title: Book Review: Sexuality, Health and Human Rights by Sonia Corrêa, Rosalind Petchesky and Richard Parker

authors: Simon-Kumar, Rachel

subjects: book review

abstract: This article reviews the book “Sexuality, Health and Human Rights”, by Sonia Corrêa, Rosalind Petchesky and Richard Parker.

text: Book Review: Sexuality, Health and Human Rights by Sonia Corrêa, Rosalind Petchesky and Richard Parker This article reviews the book “Sexuality, Health and Human Rights”, by Sonia Corrêa, Rosalind Petchesky and Richard Parker.

year: 2009

title: Moving beyond psychocentric perspectives of suicide: Towards an ecological and social justice understanding

authors: Foley, Shaun

subjects: Suicide

abstract: Suicide is a fundamentally political and deep moral concern within Aotearoa, New Zealand. The act of suicide is best understood as a complex phenomenon occurring within multiple biological, psychological, philosophical, moral, sociocultural, historical, anthropological and economic dimensions. While suicide is a complex phenomenon, the issue of suicide within an Anglocentric context such as Aotearoa is mainly understood from an individualistic, psychocentric conceptualisation that favours biological, medical, and psychological factors. This master’s thesis explored an alternative framework that aimed to go beyond an individualised, psychocentric perspective through using the social determinants of health and an ecological understanding of suicide. The theoretical framework for this research is informed by humanistic and community psychologies, narrative and phenomenology. The study involved an interpretative phenomenological analysis of six autobiographies written by authors who had survived a previous suicide attempt. First, thorough notes were taken through three readings of each book to supplement the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach of the six autobiographical works. The second part of analysis used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory to extend the themes that were gathered from the interpretative phenomenological analysis and connect them to broader societal structures and social inequalities. The analysis is spread across three chapters. Chapter four discusses Brian’s rationality for suicide. His understanding of suicide challenges the mainstream understandings of suicide, which attribute suicide to being an act of irrationality and madness. Chapter five takes a look across all of authors’ accounts to see how societal inequalities and neoliberalism are intertwined with the complex and long process that can lead a person towards attempting suicide. Chapter six further discusses the authors’ accounts in relation to how social inequalities and social hierarchies foster violence and suicide. Chapter seven closes the thesis with a discussion of the analysis and how a theoretical framework from community psychology provides an understanding of suicide from a broader viewpoint. The discussion considers possible ways of reconceptualising suicide and advocates for an upstream approach to suicide prevention.

text: Moving beyond psychocentric perspectives of suicide: Towards an ecological and social justice understanding Suicide is a fundamentally political and deep moral concern within Aotearoa, New Zealand. The act of suicide is best understood as a complex phenomenon occurring within multiple biological, psychological, philosophical, moral, sociocultural, historical, anthropological and economic dimensions. While suicide is a complex phenomenon, the issue of suicide within an Anglocentric context such as Aotearoa is mainly understood from an individualistic, psychocentric conceptualisation that favours biological, medical, and psychological factors. This master’s thesis explored an alternative framework that aimed to go beyond an individualised, psychocentric perspective through using the social determinants of health and an ecological understanding of suicide. The theoretical framework for this research is informed by humanistic and community psychologies, narrative and phenomenology. The study involved an interpretative phenomenological analysis of six autobiographies written by authors who had survived a previous suicide attempt. First, thorough notes were taken through three readings of each book to supplement the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach of the six autobiographical works. The second part of analysis used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory to extend the themes that were gathered from the interpretative phenomenological analysis and connect them to broader societal structures and social inequalities. The analysis is spread across three chapters. Chapter four discusses Brian’s rationality for suicide. His understanding of suicide challenges the mainstream understandings of suicide, which attribute suicide to being an act of irrationality and madness. Chapter five takes a look across all of authors’ accounts to see how societal inequalities and neoliberalism are intertwined with the complex and long process that can lead a person towards attempting suicide. Chapter six further discusses the authors’ accounts in relation to how social inequalities and social hierarchies foster violence and suicide. Chapter seven closes the thesis with a discussion of the analysis and how a theoretical framework from community psychology provides an understanding of suicide from a broader viewpoint. The discussion considers possible ways of reconceptualising suicide and advocates for an upstream approach to suicide prevention.

year: 2021

title: Software development: Involving Tangata Whenua and incorporating Tikanga Māori

authors: Taia, Ivy

subjects: software engineering

abstract: Over the past fifty years, software development (SD) has been dominated by Western approaches, which is widely accepted as the standard way of doing things (Diaz Andrade et al., 2021). Consequently, many software applications for specific Indigenous cultures, especially health interventions and educational software (Dobson, Whittaker, Bartley, Connor, Chen, Ross & McCool, 2017; Fleer, 1989), were developed using traditional software engineering (SE) methodologies. Although these methodologies provide the workflows and methods for developing software, they do not provide guidelines for developing Indigenous software. While there have been numerous studies on diversity, such as gender and ethnicity in the field of Information Systems, there is very little research on the practices of involving Indigenous people and incorporating their traditional customs in the software development process. This thesis examines the participation of Indigenous people in software development. The research specifically focuses on Tangata Whenua (Māori people, the Indigenous population of Aotearoa New Zealand) and Tikanga Māori (Māori cultural methods). Our findings are useful to those attempting to enhance Indigenous representation in software development, especially those wanting to involve Māori people and their cultural methods in the development process and design of software.

text: Software development: Involving Tangata Whenua and incorporating Tikanga Māori Over the past fifty years, software development (SD) has been dominated by Western approaches, which is widely accepted as the standard way of doing things (Diaz Andrade et al., 2021). Consequently, many software applications for specific Indigenous cultures, especially health interventions and educational software (Dobson, Whittaker, Bartley, Connor, Chen, Ross & McCool, 2017; Fleer, 1989), were developed using traditional software engineering (SE) methodologies. Although these methodologies provide the workflows and methods for developing software, they do not provide guidelines for developing Indigenous software. While there have been numerous studies on diversity, such as gender and ethnicity in the field of Information Systems, there is very little research on the practices of involving Indigenous people and incorporating their traditional customs in the software development process. This thesis examines the participation of Indigenous people in software development. The research specifically focuses on Tangata Whenua (Māori people, the Indigenous population of Aotearoa New Zealand) and Tikanga Māori (Māori cultural methods). Our findings are useful to those attempting to enhance Indigenous representation in software development, especially those wanting to involve Māori people and their cultural methods in the development process and design of software.

year: 2025