title: Maori children : Conceptions of Death and Tangihanga

authors: Jacob, Juanita Emily

subjects: Maori

abstract: Research pertaining to Maori children‟s experiences and perceptions of death and tangihanga is sparse. Much of what is available, relating to children and their experiences with death, particularly death of a loved one, is generalised and stems from Western paradigms of knowledge. In contrast, this study aimed to investigate Maori children‟s experience relating to death and tangi through the eyes of Maori parents. Five areas were explored with Maori parents: (1) childhood experiences of Maori parents relating to death and tangi, (2) parental conceptualisation pertaining to ideas of an afterlife (3) how and when Maori parents talk with children about topics relating to death, tangi and an afterlife (4) how Maori children understand and conceptualise these events, and (5) how these practices will continue on in the future. Findings of this study suggest that Maori children: (a) received abundant support from kinship networks to help them cope with their grief, (b) they were included and involved in all aspects relating to death and tangi, (c) they were encouraged to express emotions openly and without restraint, (d) they understood and comprehended death through personal experience and exposure to tangi, (e) the business of grieving came secondary to the fact that tangi was more like a holiday with family, (f) Maori parents informed and talked to their children about death and tangi, and (g) they often use both Christian ideologies and cultural beliefs to explained death and afterlife to their children. From this study we learn that death was not hidden from children, that parents talked with their children in very open and age relevant ways, and considered their children‟s participation in tangi as an important way to grieve and ensure continuity with kinship networks and support. This study suggests that the challenge now is to ensure that these practices continue to persist between parents and their children, and continue on through generations.

text: Maori children : Conceptions of Death and Tangihanga Research pertaining to Maori children‟s experiences and perceptions of death and tangihanga is sparse. Much of what is available, relating to children and their experiences with death, particularly death of a loved one, is generalised and stems from Western paradigms of knowledge. In contrast, this study aimed to investigate Maori children‟s experience relating to death and tangi through the eyes of Maori parents. Five areas were explored with Maori parents: (1) childhood experiences of Maori parents relating to death and tangi, (2) parental conceptualisation pertaining to ideas of an afterlife (3) how and when Maori parents talk with children about topics relating to death, tangi and an afterlife (4) how Maori children understand and conceptualise these events, and (5) how these practices will continue on in the future. Findings of this study suggest that Maori children: (a) received abundant support from kinship networks to help them cope with their grief, (b) they were included and involved in all aspects relating to death and tangi, (c) they were encouraged to express emotions openly and without restraint, (d) they understood and comprehended death through personal experience and exposure to tangi, (e) the business of grieving came secondary to the fact that tangi was more like a holiday with family, (f) Maori parents informed and talked to their children about death and tangi, and (g) they often use both Christian ideologies and cultural beliefs to explained death and afterlife to their children. From this study we learn that death was not hidden from children, that parents talked with their children in very open and age relevant ways, and considered their children‟s participation in tangi as an important way to grieve and ensure continuity with kinship networks and support. This study suggests that the challenge now is to ensure that these practices continue to persist between parents and their children, and continue on through generations.

year: 2011

title: Moehewa: Death, lifestyle and sexuality in the Maori world

authors: Nikora, Linda Waimarie

subjects: Maori

abstract: Customary death ritual and traditional practice have continued for the Maori (indigenous) people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, despite intensive missionary incursion and the colonial process. This paper critically considers what occurs when the deceased is different, in a most significant way. What happens when you die – and you are Maori and any one, or a combination, of the following: a queen, takatapui, butch, like that, gay, she-male, lesbian, transsexual, a dyke, intersex, tomboy, kamp, drag, homosexual, or just queer? Who remembers you and how? Same sex relationships today are still discouraged or denied, although traditional chant and Maori visual narratives record such liaisons and erotic experience as joyously normal. And yet some people choose to remain in the closet. With three case studies, we reflect on mourning rituals or tangi – Maori death rites, in a same sex relationship, or for a gay, lesbian or transsexual family member. We use the Maori term takatapui to refer to these partnerships.

text: Moehewa: Death, lifestyle and sexuality in the Maori world Customary death ritual and traditional practice have continued for the Maori (indigenous) people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, despite intensive missionary incursion and the colonial process. This paper critically considers what occurs when the deceased is different, in a most significant way. What happens when you die – and you are Maori and any one, or a combination, of the following: a queen, takatapui, butch, like that, gay, she-male, lesbian, transsexual, a dyke, intersex, tomboy, kamp, drag, homosexual, or just queer? Who remembers you and how? Same sex relationships today are still discouraged or denied, although traditional chant and Maori visual narratives record such liaisons and erotic experience as joyously normal. And yet some people choose to remain in the closet. With three case studies, we reflect on mourning rituals or tangi – Maori death rites, in a same sex relationship, or for a gay, lesbian or transsexual family member. We use the Maori term takatapui to refer to these partnerships.

year: 2013

title: The metaphysics of quality: An inquiry into quality within the polytechnic and private training sector

authors: Pace, Barnaby David Matthew

subjects: Metaphysics

abstract: Quality, its definition and management, has a long-standing history within society.  In the modern era the focus has been particularly in regard to products and services, to ensure that minimal standards are met, and continual efforts are made to improve experiences. The education sector has also felt the reach of compliance requirements and ideology of continual improvement of practice, under the banner of quality educational practice. Quality, as a concept, has received considerable attention, with one of the most notable being in the philosophical writings of Robert Pirsig and his development of a metaphysics of quality. In this thesis, Pirsig’s metaphysics of quality will be investigated in the context of the Polytechnic and Private Training Sector to determine its place in our understanding of reality. Pirsig’s metaphysics is founded in the philosophical positioning of the ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle and includes elements of Zen Buddhism and Eastern practices. These philosophical positions are examined to established quality as a concept which holds no physical form, nor location in time or space, beyond its application to an object or experience. In the development of a neo-metaphysical interpretation of quality the reader will be subject to several thought experiments as aspects of Kantianism philosophy and quantum mechanics are explored to shift from Pirsig’s view of quality as an event to the notion that quality as an experience. Further, the measurement problems identified within the concept of quality will be examined. In keeping with Pirsig’s narrative style chautauqua will be presented to support the philosophical discussions and illustrate educational quality issues and the journey to knowledge discovery. Once the neo-metaphysics of quality has been established, demonstrations will be given on its practical application in the identification of quality in the polytechnic and private training sector environment and beyond. Finally, what is proposed is a new approach to the interpretation of quality, and potentially a new era in quality management termed quantum quality.

text: The metaphysics of quality: An inquiry into quality within the polytechnic and private training sector Quality, its definition and management, has a long-standing history within society.  In the modern era the focus has been particularly in regard to products and services, to ensure that minimal standards are met, and continual efforts are made to improve experiences. The education sector has also felt the reach of compliance requirements and ideology of continual improvement of practice, under the banner of quality educational practice. Quality, as a concept, has received considerable attention, with one of the most notable being in the philosophical writings of Robert Pirsig and his development of a metaphysics of quality. In this thesis, Pirsig’s metaphysics of quality will be investigated in the context of the Polytechnic and Private Training Sector to determine its place in our understanding of reality. Pirsig’s metaphysics is founded in the philosophical positioning of the ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle and includes elements of Zen Buddhism and Eastern practices. These philosophical positions are examined to established quality as a concept which holds no physical form, nor location in time or space, beyond its application to an object or experience. In the development of a neo-metaphysical interpretation of quality the reader will be subject to several thought experiments as aspects of Kantianism philosophy and quantum mechanics are explored to shift from Pirsig’s view of quality as an event to the notion that quality as an experience. Further, the measurement problems identified within the concept of quality will be examined. In keeping with Pirsig’s narrative style chautauqua will be presented to support the philosophical discussions and illustrate educational quality issues and the journey to knowledge discovery. Once the neo-metaphysics of quality has been established, demonstrations will be given on its practical application in the identification of quality in the polytechnic and private training sector environment and beyond. Finally, what is proposed is a new approach to the interpretation of quality, and potentially a new era in quality management termed quantum quality.

year: 2019