Doctoral Thesis

Louise Kewene-Doig (Tainui, Ngāti Haua), University of Otago

My research focus is Māori music experiences of the 1960s through the Māori Showband phenomenon. Using Kaupapa Māori and whakapapa research methods, my thesis will explore the importance of the Māori Showbands from the perspective of band members. I am creating unique ways of retelling cultural and social experiences as well through the development of Tutuku a digital archive.

Riripeti Haretuku (Ngapuhi, Taranaki, Te Arawa me Whakatohea), The University of Auckland

In this work, I rethink SUDI: SIDS, also known as cot death, within a kaupapa Māori framework. I use the term mate ohorere pēpi, not as an equivalent of SUDI: SIDS, but to encompass all the aspects of a Māori experience of the sudden death of a pēpi (baby).

I argue that SUDI in Māori whanau must be understood as mate ohorere pēpi, and therefore discussion and practice related to sudden Māori infant death must include Māori understandings of the Māori spiritual world, tapu, wairua, whakapono, whakapapa, whakawhānau, whenua, whānau, whānaungātangā, tangihanga.

Tui Moana Matelau (Ngapuhi, Ngatikahi ki Whangaroa), Auckland University of Technology

As a lecturer who works in foundation and bridging education, I see the way that identity impacts on students’ ability to flourish in the tertiary education system. Tertiary institutions attempt to enhance the success of priority groups such as Maori and Pacific students

Lynley Uerata (Ngati Mahuta, Ngati Tahinga), University of Waikato

The proposed research will explore the precarious realities of eight Māori households and their culturally-patterned responses to socio-economic marginalisation.

The Māori precariat are a growing social class whose lives are rendered precarious by flexible and unstable employment, unliveable incomes, inadequate state support, low resources, stigma and marginalisation (Hodgetts & Griffin, 2015; Standing, 2014).

Literature suggests that precariat persons are becoming increasingly alienated from civic life and their rights are being eroded as they are transformed from citizens to morally and materially marginalised denizens (Hodgetts et al., 2013; 2014; Standing, 2014). Through examining factors that support and impinge upon their precarious reality and capacity for human flourishing. the research will generate a detailed profile and understanding of these people who are often judged for the precarious realities they contend with.

Tracey Takuira (Te Arawa, Matātua, Ngāpuhi, Tainui), Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi Whakatane

Taonga species or customary materials such as Kuta/Paopao (Eleocharis sphacelata), Harakeke (Phormium tenax,), Pīngao (Desmoschoenus spiralis), Tī Kōuka (Cordyline australis), Raupō (Typha orientalis), Toetoe (Cortaderia spp.), (Scheele, 2010a, Herbert, & Oliphant, 1991) as well as many more natural resources, are significant to the cultural identity of Māori people. For example, “the exercise of kaitiaki responsibilites towards these taonga species and their environment, is a fundamental aspect of Māori culture, and kaitaki relationships are important sources of identity” (Waitangi Tribunal, 2011).

Renee Iritana Smith (Renee Iritana Smith), Massey University

My project “Tāngata Tōnui, Tāngata Mauri Ora” aligns with the research theme of ‘Mauri Ora’ as it specifically is aimed at investigating commonalities shared between flourishing, successful Māori individuals and communities. This will be done utilizing a kaupapa Māori methodology which therefore allows for a cultural specific way of investigating the construct of ‘flourishing’ in a way which has not been done before.