Elsdon Best�s 1925 work Maori Agriculture has been influential in New Zealand archaeology impacting on the terminology and assumed functions applied to so called �horticultural� implements retrieved in excavations, as well as those in museums and private collections. This thesis critically examines Best�s horticultural tool classification and the decisions he made with regards to tool function. Ethnographic accounts are investigated in an effort to understand how and why Best selected the terms and functions that he did. The literature review reveals anomalies in the conclusions that Best drew and the morphology of the tools that he described, highlighting the lack of order and confusion surrounding horticultural tool function, terminology and morphology, and prompting a much needed reassessment of horticultural implements. A study of artefacts from New Zealand museums was undertaken with the aim of generating two typologies for so called �horticultural� tools. The artefacts are classified to specific types using specified attributes, and following the classification process, are investigated for metric and non-metric variables that are indicative of the tool�s function. Graphical and basic statistical analyses revealed largely unimodal distributions for the metric attributes recorded for each tool type. Non-metric qualities also displayed a uniformity to their occurrence within the individual types. The data for each type is discussed with regards to tool function, combining the results of the attribute analyses with comparable tool morphologies from other Pacific cultures. The distribution of tool types in prehistoric New Zealand is also investigated in an effort to elucidate tool function. This investigation highlights the artefacts as earth-working implements, disestablishing the restricted horticultural context which for so long has been associated with such tools.

Skeletal remains of the prehistoric New Zealand dog, the kuri, are frequently recovered from archaeological sites. Despite their relative ubiquity only one major study, and the last for twenty five years, has been conducted. That work provided limited anatomical and osteometric information and concluded that the kuri population was homogenous through space and across time. This study set out to provide a more detailed skeletal description and to investigate the question of population homogeneity by examinig kuri skeletal material from five museums and two university anthropology departments. Metric and non-metric data was collected from a total of thirty seven archaeological sites from throuhout New Zealand. Variation within the population was established by comparing coefficients of variation across a number of variables. A program of univariate and multivariate analysis was carried out to examine spatial and temporal variation. Results showed that the appendicular skeleton of the kuri has the highest levels of variation. Smaller limb shaft dimensions of late prehistoric kuri are thought to be due to a reliance on insufficient quantities of marine foods. Tooth wear analysis of late prehistoric dogs showed that they had severe tooth wear compared to �Archaic� dogs.

This study examines the �Kai o te Hauora� Maori Community nutrition training delivered by Maori Provider, Te Hotu Manawa Maori as a means of bringing about nutritional change in a Maori community. The aim of the Kai o te Hauora Training is to empower iwi and Maori communities with the skills, knowledge and resources to enable them to make informed decisions about their nutritional health. The research methods were grounded in Kaupapa Maori research methodology. Three community members who have taken part in the Kai o te Hauora training were interviewed as well as those people with whom they have networked within the wider community. Formal unstructured interviews were carried out with a total of twenty-three people over a twenty month period from November 1998 to June 2000. The interviews were each transcribed and analysed for key themes. The results of the interviews documented the changes in behaviour and attitudes toward nutrition for the Maori community in the Whakatane region, through the stories of the three community members who had taken part in the training. Their successes and difficulties in attempting to influence change were also recorded. The success of the Kai o te Hauora training in relation to the literature is discussed. The importance of working from a Kaupapa Maori framework in both nutrition interventions and research relating to Maori is emphasised. This framework inherently acknowledges the importance of Maori networks, values and concepts. The importance of the Kai o te Hauora training principle of empowerment is also acknowledged as being fundamental to the programmes success. The need for further research to measure the impact of the Kai o te Hauora programme, and Maori women�s contributions to their communities is noted, as is the need for this research to have been carried out within a Kaupapa Maori framework.

For Maori, the management fo New Zealand�s coast and its resources is fundamental to their cultural identity. Iwi and hapu throughout New Zealand have close relationships with the coast and unique rights and responsibilities for its future management. However, there does not appear to be wide recognition of the crucial role of Maori in New Zealand�s coastal management regime. Co-management initiatives in coastal management, particularly under the Conservation Act 1987, Resource Management Act 1991 and several legislative initiatives controlling fisheries management, are explored and critiqued. Overall, the initiatives demonstrate that progress is being made in coastal management for better protection of Maori coastal values. Nevertheless, there is scope for further improvements concerning greater Maori involvement in coastal management. Recommendations for genuine co-management systems in New Zealand�s coastal management regime include effective communication between iwi and Government; appreciation of the unique nature of each iwi in New Zealand; involvement of a third party communicating between iwi and Government representatives; appropriate funding and resources to maintain the co-management system, and encouragement and motivation from the Government to initiate and maintain the co-management system.

This thesis concerns the life-histories of the two contemporary Polynesian vovaging canoes from Aotearoa New Zealand. It documents the background, construction and voyages of Hawaiki Nui (1979 - 1986) built by Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell and Te Aurere (1992 - 1998) built by Hekenukumai Puhipi Busby. It also highlights the historical and cultural significance of waka for Maori and other indigenous Pacific peoples. Based on my field work as a participant in Maori voyaging between 1996 and 1998, I argue that this revival of waka voyaging reaffirms the cultural identities of contemporary Maori and other Polynesians. The case studies of Hawaiki Nui and Te Aurere confirm the ongoing significance of waka not only in Aotearoa New Zealand, but Pacific-wide. Contemporary Polynesian waka voyaging is historically significant as it revives unique Polynesian skills, such as traditional waka-building, navigation and sailing techniques. It is also culturally significant, as it reinforces central Maori (and Polynesian) cultural concepts, such as whakapapa (genealogy ties) and whanaungatanga (sense of belonging). At a time when Maori(as well as other indigenous Pacific peoples) are constantly negotiating and redefining their cultural boundaries within their respective socio-political contexts, Polynesian voyaging waka are reappearing as a strong symbol of Pacific Islanders� cultural identities. As a symbol of a shared seafaring past they create timeless platforms for Maori and other Polynesians to negotiate the boundaries of their cultures.

This thesis is concerned with the ways Imperialism (and consequently colonialism) has pervaded the indigenous �primitive� world. Protectorates and �the colonies� reflected imperialist ideals, expansion, territory, external revenue and power. Missionaries were the footmen of colonial policy. The relations forged between these evangelists and the indigene have been thoroughly studied and scrutinised. However, reported interaction has been about missionaries and the �native�, with less about that between the indigenes, individual and tribe, elder and young. The thesis intends to redress this imbalance in the Bay of Islands from 1814 to 1834. The following work is an examination of a process of social change in Aotearoa. In the early 19th century the physical, spiritual and intellectual contact made between Maori peoples and the European explorers, scientists, and missionaries involved a deliberate cultural entanglement. It is the processes of acculturation, assimilation, or simply misunderstanding that are of interest. The study will have several foci involving the reaction of peoples of the Bay of Islands to the missionary institution of religious education. Chapter One addresses the theoretical location of the peoples that interacted in the Bay, while the second chapter is a brief description of a Maori coastal society prior to the arrival of literate missionaries. Chapter Three is about the cultural and social engagements of Ruatara, Marsden, Kendall and Hongi. The final chapter is a biographical exploration in the life of Rawiri Tawhanga and his interactions with missionaries and Maori of the Bay. Fundamentally it is the indigenous interaction during the initial periods of external European contact and, therefore, the effects of internal societal change that the author wishes to examine.

In the past psychology has been criticised for its mono-cultural nature and insensitivity when dealing with Maori clients and students. As a consequence university departments of psychology have sought to address these issues by incorporating the ideology of biculturalism into its operations. The aim of the study was to evaluate the bicultural developments occurring within these departments by assessing the type and effectiveness of bicultural initiatives. A questionnaire designed to assess bicultural initiatives, attitudes and, intentions was sent to academic staff within university psychology departments in New Zealand. Northern departments displayed significantly greater commitment to bicultural progress than southern departments with northern academics performing initiatives (e.g., �established a committee of staff and students to promote bicultural perspectives and interpret and apply bicultural policy�) more often and of higher commitment than southern academics. Overall, within psychology departments very little bicultural progress has occurred except in the most northern departments. However, the effectiveness of many initiatives is debateable with tokenistic initiativeness predominant in most departments. The qualitative analysis of participant comments identified academic justification for bicultural inaction within departments. This was displayed in various themes: multiculturalism versus biculuralism, psychology being an a cultural science, Maori self-determination being separatism akin to apartheid, the relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi to psychology, and Backlash. Two main reasons for these findings are discussed; (1) lack of knowledge of Maori issues and, (2) racism.

This thesis examines the demise of the centrality of cultural-heritage ideals in literacy instruction and its replacement with a technocratic view of literacy instruction which empasised the mechanics of reading. The shift in these ideals, which have underpinned literacy instruction in the New Zealand primary school curriculum, is traced from the establishment of a �high-culture� British imperially-based notion of culture in the late 1920s to its replacement with a technocratic approach to literacy instruction in the revisions to primary school curriculum policy in the mid-1950s. This rise of a technocratic approach to literacy instruction resulted from what Frank Fischer has called a �quiet revolution�, where complex interactions between educational administrators, teacher unions, politicians, influential teachers, teacher educators, and politics in the administrative hierarchies and policies which governed the New Zealand primary school. This study provides an alternative vision of the history of the development of the New Zealand primary school curriculum. Previous New Zealand curriculum historians have portrayed the development of the primary school curriculum as a progressive evolution from the �old� methods of the early decades of mass education to the �modern� methods of the 1940s and 1950s. In contrast to the traditional view of the development of the New Zealand curriculum, this historical account of the development of literacy instruction in New Zealand focuses upon the political, cultural, and ideological processes that underpinned curriculum policy and practice during the period under investigation. By the mid-1950s, the overt ideals of English cultural imperialism had been exchanged for �scientific efficiency�. In this, �value-free� methods continued to embody dominant cultural beliefs under the supposedly neutral approaches of a technocratic approach to literacy. It is argued that the dominance of the cultural-heritage model of literacy instruction, with its elitist version of English language and culture, promoted a British-based �high-culture� tradition in the literacy curriculum. When the supposedly �value-neutral� methodologies were applied to literacy instruction in the early 1950s, these values survived as this technocratic approach to reading disengaged literacy instruction from the wider cultural, political, and social context. In recent years, the debates over reading techniques have once again surfaced in the public and academic press. These debates need to acknowledge this historical context and work towards a more balanced vision of literacy instruction, where literacy is not merely defined as the reading of the word. Current debates over reading techniques, curriculum policy, and literacy instruction practices need to view literacy as a complex process which is linked to a wider political and cultural world.

This thesis investigates the phenomenon known as a Maori ethnic identity. The topic is investigated using personal interviews and the findings are reported by way of personal narrative. Eight informants were interviewed. All presently identify as Maori and have arrived at this point following a diverse range of experiences. The thesis documents these experiences and those things that are important to them on a personal level. As such, this thesis investigates the topic of Maori ethnicity as it pertains to a group of individuals, not to Maoridom as a whole. It was found that no single paradigm could be applied to my informant�s conception of identity. Each constructed their identity in a unique way. Integral to all identities, however, was the use of both cultural and biological factors. In constructing and maintaining their identities as Maori my informants looked firstly to the presence of ancestry and, following from this cultural practices were employed. The use of ancestry as a basis of identity, and the causal attributes associated with it (such as natural leanings towards the use of Maori language), represent essentialist tendencies on the part of many of my informants. Also of great interest was the perception, by many of my informants, that cultural traits were innate. This is described as a Lamarckian way of viewing ethnicity.

This thesis is concerned with cervical cancer amongst New Zealand women, particularly Maori women. Maori women have an alarmingly high incidence of cervical cancer, approximately three times higher than non-Maori women. Maori women experience one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world. Chapter one, two and three form the introductory section of the thesis, Section A. Chapter one provides an overview of cervical cancer incidence in the world, followed by a more detailed analysis of the occurrence of cervical cancer in New Zealand and a discussion of the aetiological factors of cervical cancer. Cervical screening is discussed in Chapter two. The ethnic differences in incidence and mortality of cervical cancer between Maori and non-Maori and possible reasons for these differences are studied in Chapter three. Section B consists of the original work undertaken. A pilot study (Chapter four) was conducted to trial the methods for the national study (Chapter five). The national study was a retrospective review of the cervical smear histories of Maori women first diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer over a recent two year period in order to investigate why Maori women have not had their disease detected by screening and treated at the intraepithelial stage. Maori women�s knowledge of and attitudes towards cervical screening were obtained in a survey in Ruatoria (Chapter six). Section C concludes with a chapter (Chapter seven) on the conclusions and recommendations based on the material reviewed and the work undertaken.