None available

Prompted by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (2015), there has been widespread response throughout Canadian educational institutions to facilitate reconciliation through education. In the context of Ontario, some Faculties of Education have responded to the calls with requiring Aboriginal education for teacher candidates, to ensure all graduating teachers have knowledge of Aboriginal histories, cultures, and worldviews. Nevertheless, there is a difference between teaching about reconciliation and teaching through reconciliation. This embodiment of reconciliation as a curricular and pedagogical praxis – a praxis of reconciliation – lies at the heart of this research in initial teacher education. This study draws upon case study methodology in an Aboriginal teacher education course in Ontario and a Treaty of Waitangi teacher education workshop in New Zealand, through an investigation of the question: In what ways do Settler teacher education programs facilitate and engage a praxis of reconciliation? The findings of this thesis propose a reconceptualization of reconciliation in teacher education by identifying the ways in which reconciliation is manifested in teacher education (a possibility of reconciliation), and the ways in which reconciliation is hindered (a challenge to reconciliation). In addition to identifying the possibilities and challenges, this research study also deconstructs the safe space metaphor in favour of ethical space and ethical relationality in initial teacher education.

The sense of crisis that marks our times may be seen as a crisis for dominant groups whose once-secure hegemony is being challenged by marginalised others. It is in theorising the reply from the dominant group to the voices of the oppressed that existing Western conceptions of social change fall silent. The dominant Pakeha group in Aotearoa New Zealand has used discourses of benign colonisation and harmonious race relations to resist 165 years of communication from indigenous Māori about their oppression and a dishonoured treaty for settlement. My research documents the appearance of the Treaty of Waitangi into the Pakeha consciousness, and the now 30 year-long response by a Pakeha antiracism movement to educate their own cultural group about its agreements. Targeting government, community and social services organisations, activist educators used Freire's (1975) approach of conscientising dialogue to present a more critical view of colonisation, and to encourage participants to consider the complicity of their organisations in ongoing structural and cultural racism. Based on my membership of local and national networks of activist educators, I was able to organise and facilitate data gathering from three sources to investigate processes of Pakeha change in: (i) unpublished material describing the antiracism and Treaty movement's historical theorising and strategies over 30 years, (ii) a country-wide process of co-theorising among contemporary Treaty educator groups about their work and perceived influence, and (iii) a collection of organisational accounts of Treaty-focused change. The collected records confirmed that a coherent anti-colonial discourse, which I have termed 'Pakeha honouring the Treaty', was in use to construct institutional and constitutional changes in non-government organisations. My interpretation of key elements in a local theory of transforming action included emotional responses to counter-cultural information, collective work for cultural and institutional change and practising a mutually agreed relationship with Māori. I concluded that these emotional, collective and relationship processes in dominant group change were crucial in helping to construct the new conceptual resources of 'affirming Māori authority' and 'striving towards a right relationship with Māori'. These counter-colonial constructions allowed Pakeha a non-resistant and facilitative response to Māori challenge, and enabled a dialogue with Māori about decolonisation. By examining in one research programme the genealogy and interdependencies of a new discourse, my research contributes to theorising about the production of new, counter-hegemonic discourses, and confirms the crucial part played by social movements in developing new, liberatory constructions of the social order. My research calls for further theory-building on (i) emotional and spiritual aspects of transformational learning, (ii) processes involved in consciously-undertaken cultural change by dominant/coloniser groups, and (iii) practising of mutually agreed relationships with indigenous peoples by dominant/coloniser groups. My research has implications for theorising how coloniser and dominant groups generally may participate in liberatory social change and decolonisation work, and the part played by the Western states in the global struggles by indigenous people for recognition of their world-views and aspirations. It remains to be seen whether counter-colonial discourses and organisational changes aimed at 'honouring the Treaty' with indigenous peoples will be sufficiently widely adopted to help transform Western dominating cultures and colonial projects. In the meantime, acknowledging and documenting these counter-colonial discourses and their constructions opens up increasing possibilities for constructing, from a history of colonisation, a different future.

This dissertation is concerned with the ways in which Māori legal traditions have changed in response to the process of negotiated settlement of historical claims against the state. The settlements agreed between Māori groups and the state provide significant opportunities and challenges for Māori communities and, inevitably, force those communities to confront questions relating to the application of their own legal traditions to these changed, and still changing, circumstances. This dissertation focuses specifically on Māori legal traditions and post-settlement governance entities. However, the intention is not to simply record changes to Māori legal traditions, but to offer some assessment as to whether these changes and adaptations support, or alternatively detract from, the two key goals of the settlement process - reconciliation and Māori self-determination. I argue that where the settlement process is compelling Māori legal traditions to develop in a way that is contrary to reconciliation and Māori self-determination, then the settlement process itself ought to be adjusted. This dissertation studies the nature of changes to Māori legal traditions in the context of the Treaty settlement process, using a framework that can be applied to Māori legal traditions in other contexts. There are many more stories of Māori legal traditions that remain to be told, including stories that drill into the detail of specific legal traditions and create pathways between an appropriate philosophical framework and the practical operation of vibrant Māori legal systems. Those stories will be vital if we in Aotearoa/New Zealand are to move towards reconciliation and Māori self-determination. The story that runs through this dissertation is one of a settlement process that undermines those objectives because of the pressures it places on Māori legal traditions. But it need not be this way. If parties to the Treaty settlement process take the objectives of self-determination and reconciliation seriously, and pay careful attention to changes to Māori legal traditions that take place in the context of that process, a different story can be told – a story in which Treaty settlements signify, not the end of a Treaty relationship, but a new beginning. / Graduate / 0398 / 0332 / 0326 / carwyn@uvic.ca

This dissertation is concerned with the ways in which Māori legal traditions have changed in response to the process of negotiated settlement of historical claims against the state. The settlements agreed between Māori groups and the state provide significant opportunities and challenges for Māori communities and, inevitably, force those communities to confront questions relating to the application of their own legal traditions to these changed, and still changing, circumstances. This dissertation focuses specifically on Māori legal traditions and post-settlement governance entities. However, the intention is not to simply record changes to Māori legal traditions, but to offer some assessment as to whether these changes and adaptations support, or alternatively detract from, the two key goals of the settlement process - reconciliation and Māori self-determination. I argue that where the settlement process is compelling Māori legal traditions to develop in a way that is contrary to reconciliation and Māori self-determination, then the settlement process itself ought to be adjusted. This dissertation studies the nature of changes to Māori legal traditions in the context of the Treaty settlement process, using a framework that can be applied to Māori legal traditions in other contexts. There are many more stories of Māori legal traditions that remain to be told, including stories that drill into the detail of specific legal traditions and create pathways between an appropriate philosophical framework and the practical operation of vibrant Māori legal systems. Those stories will be vital if we in Aotearoa/New Zealand are to move towards reconciliation and Māori self-determination. The story that runs through this dissertation is one of a settlement process that undermines those objectives because of the pressures it places on Māori legal traditions. But it need not be this way. If parties to the Treaty settlement process take the objectives of self-determination and reconciliation seriously, and pay careful attention to changes to Māori legal traditions that take place in the context of that process, a different story can be told – a story in which Treaty settlements signify, not the end of a Treaty relationship, but a new beginning. / Graduate / 0398 / 0332 / 0326 / carwyn@uvic.ca

This thesis examines the policy document Better Relationships for Better Learning: Guidelines for Boards of Trustees and Schools on Engaging with Mäori Parents, Whanau, and Communities (Ministry of Education, 2000a). The thesis is concerned with an examination and analysis of the Ministry of Education’s policy Better Relationships for Better Learning document and its implementation as evidenced by a case study school. The thesis demonstrates that while Government policy may intend to benefit Maori, the outcomes do not necessarily do so. It is argued that neither Government nor schools, as agents of the state, are neutral bodies but in large part reflect the influence of the majority over the provision of education for Maori. The claim for school/Maori partnerships made in the policy Better Relationships for Better Learning ignores the founding partnership envisaged through the Treaty of Waitangi. Maori participation as partners in negotiating the terms of the relationship with the school is ignored. This thesis examines the function of those relationships in terms of ‘Better Learning’, investigating the developments and practices in schools for Maori children’s learning.

Partnerships between organizations are seen as one of the building blocks of the �Third Way� approach to welfare provision both in Europe and in New Zealand. While there is much discussion of this emphasis on building social capital and working in partnerships these partnerships are usually perceived as being between government and community or private organizations as part of a new phase of neo-liberalism. Using qualitative research this thesis explores three partnership sites: Those within a Maori social service provider, Te Whanau Arohanui, and the local Hapu and State organisations; that between the Ngai Tahu Maori Law Centre (an indigenous organization) and the Dunedin Community Law Centre; and finally the State lead Strengthening Families partnership initiative. This thesis is concerned with the development of citizen participation in public policy decision-making through partnerships. While contemporary studies of policy change have identified stakeholder and actor-network forms as dominant these often seem even less democratic, participatory, accountable and transparent than those they have supposedly replaced. I draw on ideas of deliberative governance to explore options for both the theory and practice of sustainable, permanent and participatory policy change in an age of diversity. I suggest that the practice of Community Development is needed to supplement descriptive and post-facto accounts of policy change and so create a usable practice theory of effective mechanisms for participatory input. Using a series of case studies of partnerships, a tentative practice theory and strategy for change is proposed. This is set within an interactive framework that is able to confront levels of power to encourage diversity and participation in decision-making from bottom-up initiatives.

Partnerships between organizations are seen as one of the building blocks of the �Third Way� approach to welfare provision both in Europe and in New Zealand. While there is much discussion of this emphasis on building social capital and working in partnerships these partnerships are usually perceived as being between government and community or private organizations as part of a new phase of neo-liberalism. Using qualitative research this thesis explores three partnership sites: Those within a Maori social service provider, Te Whanau Arohanui, and the local Hapu and State organisations; that between the Ngai Tahu Maori Law Centre (an indigenous organization) and the Dunedin Community Law Centre; and finally the State lead Strengthening Families partnership initiative. This thesis is concerned with the development of citizen participation in public policy decision-making through partnerships. While contemporary studies of policy change have identified stakeholder and actor-network forms as dominant these often seem even less democratic, participatory, accountable and transparent than those they have supposedly replaced. I draw on ideas of deliberative governance to explore options for both the theory and practice of sustainable, permanent and participatory policy change in an age of diversity. I suggest that the practice of Community Development is needed to supplement descriptive and post-facto accounts of policy change and so create a usable practice theory of effective mechanisms for participatory input. Using a series of case studies of partnerships, a tentative practice theory and strategy for change is proposed. This is set within an interactive framework that is able to confront levels of power to encourage diversity and participation in decision-making from bottom-up initiatives.

This dissertation critically analyses New Zealand’s National Museum Te Papa Tongarewa. Since it opened in 1998, Te Papa, arguably the world’s foremost exponent of the ‘new museology’, has been popularly and critically supported for its innovations in the areas of popular accessibility, bicultural history, and Maori-government management arrangements. As the first in-depth study of Te Papa, I examine and problematise these claims to exceptionality. In producing an analysis that locates the museum within cultural, political, economic and museological contexts, I examine how the museum’s particular institutional program develop, and point to limitations in its policy and practice.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Title from PDF cover (viewed April 3, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-317)