title: Te Awa Atua, Te Awa Tapu, Te Awa Wahine: An examination of stories, ceremonies and practices regarding menstruation in the pre-colonial Māori world.

authors: Murphy, Ngahuia Aroha Grace

subjects: mana wahine

abstract: This thesis examines Māori cosmological stories, ceremonies, and traditional practices regarding menstruation in pre-colonial Māori society. I use kaupapa Māori and mana wahine as a theoretical and methodological framework, contextualising these stories within Māori cultural paradigms.This is important because menstruation has been framed within deeply misogynist, colonial ideologies in some ethnographic accounts, distorting menstrual rites and practices beyond recognition. These interpretations have been used to inform colonialist narratives of female inferiority in traditional Māori society, attempting to change Native constructs of womanhood. Such narratives have been perpetuated in contemporary literature, reinforcing powerful discourses of menstrual pollution and female inferiority. This thesis is a challenge to such representations. By examining menstrual stories located in Māori cosmologies, and investigating tribal histories, oral literatures, ceremonies and rites, I argue that menstruation was seen as a medium of whakapapa (genealogy) that connected Māori women to our pantheon of atua (supernatural beings). A study of ancient menstrual rites, recorded in tribal songs and chants, reveal that menstrual blood was used for psychic and spiritual protection. These examples unveil striking Indigenous constructs of womanhood that transform colonialist interpretations and radically challenge notions of female inferiority and menstrual pollution. I maintain in this thesis that presenting menstruation and menstrual blood as putrid is a politically motivated act of colonial violence that specifically targets the source of our continuity as Indigenous People, the whare tangata (house of humanity – womb of women). I pose the question ‘if menstrual blood symbolises whakapapa, what does it mean to present it as ‘unclean’ and how do such representations cut across the politics of tino rangatiratanga (autonomy)?’ Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, kōrero (dialogue), and wānanga (series of conversations) with Māori women, including cultural experts, scholars, artists, and mana wahine exponents, I gather a collection of ceremonies, stories, and wisdoms that reclaim Māori spiritualities which celebrate menstruation as divine. Within the context of a colonial history of marginalisation, this work is an activist site of political resistance which takes a step towards re-threading the feminine strands in the spiritual fabric of our world, torn asunder by the ideological imposition of a colonial, Christian male god. I argue, that menstruation is a potent site of decolonisation, cultural reclamation, and resistance toward the perpetuation of colonial hegemony.

text: Te Awa Atua, Te Awa Tapu, Te Awa Wahine: An examination of stories, ceremonies and practices regarding menstruation in the pre-colonial Māori world. This thesis examines Māori cosmological stories, ceremonies, and traditional practices regarding menstruation in pre-colonial Māori society. I use kaupapa Māori and mana wahine as a theoretical and methodological framework, contextualising these stories within Māori cultural paradigms.This is important because menstruation has been framed within deeply misogynist, colonial ideologies in some ethnographic accounts, distorting menstrual rites and practices beyond recognition. These interpretations have been used to inform colonialist narratives of female inferiority in traditional Māori society, attempting to change Native constructs of womanhood. Such narratives have been perpetuated in contemporary literature, reinforcing powerful discourses of menstrual pollution and female inferiority. This thesis is a challenge to such representations. By examining menstrual stories located in Māori cosmologies, and investigating tribal histories, oral literatures, ceremonies and rites, I argue that menstruation was seen as a medium of whakapapa (genealogy) that connected Māori women to our pantheon of atua (supernatural beings). A study of ancient menstrual rites, recorded in tribal songs and chants, reveal that menstrual blood was used for psychic and spiritual protection. These examples unveil striking Indigenous constructs of womanhood that transform colonialist interpretations and radically challenge notions of female inferiority and menstrual pollution. I maintain in this thesis that presenting menstruation and menstrual blood as putrid is a politically motivated act of colonial violence that specifically targets the source of our continuity as Indigenous People, the whare tangata (house of humanity – womb of women). I pose the question ‘if menstrual blood symbolises whakapapa, what does it mean to present it as ‘unclean’ and how do such representations cut across the politics of tino rangatiratanga (autonomy)?’ Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, kōrero (dialogue), and wānanga (series of conversations) with Māori women, including cultural experts, scholars, artists, and mana wahine exponents, I gather a collection of ceremonies, stories, and wisdoms that reclaim Māori spiritualities which celebrate menstruation as divine. Within the context of a colonial history of marginalisation, this work is an activist site of political resistance which takes a step towards re-threading the feminine strands in the spiritual fabric of our world, torn asunder by the ideological imposition of a colonial, Christian male god. I argue, that menstruation is a potent site of decolonisation, cultural reclamation, and resistance toward the perpetuation of colonial hegemony.

year: 2011

title: Differential trends in the compression of mortality: Assessing the antecedents to current gaps in health expectancy in New Zealand

authors: Pool, Ian

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Health Expectancies (HEs) for New Zealand show significant differentials between Maori and non-Maori, but also by gender and period. These differentials correlate with findings from both generation and synthetic life-tables relating to New Zealand’s epidemiologic transition. At the beginning of that transition quartile 1 (Q(1)), and Median (Med) d(x) values were close and centred at young ages; during the transition the gap became very wide; at the transition’s end the gap again narrowed. Cohort and synthetic trends in d(x), l(x), M, Qs and Meds are reviewed and linked to recent HEs. Data point to epidemic polarisation. Cohort analysis allows the evaluation of the role of past experiences on the recent HEs, and thus point to possible strategies for reducing gaps in both d(x), and HEs.

text: Differential trends in the compression of mortality: Assessing the antecedents to current gaps in health expectancy in New Zealand Health Expectancies (HEs) for New Zealand show significant differentials between Maori and non-Maori, but also by gender and period. These differentials correlate with findings from both generation and synthetic life-tables relating to New Zealand’s epidemiologic transition. At the beginning of that transition quartile 1 (Q(1)), and Median (Med) d(x) values were close and centred at young ages; during the transition the gap became very wide; at the transition’s end the gap again narrowed. Cohort and synthetic trends in d(x), l(x), M, Qs and Meds are reviewed and linked to recent HEs. Data point to epidemic polarisation. Cohort analysis allows the evaluation of the role of past experiences on the recent HEs, and thus point to possible strategies for reducing gaps in both d(x), and HEs.

year: 2009

title: Supercapacitor assisted power converter for DC microgrid applications with self-contained DC-UPS capability

authors: Hu, Yang

subjects: DC microgrid

abstract: Nowadays, due to the advantages inherent in using renewable energy, renewable power generation is becoming established worldwide. Direct current (DC) microgrid systems, which have been proposed as alternatives for traditional alternating current (AC) networks, enable the introduction of a large amount of solar energy by using distributed photovoltaic generation units. Meanwhile, small-scale DC microgrid systems designed at the household level are also viable options used to harness renewable energy (like solar energy) and have broad development prospects.
One of the ‘hot topics’ in the field of renewable energies is how to make efficient use of this type of energy. In this thesis, a high-efficiency DC microgrid system with supercapacitor (SC)-assisted power converter is introduced as a way to harness solar energy to run a 12 V, 50 W household lighting system.
Supercapacitor-assisted low dropout regulator (SCALDO) techniques were used to build an SC-assisted converter for a DC microgrid system. Supercapacitors in the DC microgrid acted as voltage droppers to convert 24 V solar panel’s output to 11 V – 13 V. Supercapacitors were also used as energy storage devices, and performed as a power source to run the household lighting system for a period of time after a sudden mains power outage.
Real weather condition data, including local Hamilton illuminance values, were required to design this system. These data were measured at the University of Waikato. They were converted into irradiance data and were used to create similar patterns for simulation. Prototype circuit of the complete DC microgrid system, with an SC-assisted converter was also developed and shown at the end of the thesis.

text: Supercapacitor assisted power converter for DC microgrid applications with self-contained DC-UPS capability Nowadays, due to the advantages inherent in using renewable energy, renewable power generation is becoming established worldwide. Direct current (DC) microgrid systems, which have been proposed as alternatives for traditional alternating current (AC) networks, enable the introduction of a large amount of solar energy by using distributed photovoltaic generation units. Meanwhile, small-scale DC microgrid systems designed at the household level are also viable options used to harness renewable energy (like solar energy) and have broad development prospects.
One of the ‘hot topics’ in the field of renewable energies is how to make efficient use of this type of energy. In this thesis, a high-efficiency DC microgrid system with supercapacitor (SC)-assisted power converter is introduced as a way to harness solar energy to run a 12 V, 50 W household lighting system.
Supercapacitor-assisted low dropout regulator (SCALDO) techniques were used to build an SC-assisted converter for a DC microgrid system. Supercapacitors in the DC microgrid acted as voltage droppers to convert 24 V solar panel’s output to 11 V – 13 V. Supercapacitors were also used as energy storage devices, and performed as a power source to run the household lighting system for a period of time after a sudden mains power outage.
Real weather condition data, including local Hamilton illuminance values, were required to design this system. These data were measured at the University of Waikato. They were converted into irradiance data and were used to create similar patterns for simulation. Prototype circuit of the complete DC microgrid system, with an SC-assisted converter was also developed and shown at the end of the thesis.

year: 2017