Project lead: Dr. Emmy Rākete Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa The University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau (Host)
In the last four decades, New Zealand has begun imprisoning on a scale never seen before in this land’s history. Māori people have consistently made up at least half of the prison population, and Māori communities are among those that have experienced the worst consequences of mass incarceration.
Moana Jackson’s [Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou] influential project He Whaipaanga Hou combined structural analysis with community outreach, using wānanga with Māori communities to understand how Māori related to the justice system. The transformation of the justice system in the years since He Whaipaanga Hou necessitates another project that can use the methods of kaupapa Māori research to unify popular opposition to mass incarceration.
The violence, suffering, and death perpetrated by the justice system cannot be brought to an end if we do not understand it. This research aims to understand what issues in the justice system our communities are concerned with, how they understand those issues, and how social science can provide leadership to bring about positive social change.
This project will conduct educational wānanga throughout Tāmaki-Makau-Rau and Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara and invite participants to share their perspectives on the justice system. It will also conduct interviews with key informants working in groups and organisations engaging with the justice system.
This material will be used for academic articles, communicated through social and traditional media, and used to prepare research reports for partner organisation to use in their campaigns. This research will be used as a pilot for a larger project, replicating these methods on a national scale, to develop a theory and praxis of struggle against the racist injustice of the justice system.