that listen to, and amplify the voices of young wāhine.

year: 2024-10-20

title: Multiple viewpoint systems for music prediction

authors: Witten, Ian H.

subjects: Machine learning

abstract: This paper examines the prediction and generation of music using a multiple viewpoint system, a collection of independent views of the musical surface each of which models a specific type of musical phenomena. Both the general style and a particular piece are modeled using dual short-term and long-term theories, and the model is created using machine learning techniques on a corpus of musical examples. The models are used for analysis and prediction, and we conjecture that highly predictive theories will also generate original, acceptable, works. Although the quality of the works generated is hard to quantify objectively, the predictive power of models can be measured by the notion of entropy, or unpredictability. Highly predictive theories will produce low-entropy estimates of a musical language. The methods developed are applied to the Bach chorale melodies. Multiple-viewpoint systems are learned from a sample of 95 chorales, estimates of entropy are produced, and a predictive theory is used to generate new, unseen pieces.

text: Multiple viewpoint systems for music prediction This paper examines the prediction and generation of music using a multiple viewpoint system, a collection of independent views of the musical surface each of which models a specific type of musical phenomena. Both the general style and a particular piece are modeled using dual short-term and long-term theories, and the model is created using machine learning techniques on a corpus of musical examples. The models are used for analysis and prediction, and we conjecture that highly predictive theories will also generate original, acceptable, works. Although the quality of the works generated is hard to quantify objectively, the predictive power of models can be measured by the notion of entropy, or unpredictability. Highly predictive theories will produce low-entropy estimates of a musical language. The methods developed are applied to the Bach chorale melodies. Multiple-viewpoint systems are learned from a sample of 95 chorales, estimates of entropy are produced, and a predictive theory is used to generate new, unseen pieces.

year: 1993