Shared mobility in a Māori community

ABSTRACT

Shared mobility is being advanced as a novel, technologically sophisticated approach to reducing the environmental impacts of high levels of car ownership. However, communities have long shared modes of transport for reasons other than environmental quality. We describe the shared mobility practices undertaken in a Māori community in the East Cape region of New Zealand. They reveal long-established ways of sharing that are underpinned by, and support, cultural principles. Shared mobility provides an appropriate and comfortable environment for people to share vital and sacred information and to strengthen social bonds. It also reflects the desire of tribal members to retain cultural practices that benefit the collective. The findings make it clear that sharing transport has far more than economic and environmental benefits. We suggest that it is time for the social and cultural benefits of sharing transport to become part of the global narrative on twenty-first-century collaborative consumption.     

Domestic responsibilities and the employment of young Māori women

Abstract

While the employment rate of women has risen steadily in New Zealand over the last two decades, employment is still highly variable by ethnicity and age. One of the groups least engaged in paid employment is young Māori women (15–24 years). Their employment rates are much lower than their Pākehā counterparts (42 and 64%, respectively) and this is not offset by their greater involvement in education.

Although there is a general awareness of these differences, there has been no systematic enquiry into the possible reasons for the relatively low engagement of young Māori women in the formal economy. Using a full set of 178,776 unit records pertaining to all young Māori and Pākehā women from the 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings, we develop a number of novel measures of household composition as indicators of domestic responsibilities. These become arguments in a multivariate statistical model in which young women are modelled as choosing to participate in the formal paid workforce and/ or in education.

Our results show that young Māori women's choice of paid work is no more sensitive to her domestic responsibilities than those of young Pākehā women, but they do encounter these responsibilities far more often. The results have a number of important implications for Māori development.     

Research and development absorptive capacity: a Māori perspective

This paper presents a view of research and development absorptive capacity from a Māori perspective. The assessment is part of a case study of a longitudinal programme – Science for Technological Innovation: Kia kotahi mai – Te Ao Putaiao me te Ao Hanagarau that aims to increase Aotearoa New Zealand’s capacity to use sci-tech for economic benefit. The paper finds that while Aotearoa New Zealand’s macro policy and meso institutional levels have become more responsive to Māori research and development demands, at the micro level of the individual or the firm there are still constraints given the small numbers of Māori in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In response to this, a novel model of Māori sci-tech capacity is under development that considers not only research and development technical capacities, but also the human and relational capacities required to accelerate absorptive capacity to respond to Māori social and economic aspirations.     

Self‐reported proficiency in Māori language among those of Māori descent in New Zealand

Abstract

In a national survey in New Zealand (N = 12 992), participants of Māori descent (N = 2936) reported their proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing Māori and in understanding spoken Māori. Only 6–10% reported that they could cope “very well” in these areas while 36–52% reported their proficiency as “no more than a few words or phrases”. There was no evidence of subgroups of Māori with divergent proficiency across oral language or literacy. Six latent classes were fitted but these appeared to lie along a continuum, and analysis employing item response theory (IRT) and factor analysis confirmed this. A simple sum of scores across the four areas correlated very highly with the IRT factor score (r = 0.97). High proficiency was more common among older Māori and females, in the Midland region (lowest in the South), and for those with sole‐Māori ethnicity, followed by multi‐ethnic Māori (seldom seen in those of Māori descent but not ethnicity).     

In search of a decolonised military: Māori cultural learning experiences in the New Zealand Defence Force

Māori people contribute significantly to the New Zealand Defence Force. Māori indigenous knowledge, however, did not feature in military curricula until recently. It was a common expectation that Māori personnel would conform to the dominant Western worldview, which often meant sacrificing indigenous identity. The introduction of the Service bicultural policies has paved the way for significant change in military education practices in the twenty-first century. This paper showcases the Māori cultural learning experiences of 34 members from the New Zealand Defence Force as they reflect on their experiences within the contemporary context of a military education and training environment, and the broader context of a decolonising society. This study argues that the inclusion of indigenous knowledge systems in military curricula improves the learning experiences of all members. Themes relating to individual development and improved organisational morale emerged that were found to be directly or indirectly attributed to the inclusion of Māori cultural training. The study is grounded in a multicultural military organisation, operating within a nation seeking to establish a bicultural co-equal partnership between Māori, the tangata whenua, original inhabitants, and non-Māori, the kaiwhakanoho whenua, or settler population, of New Zealand.     

Implementing Working for Families: the impact of the policy on selected Māori whānau

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the qualitative data collected for a study investigating the effect of the Working for Families policy on Māori families’ self-reported whānau ora (family wellbeing). Data are drawn from a discrete set of 30 qualitative interviews undertaken with Māori whānau involved in the Te Hoe Nuku Roa Longitudinal Study. Whānau perceptions about how the Working for Families policy has impacted on their lives and the contribution the policy has made towards their family's wellbeing is presented. The paper discusses how the Working for Families policy appears to have become an integral component of household income for many low-to-middle-income whānau and reflects on how this policy, conceived and designed (amongst other things) to alleviate and redress child poverty, is contributing towards supporting family wellbeing or ‘whānau ora’.     

Creating Treaty-based local governance in New Zealand: Māori and Pākehā views

This article explores the need for Treaty-based local governance, raised to national prominence by the 2014 outrage against New Plymouth Mayor Andrew Judd, who advocated a Māori ward for 2016. The Treaty of Waitangi influenced the creation of Māori seats in Parliament in the nineteenth century, and a provision for Māori seats in local councils in 2001. There has been limited uptake of the latter and Māori remain significantly under-represented. Innovations in governing arrangements have allowed non-elected Māori to take up advisory roles and, in some cases, decision-making roles. We argue that these do not ensure fair and effective Māori representation. Ad hoc and unpredictable structures have failed to deliver fair and effective representation to all New Zealanders. There is a pressing need for a New Zealand constitutional debate – a conversation among Māori and non-Māori – to devise a governance model that addresses the Treaty of Waitangi as New Zealand’s founding document.     

Ngā Mōwaho: an analysis of Māori responses to the Christchurch earthquakes

Since September 2010, a series of earthquakes have caused widespread social, financial and environmental devastation in Christchurch, New Zealand. Anecdotal evidence suggests that local Māori responded effectively to facilitate community recovery and resilience. However, the form, content and extent of that response has not been adequately recognised or documented. This qualitative research project, conducted in partnership with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, has documented the way in which Māori cultural factors have facilitated disaster risk reduction and management in response to the earthquakes. This paper explores sets of understandings about marginalisation and inclusion within the narratives of 70 Māori community members who contributed to this research. Forms of marginalisation expressed in participants’ narratives include delayed linkages to the formal emergency management infrastructure, difficulties integrating Māori volunteers into the mainstream response as well as enduring barriers to Māori engagement within Civil Defence, illustrated in a lack of Māori representation as well as tikanga Māori within emergency planning. We argue that the knowledge, principles and practices embedded within Māori responses to the Christchurch earthquakes may be contextually relevant for national and regional policy development in the area of disaster risk management, response and recovery.     

Māori and Pasifika leaders’ experiences of government health advisory groups in New Zealand

Māori and Pasifika populations in New Zealand experience poorer health outcomes than other New Zealanders. These inequalities are a deeply entrenched injustice. This qualitative study explores the experiences of six Māori and Pasifika leaders on health policy-making advisory committees. All had extensive experience in the health system. They were recruited, provided semi-structured interviews, the data coded, and a thematic analysis undertaken. Our findings show that inequalities in the health system are reproduced in advisory committees. Participants noted their knowledge and interests were devalued and they experienced racism and tokenistic engagement. Some indicated it took considerable effort to establish credibility, be heard, have impact, and navigate advisory meetings, but even then their inputs were marginalised. Health policy advisory committees need deeper engagement and more genuine recognition of Māori and Pasifika knowledge. Māori and Pasifika leaders have constructive solutions for eliminating health inequities that could benefit all New Zealanders.     

Positive youth development in Māori and New Zealand European adolescents through an adventure education programme

Within Aotearoa New Zealand there is growing interest in positive youth development (PYD). A PYD approach provides balance to narratives surrounding outcomes for youth and broadens our views of what we consider beneficial developmental outcomes. In the current study we used sail training as a method to promote PYD in Māori and New Zealand European adolescents. Specifically, 54 Māori and 37 New Zealand European adolescents completed the 7-day youth-development voyage on-board the gaffed rigged schooner, R. Tucker Thompson. We demonstrate that, for both Māori and New Zealand European adolescents, psychological resilience, self-esteem, and positive outlook on life increased from the first day to the last day of the voyage. In addition, we demonstrate that the increases in psychological resilience were driven by the social/collective identity adolescents formed with their group over the course of the voyage.     

An inconvenient truth: why evidence-based policies on obesity are failing Māori,Pasifika and the Anglo working class

Public health initiatives around obesity have generally worked well for middle class Australians and New Zealanders. This message has not had the same impact in Anglo working class areas and certain CALD communities, especially Māori and Pasifika, where obesity rates remain highest. This paper employs qualitative data from interviews with eighty-five Māori and Pasifika migrants to Australia to explore attitudes to food purchasing and consumption behaviours and associated health risks. It is evident the individual, medicalised approach to improving obesity rates has not been effective and there needs to be a new culturally responsive structural approach. This would require governments to prioritise population health over existing relationships with commercial food manufacturers – especially in relation to spatial domination of commercialised fast food outlets in low socio-economic status districts and in the areas of sports and education sponsorship. We also explore the assumptions of evidence-based health policy more generally, providing a critique of who is represented and served by the commercial solicitation and management of health research. This includes what constitutes ‘evidence’, who is conducting and funding the research, who appraises and compares the data and how is it interpreted and employed.     

A Kaupapa Māori,culturally progressive,narrative review of literature on sport,ethnicity and inclusion

ABSTRACT

This Kaupapa Māori narrative review identifies themes in literature concerning sport, ethnicity and inclusion, from an indigenous ‘culturally progressive’ perspective. Scholars suggest that sport influences national identity and in Aotearoa/New Zealand, rugby is a rich site for examining such connections. Inclusiveness within sport is an expressed desire, although the academic scrutiny on this is limited. This study identifies and examines themes within literature (2008–2017), using a ‘Ngā Poutama Whetū’ culturally progressive review process, contributing nuanced understandings from the content. Results suggest that racist othering, representations and practices of ethnic minority exclusion are a reality in sport, although, locally, at least, the ‘cultural climate’ in sport strives for greater ethnic inclusivity. Conclusions suggest that current research in this domain is largely theoretical, insofar as challenges to organisations, power and privilege. However, future research should explore participants’ lived experiences at the intersections of ethnicity and inclusion in sport.     

The Purpose,Benefits, and Challenges of “Check-in” in a Group-work Class

The purpose of this article is to illustrate, through teaching examples and student logs, a technique, called “check-in” routinely used in the author's group-work classes. Check-in is a process where students are invited, in the beginning of each class, to share their struggles, questions, dilemmas, accomplishments, and failures related to their group-work learning. Check-in requires students to listen and offer support, ideas, challenges, and guidance to each other. The goal of check-in is to help students develop their group-work skills and knowledge. Integrating democratic teaching practice with group stage development theory, particularly beginnings and middles, this article explores the process, complexities, and skills inherent in the check-in process. Implications for group-work practice skills are discussed.     

Disability policy in Australia: a triumph of the scriptio inferior on impotence and neediness?

From the time that development of a National Disability Insurance Scheme arrived on the agenda of the Australian Labor Government's 2008 Ideas Summit, the lives of disabled Australian citizens have been widely discussed, consulted on, planned for and acted on. This discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003; 2010) critiques the ways in which disabled lives have been framed in these high profile policy debates, with detailed focus on two key policy documents. The Shut Out Report: the Experiences of People with Disabilities in Australia (2009) (2009) and Disability Care and Support (Productivity Commission 2011) are both grounded in extensive national consultations and provide significant evidence about the ways that disabled Australians talk about the problems they face and the solutions they advocate. The paper employs the well‐known recognition‐redistribution debate of Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth (2003) to interpret the findings that narratives of suffering, burden and marginalisation predominate in current policy conversations. This tends to push out discussions concerning the non‐redistributive aspects of disability reform, potentially contributing to non‐integrationist discourse entrenched over 150 years of policies of segregation. Minority voices advocating social integration are present but muted. At this stage, their influence is undetermined.     

‘As a slave woman and as a mother’: women and the abolition of slavery in Havana and Rio de Janeiro*

Abstract

This article explores how enslaved and freedwomen in Rio de Janeiro and Havana, the capital cities of the Americas' last two slaveholding territories, played a crucial and specific part in helping speed and shape the gradual emancipation processes that unfolded simultaneously in each context during the 1870s and 1880s. In each city, women were at the front line of legal battles for freedom waged by the enslaved and their freed relatives. The article suggests several reasons why. First, in both Brazil and Cuba, the abolition process was shaped by ‘free womb’ laws which, along with other subsequent legislation, created specific new opportunities for women to make legal claims on the basis of motherhood. Second, such petitions chimed not only with official legal stipulations but also with broader Atlantic anti-slavery rhetoric that sought emotive responses to the plight of slaves and appealed particularly to specific notions about maternal love. Third, these (ex-)enslaved women's struggles were shaped by their own understandings of the significances of freedom and of motherhood, and by their daily lives in these two Atlantic port cities, where women had long been a significant presence in each city's population and economic and cultural life. Looking beyond their ‘individual’ claims for freedom reveals how such claims emerged from a collective context of proximity, cohabitation and exchange of information and help. Despite the major differences between the broader economic and political trajectories of each country and city, it is the similarities between women's actions and contributions to the emancipation process that are particularly striking.     

“Unexpected and Distressing”: Understanding and Improving the Experience of Transferring Palliative Care Inpatients to Residential Care

The survival of patients with advanced cancer, coupled with the increased presence of end-stage chronic illnesses in an aging population, is leading to a demand in palliative care. Due to the ongoing need for acute-pain and symptom control in hospice/palliative care units, few are able to offer long-stay admission for those whose symptoms have stabilized. When a patient no longer requires specialist palliative care services, transfer from an inpatient palliative care facility may then be necessary. A core component of the role of palliative-care social workers involves working with patients and their families/carers when the care pathway shifts and the option of residential aged care facility (RACF) needs to be considered. This research explored several issues, including the impact of this transition on the patient and their families and on the interdisciplinary health care team treating the patient. An investigation was undertaken to identify concerns and barriers regarding the transition from hospice care to RACF and opportunities were highlighted to improve clinical practice in this area. A tripartite approach was adopted conducting face-to-face interviews with patients, their families/carers, and health care professionals. Members of the interdisciplinary team were interviewed and social workers working in similar inpatient palliative-care facilities undertook telephone interviews to gauge their experiences. A thematic analysis discerned a number of themes highlighting the impact of this transition on key stakeholders and incorporated recommendations to improve or best manage this process. The research has highlighted the difficulties that patients/families encounter in this transition, as well as the emphases of protecting the integrity of the patient and family. This is achieved by holding open and ongoing dialogue, particularly through family meetings and working in collaboration with the patient, the family, and the team. Understanding the experience and impact of this transition on key stakeholders is helpful in building up a knowledge base and to ensure a more effective relationship occurs. This research incorporated the voices of terminally ill patients, families, and members of the health care team in order to understand their views and recommendations for best managing the transition from a hospice/inpatient palliative-care facility to a RACF. This enables their input to have some real impetus in clinical practice and service delivery.     

The measurement and implication of the older people’s social function in the community: a Shanghai experience

Abstract

The study employed a quantitative approach to measure the social function of the older people. From a questionnaire survey in a Shanghai community, we found that participants’ party affiliation, education, age group, functional capacity (IADL) and occupational status were the major factors affecting older people’s social function. The older people participated more actively, tended to trust others more and enjoyed better social function in the community. These findings lead to implications for social work practices and policymaking procedures on active ageing.