title: “Being treated as an equal is how I feel supported”: Expanding conceptualisations of “normal” to include gender, sex characteristic, and sexuality diversity on the university campus

authors: Brown, Juliana

subjects: gender

abstract: International research has a plethora of findings which show that gender, sex characteristic, and sexuality diverse (GSSD) staff and students are discriminated against and treated as ‘unwelcome’ on tertiary campuses at higher rates than their cisgender, endosex, and heterosexual (cis-endo-hetero) counterparts. Further research has demonstrated that GSSD people have greater potential to thrive academically (specific to students) and personally when universities foster campus climates that are inclusive of their identities. In Aotearoa New Zealand, there is a dearth of literature about the experiences of GSSD people on university campuses. This thesis research was conducted to help address the knowledge gap.
A community psychology and mixed methods approach was used in this study to understand GSSD staff and student perceptions of the campus climate at the University of Waikato, as well as to determine how to best achieve improvement, if needed. The first research stage included seven focus groups with GSSD staff and students, with initial analysis of the qualitative data collected from these focus groups being used to inform Stage Two: a campus climate survey. The survey was conducted with the intention to gain a broad range of views from university staff and students who identified as GSSD and as cis-endo-hetero (N = 343).
GSSD participants largely described The University of Waikato as a heteronormative, endonormative, and cisnormative environment. Further analysis also brought to light the mononormativity experienced by GSSD people who are non-monogamous. Full analysis of Stage One data resulted in the finding of ‘the (in)visible self’, which refers to the ways in which participants made their GSSD identities visible or invisible in the campus space at different times for varying reasons, including for the sake of their wellbeing. Participants in the focus groups also expressed the need for the university to actively include and educate about GSSD identities on campus so that GSSD people can more safely be ‘visible’ as themselves. These Stage One findings were supported by the qualitative data generated from the Stage Two survey; however, GSSD people in the survey expressed an additional desire for their identities to not just be included and educated about, but to also be considered ‘normal’ at university. Of particular interest is that this notion of ‘normal’ did not incorporate homonormative or transnormative rhetoric.
Overall, this research expands on the limited existing literature in Aotearoa New Zealand to demonstrate there is a local need for universities to critically re-examine their practices, policies, and educational content in relation to gender, sex characteristics, and sexuality, with this thesis identifying the most promising intervention options, according to participants. People with a range of GSSD voices should be included in any intervention efforts (rather than GSSD people being treated like a homogenous group). Having GSSD voices included in any interventions is also important given my thesis research found that cis- endo-hetero people overestimated the acceptance of some GSSD groups on campus (e.g., non-binary people, bisexual and pansexual people) compared to the perceptions of GSSD participants themselves. The thorough disruption of heteronormative, endonormative, and cisnormative discourses on campus would create a climate in which being GSSD is considered normal (i.e., not remarkable, or forcibly [in]visible) and cisgender, endosex, and heterosexual identities are not normative (i.e., perceived as what should be normal) in university policy, educational content, and everyday interactions.

text: “Being treated as an equal is how I feel supported”: Expanding conceptualisations of “normal” to include gender, sex characteristic, and sexuality diversity on the university campus International research has a plethora of findings which show that gender, sex characteristic, and sexuality diverse (GSSD) staff and students are discriminated against and treated as ‘unwelcome’ on tertiary campuses at higher rates than their cisgender, endosex, and heterosexual (cis-endo-hetero) counterparts. Further research has demonstrated that GSSD people have greater potential to thrive academically (specific to students) and personally when universities foster campus climates that are inclusive of their identities. In Aotearoa New Zealand, there is a dearth of literature about the experiences of GSSD people on university campuses. This thesis research was conducted to help address the knowledge gap.
A community psychology and mixed methods approach was used in this study to understand GSSD staff and student perceptions of the campus climate at the University of Waikato, as well as to determine how to best achieve improvement, if needed. The first research stage included seven focus groups with GSSD staff and students, with initial analysis of the qualitative data collected from these focus groups being used to inform Stage Two: a campus climate survey. The survey was conducted with the intention to gain a broad range of views from university staff and students who identified as GSSD and as cis-endo-hetero (N = 343).
GSSD participants largely described The University of Waikato as a heteronormative, endonormative, and cisnormative environment. Further analysis also brought to light the mononormativity experienced by GSSD people who are non-monogamous. Full analysis of Stage One data resulted in the finding of ‘the (in)visible self’, which refers to the ways in which participants made their GSSD identities visible or invisible in the campus space at different times for varying reasons, including for the sake of their wellbeing. Participants in the focus groups also expressed the need for the university to actively include and educate about GSSD identities on campus so that GSSD people can more safely be ‘visible’ as themselves. These Stage One findings were supported by the qualitative data generated from the Stage Two survey; however, GSSD people in the survey expressed an additional desire for their identities to not just be included and educated about, but to also be considered ‘normal’ at university. Of particular interest is that this notion of ‘normal’ did not incorporate homonormative or transnormative rhetoric.
Overall, this research expands on the limited existing literature in Aotearoa New Zealand to demonstrate there is a local need for universities to critically re-examine their practices, policies, and educational content in relation to gender, sex characteristics, and sexuality, with this thesis identifying the most promising intervention options, according to participants. People with a range of GSSD voices should be included in any intervention efforts (rather than GSSD people being treated like a homogenous group). Having GSSD voices included in any interventions is also important given my thesis research found that cis- endo-hetero people overestimated the acceptance of some GSSD groups on campus (e.g., non-binary people, bisexual and pansexual people) compared to the perceptions of GSSD participants themselves. The thorough disruption of heteronormative, endonormative, and cisnormative discourses on campus would create a climate in which being GSSD is considered normal (i.e., not remarkable, or forcibly [in]visible) and cisgender, endosex, and heterosexual identities are not normative (i.e., perceived as what should be normal) in university policy, educational content, and everyday interactions.

year: 2024-05-19

title: Strategies for determining the cascade rate in MHD Turbulence: isotropy, anisotropy, and spacecraft sampling

authors: Wang, Yanwen

abstract: Exact laws for evaluating cascade rates, tracing back to the Kolmogorov "4/5"law, have been extended to many systems of interest including magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), and compressible flows of the magnetofluid and ordinary fluid types. It is understood that implementations may be limited by the quantity of available data and by the lack of turbulence symmetry. Assessment of the accuracy and feasibility of such third-order (or Yaglom) relations is most effectively accomplished by examining the von Kármán-Howarth equation in increment form, a framework from which the third-order laws are derived as asymptotic approximations. Using this approach, we examine the context of third-order laws for incompressible MHD in some detail. The simplest versions rely on the assumption of isotropy and the presence of a well-defined inertial range, while related procedures generalize the same idea to arbitrary rotational symmetries. Conditions for obtaining correct and accurate values of the dissipation rate from these laws based on several sampling and fitting strategies are investigated using results from simulations. The questions we address are of particular relevance to sampling of solar wind turbulence by one or more spacecraft.

text: Strategies for determining the cascade rate in MHD Turbulence: isotropy, anisotropy, and spacecraft sampling Exact laws for evaluating cascade rates, tracing back to the Kolmogorov "4/5"law, have been extended to many systems of interest including magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), and compressible flows of the magnetofluid and ordinary fluid types. It is understood that implementations may be limited by the quantity of available data and by the lack of turbulence symmetry. Assessment of the accuracy and feasibility of such third-order (or Yaglom) relations is most effectively accomplished by examining the von Kármán-Howarth equation in increment form, a framework from which the third-order laws are derived as asymptotic approximations. Using this approach, we examine the context of third-order laws for incompressible MHD in some detail. The simplest versions rely on the assumption of isotropy and the presence of a well-defined inertial range, while related procedures generalize the same idea to arbitrary rotational symmetries. Conditions for obtaining correct and accurate values of the dissipation rate from these laws based on several sampling and fitting strategies are investigated using results from simulations. The questions we address are of particular relevance to sampling of solar wind turbulence by one or more spacecraft.

year: 2022-10-01

title: “You’re not coming out – you’ve been there all along and just no one’s looked”: Māori LGBT+ youth and identity exploration

authors: Laurence, Rebekah

subjects: Māori

abstract: This research is a Masters-level project on Māori LGBT-plus (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other) youths’ experience of exploring their gender and sexual identities, highlighting how whānau (loosely, ‘extended family’) can provide mana (authority, power) such that youth can exercise mana rangatiratanga (a Maniapoto description of ‘autonomy, self-determination’) regarding their identities. This is a novel, exploratory study.
Adapted elements from a Mana Wāhine (Māori feminist) perspective of Kaupapa Māori theory comprised the theoretical framework for this project. These elements were Mana rangatiratanga (adapted from Tino rangatiratanga), Te reo Māori me ōna tikanga (Māori language and its culture), and Whanaungatanga (relationships). The three elements were adapted to fit a Ngāti Maniapoto worldview. 
Qualitative research methods were used for this study. There were five participants aged between 17 and 24 years, who were Māori and had diverse gender or sexual identities. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants, which allowed them to share their experiences of exploring their gender and sexual identities and of whānau support. Interviews were analysed using a process of inductive thematic analysis, which identified and analysed patterns across the dataset.
Eight themes were derived from participants’ experiences. These themes were Ko Tūhura, which described the process of discovery that participants have experienced; Ko Matatapu, which described participants’ experience of authenticity and concealment of their gender and sexual identities; Ko Tautoko, which described how whānau have empowered participants to explore their identities, and how participants have been denied empowerment; Ko Mata-ngaro, which described participants’ early lack of exposure to diverse identities, and their having their identities unseen by others; Ko te Ahunga-ki-te-aunoa, which described how diverse identities have been accepted within participants’ whānau; Ko Tauawhi, which described how participants have been embraced for their diverse identities; Ko Mata-pū-take, which describes participants’ experience of finding somewhere to belong; and Ko Kiritau, which describes participants’ becoming settled in their expression of their gender and sexual identities.
The findings of the thesis describe roles that whānau play in participants’ exploration of their gender and sexual identities and some of the effects that colonisation has had within participants’ whānau regarding their gender and sexual identities. Nonetheless, participants actively resisted these aspects of colonisations and found ways to give voice to their gender and sexual identities.
Given that participants shared that there was a dearth of information regarding gender and sexual identities available to them within their whānau and school environments, organisations within psychology and related fields may work to proactively provide all young Māori people and their whānau with information regarding diverse gender and sexual identities. Moreover, to address the dearth of resources designed for Māori LGBT-plus youth, New Zealand-based researchers may collate information specifically regarding Māori LGBT-plus youth experience of identity exploration and Māori knowledges regarding gender and sexual identities. This information may be collated in community-based resources that are designed specifically for members of this group and their whānau, and professionals who work for them.

text: “You’re not coming out – you’ve been there all along and just no one’s looked”: Māori LGBT+ youth and identity exploration This research is a Masters-level project on Māori LGBT-plus (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other) youths’ experience of exploring their gender and sexual identities, highlighting how whānau (loosely, ‘extended family’) can provide mana (authority, power) such that youth can exercise mana rangatiratanga (a Maniapoto description of ‘autonomy, self-determination’) regarding their identities. This is a novel, exploratory study.
Adapted elements from a Mana Wāhine (Māori feminist) perspective of Kaupapa Māori theory comprised the theoretical framework for this project. These elements were Mana rangatiratanga (adapted from Tino rangatiratanga), Te reo Māori me ōna tikanga (Māori language and its culture), and Whanaungatanga (relationships). The three elements were adapted to fit a Ngāti Maniapoto worldview. 
Qualitative research methods were used for this study. There were five participants aged between 17 and 24 years, who were Māori and had diverse gender or sexual identities. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants, which allowed them to share their experiences of exploring their gender and sexual identities and of whānau support. Interviews were analysed using a process of inductive thematic analysis, which identified and analysed patterns across the dataset.
Eight themes were derived from participants’ experiences. These themes were Ko Tūhura, which described the process of discovery that participants have experienced; Ko Matatapu, which described participants’ experience of authenticity and concealment of their gender and sexual identities; Ko Tautoko, which described how whānau have empowered participants to explore their identities, and how participants have been denied empowerment; Ko Mata-ngaro, which described participants’ early lack of exposure to diverse identities, and their having their identities unseen by others; Ko te Ahunga-ki-te-aunoa, which described how diverse identities have been accepted within participants’ whānau; Ko Tauawhi, which described how participants have been embraced for their diverse identities; Ko Mata-pū-take, which describes participants’ experience of finding somewhere to belong; and Ko Kiritau, which describes participants’ becoming settled in their expression of their gender and sexual identities.
The findings of the thesis describe roles that whānau play in participants’ exploration of their gender and sexual identities and some of the effects that colonisation has had within participants’ whānau regarding their gender and sexual identities. Nonetheless, participants actively resisted these aspects of colonisations and found ways to give voice to their gender and sexual identities.
Given that participants shared that there was a dearth of information regarding gender and sexual identities available to them within their whānau and school environments, organisations within psychology and related fields may work to proactively provide all young Māori people and their whānau with information regarding diverse gender and sexual identities. Moreover, to address the dearth of resources designed for Māori LGBT-plus youth, New Zealand-based researchers may collate information specifically regarding Māori LGBT-plus youth experience of identity exploration and Māori knowledges regarding gender and sexual identities. This information may be collated in community-based resources that are designed specifically for members of this group and their whānau, and professionals who work for them.

year: 2020