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KAUMĀTUATANGA Supporting School Leaders To Develop Cultural Values While Resisting The Dominance of Colonialism
Get PDFIn an education system that is asserting to the importance of Māori (indigenous people of Aotearoa) language, culture, identity and the history of Aotearoa (New Zealand) into the curriculum, there is direction from the Ministry of Education (MOE) for schools to reach out to iwi. What this looks like and how this can be achieved is not an easy task. This thesis follows the journey of three kaumātua (respected, knowledgeable elders, both female and male) working alongside the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) of a decile 10 kura auraki (mainstream primary school) where ākonga Māori (Māori students) were in the minority. The research examines what role kaumātua might have in guiding other schools to help tamariki Māori (Māori children) enjoy and achieve education success as Māori. It highlights the coming together of leaders from two different worldviews with this vision as a common purpose.
Kaumātua in te ao Māori (the Māori world) are respected elders. Kaumātua are leaders, respected for their wisdom, knowledge and models of behaviour among other attributes. The Māui narratives are one example of demonstrating the characteristics of kaumātua. It was through his respected elders that Maui achieved so much. It was his grandfather who rescued him and taught him all he knew. It was his grandmother Mahuika who gave him fire and it was his kuia (female elder) Murirangiwhenua from whom he received the magic jawbone. The wisdom of Māori kaumātua has been recognised for centuries by Māori and yet kaumātua are often an untapped resource in the mainstream sector of education. In this thesis the kaumātua and members of the SLT share their experiences of working together and the learning and unlearning that has taken place over a period of four years from 2016 through 2019. They share their vulnerability, humility and strength in the goals they have worked towards over this period of time
Beyond time and experience: An institutional approach and categorial framework for the analysis of waiting from a philosophical materialist perspective
Get PDFThis thesis proposes a novel theoretical framework for studying waiting as a multidimensional phenomenon, advancing beyond traditional approaches that often perceive it as a singular, homogenous, and purely temporal event. It asserts that waiting embodies temporal, spatial, and operational dimensions, each with dialectical and dynamic components. Rather than viewing waiting as an ontologically negative or undefined event, it is conceptualised as a material and objective process. Its axiological nature is neutral, not essentially negative or positive, with its classification primarily contingent upon the context. The research underscores several waiting processes as a social institution, emphasising its varied forms in different institutionalised contexts, thereby diverging from approaches that overemphasise these processes' subjective and experiential dimensions.
The thesis, grounded in philosophical materialism, scrutinises the historical evolution of waiting, linking it to secular and non-secular concepts of hope and others, such as expectation and time. It critiques modern perceptions of waiting, especially its temporal hypostasis, advocating for a wider, materialist approach that incorporates often overlooked spatial and operational dimensions while not undermining temporal significance.
The study introduces a set of categories from a philosophical materialist perspective to analyse waiting spaces' structural and functional elements. It explores the operational dimension of waiting concerning institutional structures and suggests that this dimension encompasses both spatial and temporal aspects. Concerning the temporal analysis, the research reveals multiple objective temporalities within the waiting processes, replacing the idea of a single waiting time with the notion of possible multiple times in several kinds of waiting processes.
The final chapter applies these theoretical perspectives empirically, analysing institutionalised waiting processes in the current Cuban context. It successfully inspects the spatial, operational, and temporal components of waiting, prioritising the institutional character of these processes. The thesis concludes that understanding various waiting processes depends largely on institutional nature, including the psychological and subjective behaviours displayed during waiting.
This thesis introduces a new institutional perspective on waiting studies, mainly related to social sciences approaches. At the same time, we recognise the need for ongoing exploration and discourse to further our understanding of this intriguing subject. The proposed materialist approach strives to enrich the epistemological status of waiting studies and augment our collective knowledge
Gendered Extremism in the Pacific on 4chan: A Mixed-methods Exploration of Australian and New Zealanders’ Concepts of Women, Gender, and Sexual Violence on /Pol/
No full textThe association between 4chan and online extremist subcultures has seen increasing academic scrutiny—particularly following the 2019 Christchurch attack by a right-wing terrorist who frequented the anonymous forums. Gender-based extremism features as one (of many) critical subcultures that commands our academic attention, though few studies to date have sought to capture and assess the entire landscape of this phenomenon on 4chan’s most notorious board: /pol/. Drawing on a pre-Christchurch attack dataset extracted from Papasavva et al. (2020), this study investigates how Australians and New Zealanders (ANZ) broadly conceptualize—and debate—women, gender, and sexual violence on 4chan’s /pol/ board. We apply a mixed-methods approach, combining automated machine learning tools alongside expert qualitative analysis. Across nearly 300,000 posts and comments, we show how gender is constructed within this community, and the conjugal order they demand as a result. This order racially and sexually defines gender identities and norms, which are perceived as mechanisms to restore power and dominance to an ethnically and ideologically conforming in-group. Those that violate or disrupt the conjugal order are legitimized as targets of sexual, and gender-based violence. This normalizes far/extreme right gendered constructs across ANZ contexts in support of exclusivist far/extreme right ideological positions
Honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi through addressing racism in universities
No full textExecutive summary
The WERO team conducted two studies on university documents to identify how universities articulate
their commitments to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and address inequities for Māori within tertiary education. The
first study, which is a case study of a university’s Treaty Statement, highlighted the university’s limitations
in empowering Māori to exercise tino rangatiratanga within various decision-making structures. The
second study, which scrutinises Māori representation across strategic documents of all universities,
revealed that universities reify whiteness by selectively interpreting Te Tiriti articles, pursuing targeted
Māori recruitment, portraying Māori as reliant on the Crown for success, commodifying mātauranga
Māori, and evading discussions about settler colonialism and racial equity.
Drawing from our findings and constitutional transformation documents such as Matike Mai (2016), we
proffer three recommendations to enable universities to more effectively uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi:
1. Universities must clearly define the operation of settler colonialism and racism in each institution so
that sustainable anti-racist initiatives can be identified.
2. Each university must grow relational spheres where Māori are empowered to make collective
decisions with the Crown representatives in the university.
3. Universities must invest in a Māori-led independent body to develop and deliver a Te Tiriti-centric
programme that decolonises university processe
Seismic reflection characterisation and geomorphology of the Katikati Basin, Te Awanui (Tauranga Harbour), Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textTe Awanui (Tauranga Harbour) contains two distinct basins the Katikati Basin in the north, and the Tauranga Basin in the south. The Katikati Basin is not well understood or researched as there is bias towards the Tauranga Basin due to dredging and port activities.
This thesis investigated the Katikati Basin below the surface via a shallow seismic survey and above the surface using historic air photographs and hydrographic charts. No obvious faults were discovered within the seismic survey, therefore the faults found in the Tauranga Basin which are potentially associated with the Taupō rift may not extend into the Katikati Basin. The area surrounding the low gravity anomaly was analysed and there was no clear indication of a caldera therefore the seismic survey did not penetrate deep enough to reach the sediments associated with the low gravity anomaly. The historical air photographs and hydrographic charts showed that most of the changes to the geomorphology occur at the entrance where the tidal inlet has narrowed and deepened and at Waikoura Point on Matakana Island the spit tip changes shape and goes through periods of erosion and accretion especially during a triple-dip La Niña event of the El Niño Southern Oscillation Cycle.
Unfortunately no coring samples were taken within the Katikati basin for this study, therefore the true thickness of the Holocene sediments were not determined however, other studies revealed Holocene sediments up to 20 m in depth which was the depth of this seismic survey therefore I am certain no Pleistocene sediments were reached. There is much more to be researched on the Katikati Basin and this thesis builds as a starting point
Examining a dyadic coaching based reminiscing intervention for parents of children with autism: Two exploratory case studies
No full textParent-child interactions that involve discussion about past events are known as reminiscing. These conversations have been associated with child outcomes such as coherency in child narratives, advanced use of language, self-regulation abilities, and socioemotional skills (Waters et al., 2019). Differences in developmental outcomes such as verbal fluency and language, autobiographical memory and theory of mind and social/emotional understanding are often associated with autism (Faust, 2009; McDonnell et al., 2020; Gaelen, 2021). Interest in potential benefits of reminiscing interventions for children with autism has grown in recent years, given the associations between elaborative and emotion-rich reminiscing for typically developing children’s developmental outcomes (Brien & Hutchins, 2024). The aim of this study was to examine whether a three-session reminiscing intervention that includes live coaching would be associated with an increase in specific parent verbalisations, described in the intervention as ONCE skills: asking Open-ended questions, introducing Novel information, Confirming child utterances, and referencing internal/external Emotions/cognitions (Risi et al., 2024), as well as an increase in child elaborative and emotion/cognitive verbalisations.
Participants were two parent-child dyads, where the child had a prior diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The dyads were asked to complete a pre-reminiscing intervention parent-child conversation without any coaching present. They discussed two conversations from everyday life: (1) a time their child did something new or different, and (2) a time their child did something when their parent wasn’t there. The first intervention session was parent only, during which an intervention handout detailing ONCE skills was reviewed alongside strategies to increase these skills, types of utterances to decrease during reminiscing conversations, and examples and role playing to teach concepts. Session two involved both the parent and child, in which dyads discussed three parent-selected past events. Parents were encouraged to bring photos or other cues related to the event (Bhana et al., 2023). Live coaching via a headset occurred during this session, where the coach highlighted and encouraged use of the ONCE skills (Risi et al., 2024; Vess & Campbell, 2022). Session three was the second coaching session, in which dyads were again asked to discuss the three-parent selected past events, to bring photos or other cues, and live coaching again occurred. All sessions were conducted over Zoom.
The current study found that for both dyads, parental use of novel information increased from pre-reminiscing conversations to either one or both subsequent intervention session conversations. Novel information included statement elaborations, elaborative yes/no questions, and elaborative open-ended questions. Counter to our predictions, there was minimal change in parental use of open-ended questions, confirmations, or references to emotions and cognitions. The current study also intended to examine whether parent training of ONCE skills was associated with an increase in children’s use of memory elaborations and emotion/cognition verbalisations during reminiscing. For children in both dyads, average memory elaborations increased from pre-reminiscing to intervention sessions. Counter to predictions, for both dyads, children’s use of emotion and cognition verbalisations decreased slightly from the pre-reminiscing session to the intervention sessions. Overall, the intervention was associated with an increase in novel information verbalisations from parents during parent-child reminiscing conversations, and an increase in memory elaborations from children.
Further research is needed to understand how novel information, open-ended questions, and emotion discussion function for children with autism and their parents, to inform future reminiscing interventions
Re-designing forum discussions to combat GenAI use
No full textOur online Philosophy papers make extensive use of forum posts for discussion of moral issues. It is tempting for students to make use of GenAI for these short, informal contributions. My aim in these courses was to discourage the use of AI, to demonstrate to students the shortcomings of GenAI, and to reduce any advantage of using it.
I seeded forums with clearly identified examples of what GenAI would write. Students could earn marks for sensible criticisms of AI contributions. But no marks were available for writing the kind of things GenAI produces. This technique prevents me from having to prove AI use: such posts are simply not worth marks. While the assessment design cannot prevent students from using GenAI, it both raises their awareness of its shortcomings, and reduces any advantage from its use. Successful use of this method requires careful communication in setting up the assessment, and regular monitoring and reinforcement. I was straightforward with students about what I was trying to achieve, and why. I learned a great deal about how to frame assessment questions, and what to emphasise to students. My constant refrain was “this is what AI can do already. What value are you adding?” The method showed some success in reducing GenAI use, and response from students was very positive
Indo-Sri Lanka relations: Change and continuity in the context of China’s increased involvement in Sri Lanka
No full textAgainst the backdrop of China’s continuous engagement with Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2019, Indo-Sri Lanka relations have exhibited constant fluctuations featuring drastic ups and downs. As a geo-strategically located small island state, Sri Lanka has juggled its relations with China and India, the two regional giants, in the face of mounting Sino-India strategic competition in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This thesis poses twin questions related to the above phenomenon: How does China’s engagement with Sri Lanka affect the Indo-Sri Lanka relations, and how does Sri Lanka conduct its relations with India, the immediate neighbour and the most powerful regional actor, in the wake of China-India parallel involvement in Sri Lanka? To address these questions, the study first analyses the impact of China’s robust engagement with Sri Lanka on Indo-Sri Lanka relations. Secondly, it analyses Sri Lanka’s foreign policy toward China and India in the backdrop of their parallel involvement in Sri Lanka. In doing so, the study focuses on how Sri Lanka, as a small state in the IOR, serves as a critical site for strategic competition between the two regional powers.
The findings reveal that Indo-Sri Lanka relations fluctuated considerably from 2005 to 2019 amidst the growing involvement of China in Sri Lanka as the civil war with the Tamil Tigers came to an end, and in the face of post-war reconstruction imperatives coupled with war crime allegations by the west. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Sri Lanka’s participation in it meant an increased Chinese presence in Sri Lanka, leading India to react by making various policy choices in relation to ethnic conflict resolution and acting as a development partner of Sri Lanka. The choices India opted for had an adverse impact on Indo-Sri Lanka ties despite Sri Lanka’s efforts to achieve a balanced foreign policy strategy. In essence, an extensive Chinese presence brought on heavy pressure from India on Sri Lanka, which, in turn, caused Indo-Sri Lanka relations to fluctuate. The thesis makes two major contributions: First, it provides a nuanced insight into the literature on foreign policy strategy by capturing the largely unobserved foreign policy behaviour dynamics of small states, apart from the contribution to strategic rivalry literature. Secondly, hedging is a double-edged sword requiring judicious balancing of relations when dealing with two competing rivals in order to extract benefits out of their competition, it shows the foreign policy community of Sri Lanka how hedging should be employed more effectively in ways that make its cooperation balanced and valuable for both China and India while reducing the cost of compromising political autonomy of either country.
The study concludes that among the dynamics of Indo-Sri Lanka relations from 2005-2019, cycles of change and continuity figures prominent. While the Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) government favoured China over India for economic and political cooperation, the Maithreepala Sirisena (NUG) government shifted to preferring India over China in these areas. It is change and continuity in Indo-Sri Lanka relations which has been the predominant trend in the two states’ bilateral relationships from 2005 to 2019. The Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) regime (2005-2015), during its first tenure pursued a policy of active hedging between China and India whereas it deployed passive hedging between China and India during its second term. In contrast, the National Unity Government (NUG) (2015-2019) that followed the MR regime initially balanced India against China, but later it resorted to maintaining an equal distance from the two countries administration initially balanced India against China, but later it resorted to maintaining equidistance between the two
Things inside things
No full textThings Inside Things is a collection of autofiction that revolves around a single mother and her two young daughters. It is at once an intimate account of single motherhood and an ode to, a call to arms for, the maternal bond as irreducible, sacred–the thing at the centre of all things.
Made up of fragmentary scenes, poetic prose, and short stories, the narrative moves back and forth in time, across hemispheres, through shifting points of view and recurrent characters painting readers into the living and breathing layers of one single mother’s experience and world.
Taking inspiration from writers Katherine Mansfield and Lucia Berlin, Things Inside Things bucks linear plot convention for a form that is voiced, sensory and shaped by the physicality of emotion.
If this is a collection that advocates for the joy, reward and importance of the mother-child bond it is also one in which that bond does not come easy. Inside the walls and skin of these stories a mother seeks help for chronic maternal anxiety, navigates the loss of relationship break down with her children’s father, holds space for paternal and cultural ties that must span distance, be sustained over Zoom calls, and navigates the emotional and material weight of mothering alone.
Above all this is body of work that seeks to hold ordinary, domestic days to the light. That pays homage to the everyday maternal and relational moments of connection, rupture and repair that shape who we are and can–if we let them–transform us. These are not stories of martyrdom. Rather, they give us motherhood as a creative, radical and transcendent force. Where a daughter’s ‘sturdy seven-year-old legs with downy hairs intact and lit up are holier than all the Gods of all religions’, where female friendship is a haven of ‘light, smile lines, vast and loyal as the seasons’ and within which we witness a mother, a woman, a writer finding herself on the page
Assessing dredge spoil dispersion on the inner shelf off the coast of Tauranga Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textDredging began in Te Awanui/Tauranga Harbour, the largest port in Aotearoa New Zealand, in 1919 to allow continued development of the port. The dredged material gets disposed of by depositing it into open water in a process known as spoiling. It is more important than ever to understand the impact of dredging as ships are getting ever larger, which require deeper and wider channels for safe passage into ports. This thesis investigated the composition and distribution of the dredge spoil on the Bay of Plenty inner shelf for the first time since 1992. Between August 2023 and February 2024, I used seismic and sedimentological analyses, including shallow seismic surveys, vibracoring, and surficial sediment sampling to determine the size and shape, and the grain size and organic content comprising the dredge spoil mound. Results showed that the sediments are predominantly fine to medium-grained moderately sorted sand with low organic content. The dredge spoil mound sits on average 1.5 m above the pre-deposition seafloor, and has no discernible surface texture or bedforms. This study establishes that the composition of the dredged sediment remains comparable to that of the pre-deposition seafloor. The results are compatible with past studies, suggesting that dredge spoil deposited on the inner shelf is stable, and is not subject to resuspension and transport under fair weather conditions