MAI Journal 2020: Volume 9 Issue 3
The lead article by Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Yvonne Taura, Garth Harmsworth and Shaun Awatere, STORYING KAITIAKITANGA: Exploring Kaupapa Māori land and water food stories explores the Indigenous principle of kaitiakitanga as it relates to Māori agrifood practices. The article considers how the shared Kaupapa Māori principles underpinning food practices form part of a wider Kaupapa Māori land, water and food systems approach called “Kai Ora”.
The second article in this issue by Maria Bargh is titled THE MĀORI ELECTORAL OPTION: How can trends in roll choices be explained? This article considers the significance of the Māori Electoral Option as a key factor in determining the number of Māori seats in the New Zealand Parliament, and notes the trends in voters changing rolls is a complex of many factors.
The third article in this issue is by Ellen Faithfull, titled The experiences of whānau and kaiako with Speech-Language Therapy in Kaupapa Māori education reports on the findings from a focus group of six whānau members and educators all connected to one kōhanga reo. The four significant themes that emerged were: whānau emphasis on te ao Māori permeating all aspects of the therapy process, including a focus on te reo Māori, suitable settings for therapy, use of relevant resources, and appropriate methods of communication.
The next article in this issue titled ONCE WERE GARDENERS: Māra and planting protest at Ihumātao is written by Rhieve-Sheridan Grey, Charlotte Muru-Lanning, Nicholas Jones, Marama Muru-Lanning and Tia Dawes. This paper explores the idea that gardens and gardening demonstrate a form of Māori protest and resistance and confirms that understanding the occupation acknowledges the importance of māra in te ao Māori.
The fifth article written by Helen Pearse-Otene titled THEATRE MARAE: Māori theatre pedagogy in research outlines its application as an Indigenous-informed creative framework for qualitative research. Theatre Māori has been applied as a decolonising strategy in ensemble work and crafting evocative theatre, honouring Māori expressions of colonisation, trauma and social justice. It is also applicable to Kaupapa Māori arts-based research.
The next article is co-authored by Christina McKerchar, Paula King, Cameron Lacey, Gillian Abel and Louise Signal and is titled RIGHTS-BASED APPROACHES TO IMPROVING FOOD AVAILABILITY FOR TAMARIKI MĀORI. This article identifies food availability as being a key concern for tamariki Māori. Using the rights-based Oranga Mokopuna framework grounded in tikanga Māori, the authors conclude that the right to healthy food needs to be urgently embedded across New Zealand legislation, policy and practices.
The seventh article in this issue titled UNDERSTANDING PASIFIKA MENTAL HEALTH IN NEW ZEALAND: A review of the literature is written by Sarah A. Kapeli, Sam Manuela and Chris G. Sibley. The authors found the overarching themes relating to Pacific mental health in New Zealand included mental health prevalence, mental health services, mental health perceptions, mental health prevention or intervention and suicide. The role of education, culturally appropriate services and engaging community activities in preventing further mental health disparity among Pasifika in New Zealand were also explored.
Our eighth article by Tara G McAllister, Jesse Kokaua, Sereana Naepi, Joanna Kidman and Reremoana Theodore, GLASS CEILINGS IN NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITIES: Inequities in Māori and Pacific promotions and earnings uses New Zealand’s Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) data (2003, 2012, 2018) to discuss how Māori and Pacific men and also women academics, compared with non-Māori non-Pacific men academics, had significantly lower odds of being an associate professor or professor (professoriate) or of being promoted, and had lower earnings.
The next article STUDENT VOICE: Learning paangarau in a Maaori-medium modern learning environment was written by Ngaarewa Hawera and Leeana Herewini, elevates the student voice in ensuring their increased engagement and success in learning paangarau in Maaori medium modern learning environments. By exploring the teaching, learning and achievement of learners the two-year case study, and two focus groups revealed insights into types of pedagogy and tasks in paangarau that can increase children's collaboration, self-management and engagement.
The tenth article in this issue by Helen Matunga, Hirini Matunga and Stephen C. Urlich, titled FROM EXPLOITATIVE TO REGENERATIVE TOURISM: Tino rangatiratanga and tourism in Aotearoa New Zealand discusses the concerted movement by many Māori towards engagement with tourism as a means of reconnecting with cultural traditions, protecting natural resources and providing employment for whānau. It also advances the need for a framework establishing the limits of acceptable environmental change for different taonga from the effects of tourism.
Our final article by Tahu Kukutai, Nepia Mahuika, Heeni Kani, Denise Ewe and Karu Hura Kukutai, SURVIVANCE AS NARRATIVE IDENTITY: Voices from a Ngāti Tiipa oral history project explores three oral history narratives of kaumātua from Ngāti Tiipa, one of the 33 iwi and hapū of the Waikato-Tainui confederation. These stories relate how enduring connections to the river and land, retention of whānau practices and the intergenerational transmission of tūpuna names have shaped contemporary expressions of Ngāti Tiipa identity and belonging.
