This thesis explores how Māori whānau cope under the circumstance of multiple job holding in four whānau who have at least one member who is a multiple job holder. The study uses a behavioural model of family resilience to identify the factors that enable or inhibit whānau coping. It finds that the reasons that influence Māori whānau multiple job holding can shape the whānau ability to cope while multiple job holding. The whānau in this study were found to have multiple motives for multiple job holding. Multiple job holding was used as a buffer mechanism because of previous financial stresses and strains, to facilitate future career and employment development and to enable a parent to fulfil what they perceived to be parental-financial obligations. In one case a demand for Māori skilled professional workers, led a whānau member to take on an extra job to fill this demand. Of importance, the study finds that resources are an essential factor when considering how whānau cope. Coping is facilitated by access to multiple resources and the types of resources required by whānau will be contextually specific in each whānau case.

This qualitative research study aims to document the lived experiences of several primary-aged Māori students, and the impact on their caregivers, when these students have been stood down, suspended or excluded from their school. In order to contextualise the students’ narratives, data from primary school site personnel, the principals and Board of Trustees chairperson of the students’ schools were gathered. The research also involved interviews with Ministry of Education and Group Special Education personnel, to gain an understanding of the Ministry’s perspective on how it meets the differing needs of students, caregivers and schools. An analysis of the two schools’ policy and procedures, and relevant documents, with regard to stand-down, suspension and exclusion of primary-aged students was also undertaken. Qualitative research methodologies enabled me to explore the lived experiences of these young people excluded from primary school, from the subjects’ own frame of reference. Data were collected using participant observations, document analysis, and in-depth semi-structured interviews. Kaumātua support for both the researcher, and the whānau involved, was sought with the aim of ensuring that the research proceeded in culturally appropriate and safe ways. The research aimed to keep the students’ stories central to the discussions. One of the key themes that emerged from the students’ narratives was the impact of being repeatedly framed by focusing solely on their behaviour. The impact of institutionalised racism evident within these educational life histories highlights the children’s struggle to persevere and survive in what they describe as hostile, racist, uncaring school environments. A key issue as outlined by the caregivers in this study has been the lack of understanding and support from or genuine partnership with their children’s education providers. The caregivers spoke of the effect that the disciplinary exclusion had on their relationship with their child and on their lives. Eventually the caregivers too become angry about, disengaged from and disillusioned with an education system that allows young people to be removed from schools, based solely on their behaviour. The themes that emerged from discussions with schools centred on lack of support and follow-up from government agencies. School personnel were critical of the length of time it took to access support packages from the Ministry of Education. They discussed the impact of Tomorrow’s Schools, particularly the current legislation on stand-downs, suspensions and exclusions. School personnel suggest their ability to manage high needs students is further complicated by the existence of kiwi suspensions and geographical school zones. This thesis stresses that it is critical for the students’ voices to remain central to discussions concerning their own education, so their creative ideas for possible solutions can help to create pathways forward.

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA) are amongst the top ten most common cause of death in those over 55 years of age. The disease is usually asymptomatic, often being diagnosed incidentally. Once diagnosed, elective repair of an AAA results in excellent long-term survival with a 3-5% operative mortality. However, up to one half of patients present with ruptured aneurysms, a complication that carries an 80% mortality in the community, and of those reaching hospital, a 50% mortality. Clearly early diagnosis and treatment results in improved survival. Screening for AAA, with ultrasound, would detect aneurysms early, prior to rupture. However, debate continues over the cost effectiveness of population based screening programmes. The identification of a sub-population at a higher risk of developing AAA would increase the yield of a screening prograrmne. A number of populations have been examined, none of which have received international acceptance. About 20% of patients with an AAA have a family history of an aneurysm. The disease is also considered to be a disease of Caucasians, both facts suggesting a strong genetic component to the disease. Perhaps a genetically identified sub-population at a high risk of developing an AAA would prove to be an ideal population for screening. This thesis examines the incidence of aneurysms and the family histories of patients with AAA in the Otago region of New Zealand. Almost twenty percent of the population has a family history of AAA. DNA was collected from each of these patients for genetic analysis. The population was divided into familial AAA and non-familial AAA for the purpose of genetic analysis and compared to a control population. AAA is believed to be a disease of Caucasians; a non-Caucasian population with a low incidence of AAA may prove to be a good control population for genetic studies. A literature review demonstrated a higher incidence of AAA in Caucasians than other ethnic groups and within Caucasians a higher incidence in patients of Northern European origin. The incidence was low in Asian communities, even in studies involving of migrant Asian populations. The New Zealand Maori are believed to have originated from South East Asia, therefore could be expected to have a low incidence of AAA and would make an ideal control population for genetic studies. A pilot study was undertaken to examine the incidence of AAA in the New Zealand Maori. The age standardised incidence of AAA proved to be at least equal in Maori to non-Maori, with a more aggressive form of the disease in Maori, manifesting with a younger age at presentation and a higher incidence of ruptured aneurysms at diagnosis. It is well known that at the time of surgery, an AAA is at the end stage in its life. At this time, inflammation and matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) enzymes are prevalent within the aneurysm wall and have destroyed the wall of the aorta. One of the most important genetic pathways regulating these enzymes is the plasminogen activator inhibiter 1-Tissue plasminogen activator-plasmin pathway. Genetic analysis of this pathway demonstrated an association of the 4G5G polymorphism in the promoter of the PAl-1 gene with familial AAA. In this insertion:deletion polymorphism, the 5G variant binds an activator and repressor, resulting in reduced PAI-1 expression and ultimately increased MMP activation. This allele was associated with familial aneurysms, 47% versus 62% non-familial AAA and 61% controls (p=0.024). A polymorphism within the tissue plasminogen activator gene was also examined and no association was found with AAA. Another way the MMPs expression could be increased is from mutations or polymorphisms in their own genetic structure. Stromelysin 3 is itself a MMP capable of destroying the aortic wall and it has a role in activating other MMPs. A 5A6A insertion:deletion polymorphism exists in the promoter of this gene. The 5A allele variant results in increased stromelysin expression and is associated with AAA 46% versus 33% in controls p=0. 0006. The actions of the MMPs are themselves inhibited by the tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases. The TIMP genes have been sequenced; two polymorphisms have been identified in the non-coding promoter area of the TIMP 1 gene. Further studies are necessary to examine the effect of these polymorphisms. Inflammation has been implicated in aneurysm progression. One of the roles of the inflammatory cells found in an aneurysm is to deliver the MMP�s to the AAA. The HLA system is integral in controlling this inflammation and was therefore examined. From this series of studies it is concluded that there is a genetic component to AAA. This thesis presents the first genetic polymorphism associated with familial AAA and explores the role of a genetic pathway in the formation of AAA.

The vesting of pounamu back to Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu brings to the fore a whole new dimension of resource mangement to New Zealand�s wider resource management environment. As is highlighted in this study and noted by a number of academics, Maori people, like other indigenous communities, have their own planning systems values and appropriate processes for decision-making about the environment. But the relevance of such indigenous management systems has long been overlooked by the decision makers and authorities to the continued frustration and anxiety of indigenous peoples. This lack of recognition has been at the fore as a concept fundamental to many indigenous peoples grievances, both past and present. The subsequent vesting of pounamu has brought about the validation that Maori have to resource management rights. In identifying issues associated with the management of natural resources by indigenous peoples, this study provides an examination of number theoretical concepts and a practical dimension associated with the management of natural resources by indigenous peoples and has placed pounamu in context. The placement of pounamu in context has provided the basis from which a number of central issues were identified and discussed. A combination a literature study, analysis of an application traditional knowledge in a contemporary context and in-depth interviews and liaison with key stakeholders involved directly and indirectly in the management of pounmau were undertaken, has established that the management of natural resources by indigenous people is more about the management of number of associated processes rather than about the management of a single commodity, in this instance pounamu. Within these processes there exist a number of complex relationships that reflect the fundamental transaction of power and privilege associated with natural resource management. Further conclusions that this study has made, is the increasing need and importance of legislatures and planning professionals alike to further recognise the validity and become familiar with alternate methods of resource management and the application of indigenous systems and methods.

This thesis approaches the issue of bicultural nationhood as articulated through a Maori/Pakeha binary in Aotearoa/New Zealand by interrogating the deeply entrenched social forms that inform liberal democracy and that institutionalize capitalism in the modern nation-state. More specifically, it explores the concepts of �self-governing people�, �public sphere� and �free market� as three forms of collective agency that discursively construct �society� within the social imaginary and that interact to set the terms of democratic citizenship. Central to this discussion is the indigenous/non-indigenous binary constituting biculturalism and the manifestation of �indigeneity� as both unassimilable difference in the project of modernity and as political struggle for recognition and power. This study elaborates through the mediated texts of the mediasphere and argues that there is a constant relation between nation, culture and class wherein culture-as-difference provides a framework for masking class struggle in capitalist relations of production as well as for enabling the dominant group to discursively construct their own ethnicity as national cultural identity. What is at stake in this discussion is the contrast between cultural difference as it emerges in the performance of everyday life and as reaction to issues of economic marginalization and cultural difference as it is contrived by the nation-state in terms of a Maori/Pakeha binary. The aim of this thesis is to highlight the necessity of difference in cultural identified, labeled and marketed as a fixed concept, but is an ephemeral by-product of ongoing social struggle for survival, recognition and political power. The objective is to undercut current ideological propositions and demand a just, equitable and democratic approach to the conceptualization of nationhood in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

This thesis is a comparative study of the West�s intellectual responses to the indigenous inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand from the period of first contact through until 1850. The thesis does not attempt a comprehensive history of the West�s encounters with Australasia nor does it attempt to discuss the role of the indigene within these encounters. The thesis does, however, discuss the formulation and expression of those intellectual traditions that informed the Western response to the Maori and Aborigine. Specifically, each chapter addresses a particular aspect of the West�s interaction with the indigenous peoples of Australasia in order demonstrate how the Western narratives of exploration, travel and settlement were informed by the wider discourse of colonialism. Amongst some of the themes addressed in the course of this thesis are: the ideal of the �Good Savage�, the shifting notion of a �Great Chain of Being�, the rise of natural history as a system for classifying human difference and the importance of ideas of savagery in framing the colonial response to the Maori and Aborigine were characterised by similarities and continuities as much as by the more commonly acknowledged differences and discontinuities.

New Zealand Maori and Pacific Island ethnic groups are marking up an increasingly larger proportion of New Zealand�s population. Intercanthal distance (ICD) and management of congenital and acquired deformities of the craniofacial complex. The ICD and IPD have been found to differ to establish these measurements for New zealand Maori and Samoan populations. For New Zealand Maori males the mean ICD was 32.1mm with a standard deviation (SD) of 2.6mm, and the mean IPD was 63.3mm, SD 3.8mm. For New Zealand Maori females the mean ICD was 30.7mm, SD2.7mm and the mean IPD was 60.1mm, SD2.8mm. For Samoan males the mean ICD was 33.9mm, SD2.5mm and the mean IPD 64.5mm, SD3.5mm. For Samoan females the mean ICD was 32.9mm, SD2.3mm and their mean IPD was 61.7mm, SD2.8mm. Consistent with other ethnicities New Zealand Maori and Samoan males have wider values for ICD and IPD than females respectively. New Zealand Maori measurements tend to lie within the normal values established for Caucasian populations, whilst Samoans have larger values.

Rights to possess and/or use the foreshore of New Zealand are not clear, and are even cloudier in relation to Maori freehold land that is on the coast. This thesis investigates the law pertaining to rights in the foreshore, and the facts pertaining specifically to the use of the Otakou Maori Reserve foreshore. In particular, the research question is this: what does aboriginal title mean in 1996 for Otago Maori? Examining the legal issues, searching individual titles and gathering oral history are the methods used to answer this question. First, the law. In New Zealand the Crown is prima facie the absolute owner of the foreshore. This can be displaced by proof to the contrary. The doctrine of aboriginal title recognises the legal continuity of tribal property rights upon the Crown�s acquisition of sovereignty over their territory. Aboriginal title can be divided into two categories - territorial and non-territorial. Territorial title represents a tribal claim to full ownership, and non-territorial title to rights that are less than absolute ownership, such as the right to cross land, to fish and to collect flora and fauna. It is this doctrine of aboriginal title as it relates to the foreshore that can displace the Crown�s absolute ownership of the foreshore. Second, the facts. 99% of the coastal land parcels of Otakou Maori Reserve are described in written documentation as to the line of mean high water. This 99% is made up 17% Maori freehold land, 49% general land and 33% vested in the Crown or the Dunedin City Council. The remaining 1% is Maori freehold land that does not have its boundary at mean high water, but has a fixed upland boundary. Oral history facts from the takatawhenua identify that the foreshore continues to be used for access, travel, and the collection of kai moana and sea resources. The findings reveal that Kai Tahu ki Otakou have never extinguised their territorial and non-territorial aboriginal title to the foreshore of Otakou Maori Reserve. Suggested areas for future research include an investigation of other Maori reserves in Otago, and examining the doctrine of aboriginal title as it relates to the beds of watercourses.

Planning, specifically resource management, is an activity of the state which should seek to reflect the values of the people. However, in New Zealand, only the values of the dominant Pakeha culture have traditionally been considered by decision makers. As a result, resource management in New Zealand has developed as a monocultural institution. This thesis addresses the issue of monoculturalism in New Zealand�s planning regime. The aims of this thesis are twofold: (1) to examine the argument that New Zealand�s planning is monocultural, and has traditionally ignored the needs and aspirations of Maori; and (2) to examine the current resource management system in New Zealand in order to establish the basis for a bicultural approach to planning. These aims were addressed in two principal ways. First, a critical review of literature provided comprehensive background on the relationship between Western and non-Western cultures. Second, in depth interviews were held with both Maori and non-Maori involved in resource management structures. Data from these interviews illustrate Maori opinion on the current resource management system in New Zealand. The thesis concludes that biculturalism is the only legitimate structure for state policy in New Zealand. This conclusion is based primarily on the relationship established between the indigenous Maori and the Pakeha settlers through the Treaty of Waitangi. This study also found that the current resource management regime in New Zealand is incapable of supporting a bicultural resource management approach. Radical reforms are needed in order to facilitate bicultural planning. The thesis concludes by proposing changes to the current regime which will facilitate a bicultural approach to New Zealand planning.

Health is determined by the past as well as the present; the health status of indigenous peoples has been strongly influnced by the experience of colonisation and their subsequent efforts to participate as minorities in contemporary society while retaining their own ethnic and cultural identities. Colonial journays may have led to innovation and adaptation for Maori, but they have also created pain and suffering from which full recovery has yet to be felt (Durie, 2001). The oral health area can be described as having considerable and unacceptable disparities between Maori and non-Maori (Broughton 1995; Thomson, Ayers and Broughton 2003). Few reports have been conducted concerning Maori and patterns of oral health service utilisation, however a lower service utilisation among Maori than non-Maori has been noted (TPK 1996; Broughton and Koopu 1996). Overall, Maori oral health is largely unknown due to a paucity of appropriate research. This research aims to provide new information by describing Maori oral health outcomes over the life course, within a Kaupapa Maori Research (KMR) methodology. In general, the basic tenets presented for KMR are: (1) to prioritise Maori - from the margin to the centre; (2) to be Maori controlled - by Maori, for Maori; (3) to reject �victim-blame� theories; and (4) to be a step towards action and change in order to improve Maori oral health outcomes. The aims of this research are to: 1. Describe the occurrence of caris at ages 5, 15, 18 and 26 and periodontal disease at age 26 years for Maori. 2. Describe self-reported oral health, self-reported dental aesthetics and oral health service utilisation among Maori at ages 5, 15, 18 and 26. 3. Compare the above oral health characteristics between Maori and non-Maori . 4. Investigate the determinants of any differences in oral health outcomes between Māori and non-Maori using a KMR methodology. The investigation involves a secondary analysis of data from the Dunedin multidisciplinary Health and Development study (DMHDS). The existing data-set was statistically analysed using SPSS (SPSS Inc, Chicago, USA). Descriptive statistics were generated. The levels of statistical significance were set at P< 0.05. Chi-square tests were used to compare proportions and independent sample t-tests or ANOVA were used for comparing means. A summary of the Maori/non-Maori analysis shows that, for a cohort of New Zealanders followed over their life-course, the oral health features of caries prevalence, caries severity, and periodonal disease prevalence are higher among Maori compared to non-Maori. In particular, it appears that while Maori females did not always have the highest prevalence of dental caries, this group most often had a higher dmfs/DMFS for dental caries, compared to non-Maori. As adolescents and adults, self-reported results of oral health and dental appearance indicate that Maori males were more likely to report below average oral health and below average dental appearance, when compared to non-Maori. However, at age 26, non-Maori males made up the highest proportion of episodic users of oral health services. This study has a number of health implications: these relate specifically to the management of dental caries, the access to oral health services, and Maori oral health and the elimination of disparities. These are multi-levelled and have implications for health services across the continuum of care from child to adult services; they also have public health implications that involve preventive measures and the broader determinants of health; and involve KMR principles than can be applied to oral health interventions and dental health research in general. Dental diseases and oral health outcomes, such as dental anxiety and episodic use of services, are a common problem in a cohort of New Zealanders with results demonstrating ethnic disparities between Maori and on-Maori. As an area of dentistry that has had very little research in New Zealand, the findings of this study provide important information with which to help plan for population needs. The KMR approach prioritises Maori and specifically seeks to address Maori oral health needs and the elimination of disparities in oral health outcomes. While the issues that are raised may be seen as the more difficult to address, they are also more likely to achieve oral health gains for Maori and contribute to the elimination of disparities.