title: Te Pae Mahutonga and the measurement of community capital in regional Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Ryks, John

abstract: Regionally, iwi and hapū have limited influence over structural changes such as population decline, proximity to labour markets and ageing, and to some extent economic cycles. However, there is still considerable value in thinking about how relevant indicators might point to the regeneration and overall well-being of Māori communities. In this paper we present an exploratory framework that links Durie’s Te Pae Mahutonga model of Māori well-being to the measurement of community capital. We use Te Pae Mahutonga as the basis for developing a number of key indicators for understanding Māori well-being in the regions and apply the framework and indicators to three regional settlements in Aotearoa New Zealand: Pōkeno, Huntly and Ōpōtiki.

text: Te Pae Mahutonga and the measurement of community capital in regional Aotearoa New Zealand Regionally, iwi and hapū have limited influence over structural changes such as population decline, proximity to labour markets and ageing, and to some extent economic cycles. However, there is still considerable value in thinking about how relevant indicators might point to the regeneration and overall well-being of Māori communities. In this paper we present an exploratory framework that links Durie’s Te Pae Mahutonga model of Māori well-being to the measurement of community capital. We use Te Pae Mahutonga as the basis for developing a number of key indicators for understanding Māori well-being in the regions and apply the framework and indicators to three regional settlements in Aotearoa New Zealand: Pōkeno, Huntly and Ōpōtiki.

year: 2018

title: Processes of Pakeha change in response to the Treaty of Waitangi

authors: Huygens, Ingrid Louise Maria

subjects: Pakeha change

abstract: The sense of crisis that marks our times may be seen as a crisis for dominant groups whose once-secure hegemony is being challenged by marginalised others. It is in theorising the reply from the dominant group to the voices of the oppressed that existing Western conceptions of social change fall silent. The dominant Pakeha group in Aotearoa New Zealand has used discourses of benign colonisation and harmonious race relations to resist 165 years of communication from indigenous Māori about their oppression and a dishonoured treaty for settlement. My research documents the appearance of the Treaty of Waitangi into the Pakeha consciousness, and the now 30 year-long response by a Pakeha antiracism movement to educate their own cultural group about its agreements. Targeting government, community and social services organisations, activist educators used Freire's (1975) approach of conscientising dialogue to present a more critical view of colonisation, and to encourage participants to consider the complicity of their organisations in ongoing structural and cultural racism.

Based on my membership of local and national networks of activist educators, I was able to organise and facilitate data gathering from three sources to investigate processes of Pakeha change in: (i) unpublished material describing the antiracism and Treaty movement's historical theorising and strategies over 30 years, (ii) a country-wide process of co-theorising among contemporary Treaty educator groups about their work and perceived influence, and (iii) a collection of organisational accounts of Treaty-focused change. The collected records confirmed that a coherent anti-colonial discourse, which I have termed 'Pakeha honouring the Treaty', was in use to construct institutional and constitutional changes in non-government organisations. My interpretation of key elements in a local theory of transforming action included emotional responses to counter-cultural information, collective work for cultural and institutional change and practising a mutually agreed relationship with Māori. I concluded that these emotional, collective and relationship processes in dominant group change were crucial in helping to construct the new conceptual resources of 'affirming Māori authority' and 'striving towards a right relationship with Māori'. These counter-colonial constructions allowed Pakeha a non-resistant and facilitative response to Māori challenge, and enabled a dialogue with Māori about decolonisation. 

By examining in one research programme the genealogy and interdependencies of a new discourse, my research contributes to theorising about the production of new, counter-hegemonic discourses, and confirms the crucial part played by social movements in developing new, liberatory constructions of the social order.

My research calls for further theory-building on (i) emotional and spiritual aspects of transformational learning, (ii) processes involved in consciously-undertaken cultural change by dominant/coloniser groups, and (iii) practising of mutually agreed relationships with indigenous peoples by dominant/coloniser groups. 

My research has implications for theorising how coloniser and dominant groups generally may participate in liberatory social change and decolonisation work, and  the part played by the Western states in the global struggles by indigenous people for recognition of their world-views and aspirations.  

It remains to be seen whether counter-colonial discourses and organisational changes aimed at 'honouring the Treaty' with indigenous peoples will be sufficiently widely adopted to help transform Western dominating cultures and colonial projects. In the meantime, acknowledging and documenting these counter-colonial discourses and their constructions opens up increasing possibilities for constructing, from a history of colonisation, a different future.

text: Processes of Pakeha change in response to the Treaty of Waitangi The sense of crisis that marks our times may be seen as a crisis for dominant groups whose once-secure hegemony is being challenged by marginalised others. It is in theorising the reply from the dominant group to the voices of the oppressed that existing Western conceptions of social change fall silent. The dominant Pakeha group in Aotearoa New Zealand has used discourses of benign colonisation and harmonious race relations to resist 165 years of communication from indigenous Māori about their oppression and a dishonoured treaty for settlement. My research documents the appearance of the Treaty of Waitangi into the Pakeha consciousness, and the now 30 year-long response by a Pakeha antiracism movement to educate their own cultural group about its agreements. Targeting government, community and social services organisations, activist educators used Freire's (1975) approach of conscientising dialogue to present a more critical view of colonisation, and to encourage participants to consider the complicity of their organisations in ongoing structural and cultural racism.

Based on my membership of local and national networks of activist educators, I was able to organise and facilitate data gathering from three sources to investigate processes of Pakeha change in: (i) unpublished material describing the antiracism and Treaty movement's historical theorising and strategies over 30 years, (ii) a country-wide process of co-theorising among contemporary Treaty educator groups about their work and perceived influence, and (iii) a collection of organisational accounts of Treaty-focused change. The collected records confirmed that a coherent anti-colonial discourse, which I have termed 'Pakeha honouring the Treaty', was in use to construct institutional and constitutional changes in non-government organisations. My interpretation of key elements in a local theory of transforming action included emotional responses to counter-cultural information, collective work for cultural and institutional change and practising a mutually agreed relationship with Māori. I concluded that these emotional, collective and relationship processes in dominant group change were crucial in helping to construct the new conceptual resources of 'affirming Māori authority' and 'striving towards a right relationship with Māori'. These counter-colonial constructions allowed Pakeha a non-resistant and facilitative response to Māori challenge, and enabled a dialogue with Māori about decolonisation. 

By examining in one research programme the genealogy and interdependencies of a new discourse, my research contributes to theorising about the production of new, counter-hegemonic discourses, and confirms the crucial part played by social movements in developing new, liberatory constructions of the social order.

My research calls for further theory-building on (i) emotional and spiritual aspects of transformational learning, (ii) processes involved in consciously-undertaken cultural change by dominant/coloniser groups, and (iii) practising of mutually agreed relationships with indigenous peoples by dominant/coloniser groups. 

My research has implications for theorising how coloniser and dominant groups generally may participate in liberatory social change and decolonisation work, and  the part played by the Western states in the global struggles by indigenous people for recognition of their world-views and aspirations.  

It remains to be seen whether counter-colonial discourses and organisational changes aimed at 'honouring the Treaty' with indigenous peoples will be sufficiently widely adopted to help transform Western dominating cultures and colonial projects. In the meantime, acknowledging and documenting these counter-colonial discourses and their constructions opens up increasing possibilities for constructing, from a history of colonisation, a different future.

year: 2007

title: Researching perceptions of childhood sexuality: Using vignettes in interviews with teachers, counsellors, parents and young children

authors: Flanagan, Paul G.

abstract: Adults interpret children’s actions from their own positionings within culture and gender discourses. Children’s ‘sexual’ actions or ‘sexualised behaviour’ is responded to from ideas of innocence and indifference to moral panics and protective interventions. Adults express discomfort and uncertainty about how to understand and respond to young children acting this way.
Researching sexuality traverses social and cultural environments in which people live. Frayser (2003) refers to ‘shifting cultural maps’ as constructions of sexuality move from reproductive to relational and recreational understandings. “An expanded view of sexuality has meant an expanded interpretation of what is sexual; Words, looks, touches, pictures, and movements can all be construed in sexual ways” (Frayser, 2003, p. 267). Mitchell (2005), researching children’s sexuality in the Australian context, noted limitations in the literature, including the conceptualisation of sexuality; the difficulty of defining ‘normal’ sexual development when children’s sexuality is not considered in a wider, social and cultural context; and the dearth of research about children’s understandings of sexuality.
This paper describes a New Zealand doctoral study exploring discourses shaping constructions of sexuality in childhood. In particular, the paper focuses on the methodological approach of using vignettes.
Primary school teachers, parents, counsellors and children responded to a series of vignettes within focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The use of vignettes produced a context of safe participation for participants. This method supported participants’ confidence and trust with both the research process and their relationship with the researcher. As understandings were shared, enquiry brought forward further ideas and experiences from participants. Many readily disclosed more personal information, telling stories of child sexual activity: about themselves; their own children; family members; or stories of other children known to them.
A social constructionist framework underpins this research: children’s experiences are multi-storied and multiple meanings are available in understandings of sexuality. Foucault’s concepts of the genealogical method are used in the analysis of the literature, policies and practices on childhood sexuality, together with discursive positioning from the participants’ narratives.
Vignettes gave a safe entry into discussions about childhood sexuality, beginning with less problematic stories and then further examples of developing complexity. They provided stories to be viewed at a distance, then allowing for closer and more personal sharing of experiences. Awareness and understanding multiple social and cultural discourses shaping constructions of childhood sexuality is useful for teachers, parents and counsellors.

text: Researching perceptions of childhood sexuality: Using vignettes in interviews with teachers, counsellors, parents and young children Adults interpret children’s actions from their own positionings within culture and gender discourses. Children’s ‘sexual’ actions or ‘sexualised behaviour’ is responded to from ideas of innocence and indifference to moral panics and protective interventions. Adults express discomfort and uncertainty about how to understand and respond to young children acting this way.
Researching sexuality traverses social and cultural environments in which people live. Frayser (2003) refers to ‘shifting cultural maps’ as constructions of sexuality move from reproductive to relational and recreational understandings. “An expanded view of sexuality has meant an expanded interpretation of what is sexual; Words, looks, touches, pictures, and movements can all be construed in sexual ways” (Frayser, 2003, p. 267). Mitchell (2005), researching children’s sexuality in the Australian context, noted limitations in the literature, including the conceptualisation of sexuality; the difficulty of defining ‘normal’ sexual development when children’s sexuality is not considered in a wider, social and cultural context; and the dearth of research about children’s understandings of sexuality.
This paper describes a New Zealand doctoral study exploring discourses shaping constructions of sexuality in childhood. In particular, the paper focuses on the methodological approach of using vignettes.
Primary school teachers, parents, counsellors and children responded to a series of vignettes within focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The use of vignettes produced a context of safe participation for participants. This method supported participants’ confidence and trust with both the research process and their relationship with the researcher. As understandings were shared, enquiry brought forward further ideas and experiences from participants. Many readily disclosed more personal information, telling stories of child sexual activity: about themselves; their own children; family members; or stories of other children known to them.
A social constructionist framework underpins this research: children’s experiences are multi-storied and multiple meanings are available in understandings of sexuality. Foucault’s concepts of the genealogical method are used in the analysis of the literature, policies and practices on childhood sexuality, together with discursive positioning from the participants’ narratives.
Vignettes gave a safe entry into discussions about childhood sexuality, beginning with less problematic stories and then further examples of developing complexity. They provided stories to be viewed at a distance, then allowing for closer and more personal sharing of experiences. Awareness and understanding multiple social and cultural discourses shaping constructions of childhood sexuality is useful for teachers, parents and counsellors.

year: 2014