A study was undertaken to determine the food safety of the fermented Māori delicacy, Toroi. Ten batches of Toroi were prepared by a commonly used traditional method that consisted of boiling the vegetable component, either watercress or puha, and combining it with chopped mussel flesh. The mixture was cooled and then stored in a refrigerator for up to eight months to allow natural fermentation to take place. All ingredients were sourced from retail outlets. The Toroi was examined at intervals over eight months for a range of pathogens (seven in all) that have been related to incidents of food poisoning in ready-to-eat foods in New Zealand. The survival of a faecal contamination indicator, the laboratory grown strain Escherichia coli NZRM 916, was mapped over eight months. Two strategies to prevent the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in Toroi were also investigated. Only one of the seven pathogens sought was recovered from any sample. This pathogen was Bacillus cereus, a spore-former known to be associated with vegetables. All batches contained B. cereus on the day of preparation but after two weeks refrigerated storage there was no further recovery from any sample. There was a very low incidence of natural E. coli in the Toroi, consistent with levels permitted in mussels sold in retail outlets. The laboratory grown strain, E. coli declined substantially over two months and was not recovered from any samples at eight months. A laboratory grown strain of Listeria monocytogenes, (L70) was added to Toroi and grew well with an increase in concentration of about seven-fold, over 19 days storage in a refrigerator. A bacteriocin producing lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus sake Lb706, was added in combined culture with L. monocytogenes to Toroi. It was found that at least 5 x108 L. sake cells were required as an inoculum to ensure elimination of L. monocytogenes from the Toroi. When a purified bacteriocin; nisin, was added, a concentration of 10 mg g-1 in the Toroi was required to eliminate L. monocytogenes. The inhibition study results suggest that unacceptably high inocula or purified bacteriocin would be required to prevent the growth of L. monocytogenes in Toroi. The results of this suggest that Toroi be prepared from mussels either purchased from a retail outlet or harvested from sites known to be free from contamination. Toroi should be safe to eat if prepared carefully, chilled promptly and thoroughly and allowed to ferment for at least two weeks. In addition, care should be taken to maintain Toroi at refrigerated temperatures until it is eaten.

This research focuses on listening to the voices of Year 13 academically successful Māori students in a large, urban, mainstream, co-educational, decile 4, New Zealand secondary school. Traditionally, researchers have tended to emphasise the poor academic performance of Māori students in New Zealand. In contrast, this qualitative case study, however, seeks to understand what influences and motivates the academically successful Year 13 Māori students who have gained the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2 and who returned to school to study for NCEA Level 3. Semi structured interviews as conversations with all thirteen Māori students who had achieved NCEA Level 2 formed the basis of this research. Five of their parents, seven of their teachers and the principal were also interviewed. The findings show that these students all stress the importance of their family, in particular, one family member or significant adult in their lives who valued education and supported the student, influencing and encouraging their motivation and self-efficacy. Building positive relationships with their teachers was the next strongest influence on their academic success followed closely by the positive influence of their friends. Self-motivation was mainly extrinsic. The students perceived that the principal had little effect on their individual achievement. The teachers also acknowledge the importance of building positive relationships with their students and acknowledge the benefits of the reflective practice provided by the Te Kotahitanga project in highlighting this factor. The findings suggest the excellent initiatives currently taking place in the school need to be continued or strengthened and that further interventions which target particular Māori students, rather than are global across the school, should be introduced.

Good sexual and reproductive health is fundamental to the overall health status of Māori communities. In 2001, the Ministry of Health reported that New Zealand was facing a Chlamydia epidemic. This epidemic has not abated as rates of Chlamydia have increased significantly in the past five years, with disproportionately high rates in young Māori women compared to non-Māori women. Despite significant sexual health disparities, young Māori have had limited opportunities to participate in research focussed on sexual health and voice their opinions and concerns on sexual health issues. This qualitative descriptive study has used a Māori inquiry paradigm and approached the research from a Kaupapa Māori perspective. The primary research question asked what the knowledge, attitudes and reported behaviours of young urban Māori women were in regards to sexual health and in particular, the sexually transmitted infection Chlamydia. Secondary aims were to ascertain the sources of information used and accessibility of sexual health services, as well as identifying resilience factors associated with protection against Chlamydia infection. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with 16 young Māori women living in the Auckland region. Data analysis involved the inductive approach of categorical content analysis to identify major categorical themes to answer the specific questions posed. The main conclusion was that there are a number of barriers to accessing quality sexual health information and services for young Māori women. Participants’ level of knowledge varied reflecting their personal experiences and many were unaware that Chlamydia is asymptomatic and that delayed diagnosis can lead to fertility problems. The main sources of sexual health information accessed were whānau, peers, school, and contact with health professionals. Racism was identified as one of the barriers to sexual healthcare services. The young women expressed a clear preference for sexual health services to be delivered by Māori. Most importantly, for sexual health interventions to be successful it is essential that Māori communities, including young people and their whānau, are an integral part of creating positive solutions. Resilience factors that may help protect young women from contracting chlamydia characteristic of this group were having a strong connection with a caring adult or friend and parents who viewed sexuality as a normal part of adolescent development. In addition, having a positive Māori cultural identity with an ability to understand bicultural differences was strongly associated with participants accessing sexual healthcare services despite identified barriers.

The research described in this thesis examines indigenous language usage in a digital library environment that has been accessed via the Internet. By examining discretionary use of the Māori Niupepa and Hawaiian Nūpepa digital libraries this research investigates how indigenous languages were used in these electronic environments in 2005. The results provide encouragement and optimism to people who are striving to retain, revitalise and develop the use of indigenous languages in information technologies. The Transaction Log Analysis (TLA) methods used in this research serve as an example of how web logs can be used to provide significant information about language usage in a bilingual online information system. Combining the TLA with user feedback has provided insights into how and why clients use indigenous languages in their information retrieval activities. These insights in turn, show good practice that is relevant not only to those working with indigenous languages, indigenous peoples or multilingual environments, but to all information technology designers who strive for universal usability. This thesis begins by describing the importance of using indigenous languages in electronic environments and suggests that digital libraries can provide an environment to support and encourage the use of such languages. TLA is explained in the context of this study and is then used to analyse aspects of te reo Māori usage in the Niupepa digital library environment in 2005. TLA also indicates that te reo Māori was used by international clients and this usage differed to te reo Māori usage by national (Aotearoa) clients. Findings further reveal that the default language setting of the Niupepa digital library had a considerable impact on te reo Māori usage. When the default language was set to te reo Māori not only were there more requests in te reo Māori but there was also a higher usage of te reo Māori in the information retrieval activities. TLA of the Hawaiian Nūpepa digital library indicated that the Hawaiian language was also used in a digital library. These results confirm that indigenous languages were used in digital library environments. Feedback from clients suggests reasons why indigenous languages were used in this environment. These reasons include the indigenous language content of the digital library, the indigenous language default language setting of the digital library and a stated desire by the clients to use the indigenous language. The key findings raise some interface design issues and support the claim that digital libraries can provide an environment to support the use of indigenous languages.

Exploring the leadership of New Zealand’s diverse cultural groups is of great importance in providing effective leadership. New Zealand’s population is diverse and rapidly changing (Statistics New Zealand, 2004b), resulting in leader-follower relationships increasingly being enacted in the cross-cultural context. As research suggests, cultural variations of leadership exist (Brodbeck et al., 2000; House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004), and inappropriate leadership could stifle the leadership process (Lord & Maher, 1993), it may be especially important to recognise cultural difference in leadership. Well-respected leadership theorists suggest that leadership behaviour is both culturally similar and different (Brodbeck et al., 2000; House et al., 2004), with distinct prototypes of leadership existing in each culture. Followers will only be influenced by leaders’ behaviour which they recognise from that prototype (Lord & Maher, 1993). To be effective, leaders’ behaviour must match followers’ culturally contingent leadership expectation (Popper & Druyan, 2001). New Zealand research supports this theory, confirming the existence of culturally unique leadership behaviour domestically (Ah Chong & Thomas, 1997; Love, 1991a). If the leadership expectations of New Zealand’s diverse cultural groups are not recognised, the result will be ineffective leadership for significant groups. This study investigates perceptions of outstanding Maori and Pakeha leaders by culturally similar followers. In doing so, it examines the unique Maori and Pakeha leadership prototypes, exploring their similarities and differences. In addition, it considers ways in which this course of research could impact on effective leadership in New Zealand. A multi-method approach was taken by this study in exploring perceived Maori and Pakeha leadership. The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) survey was employed as this study’s quantitative component. The GLOBE is currently cross-cultural leadership’s fore-running research programme, investigating culture’s impact on leadership processes in 62 cultures, with the aim of developing a truly cross-cultural leadership theory. Close iwi consultation with Te Atiawa and Maori academics was employed as this study’s qualitative component. This study’s findings suggest similarities and differences in how Maori and Pakeha followers perceived the outstanding leadership behaviour of culturally similar leaders. Broadly, they suggest that outstanding Maori leaders were perceived as exhibiting a greater degree of humane-orientated and self-protective behaviour. In some instances, outstanding Maori leaders were also perceived as exhibiting a greater degree of charismatic/value-based and team-orientated behaviour, although in some cases this was perceived as similar for outstanding Maori and Pakeha leaders. Participative and autonomous leadership behaviour was perceived as making a similar contribution to outstanding Maori and Pakeha leadership. This study’s findings support previous research which suggests culturally unique leadership prototypes. It offers insight into Maori leadership (as perceived by Maori followers) and provides a rough sketch-map of homogeneous and heterogeneous aspects of Maori and Pakeha leaders’ perceived behaviour.

The National Project to Counter Stigma and Discrimination was established by the New Zealand government in 1997. The Project recognised that people with a diagnosis of mental illness are marginalized and excluded from full participation in society. The Mental Health Foundation was contracted to provide workshops for mental health service providers to shift workplace attitudes and behaviours that were discriminatory or stigmatising. This thesis used a case study approach to capture and evaluate the significance and nature of the transitory form of process drama in three workshops I facilitated in largely Maori communities in the far north of the North Island. The principles of reflective practitioner research informed the use of research tools, data collection and analysis. This research focused particularly on reflective strategies that occurred inside process drama work and the way in which meaning was constructed in that context. The central research question asked: 'In what ways does process drama work to assist people to reflect on their attitudes and behaviours associated with mental illness?' This raised a secondary question: 'What potential is there for a model to counter stigma and discrimination that uses process drama as a central strategy?' This thesis posits a new model for understanding the nature of reflection in process drama. The mimetic notions of the fictional and the real as discrete and defined entities should instead be seen as permeable frames of existence that on occasions collide and collapse into each other. The double paradox of process drama is that, having created an empathetic relationship with the roles taken, we purposefully structure distance so we can then deliberately collapse the distance to create deep moments of reflection. I suggest a more accurate term to describe reflection in process drama is refraction. Refraction acknowledges that, rather than clarity, process drama seeks ambiguity: instead of resolving issues it seeks to further problematise and complexify. The tension of working with a democratic and open-ended art form towards a pre-ordained end as part of the project is closely examined. The impact of performative rituals and proto drama processes as part of the context of working in Maori settings is also explored. A three step model for countering stigma and discrimination is formulated and workshopped. The content of the model is based on an analysis of research undertaken within an anti-racist context, and models that have informed similar mental health campaigns. The form of the model is process drama. An analysis of the workshops demonstrated that the first model developed was limited in its effectiveness. Instead, participants should engage in repeating cycles of generating and investigating images. This leads to the development of what I have termed the Spiral Three Step Model. Although the effectiveness of the Spiral model is not tested in this research, it became apparent that the workshops based on this structure provided opportunities for participants to consider and reflect/refract deeply on their workplace's attitudes and behaviours.

New Zealand's mental health performance and monitoring framework is a complex and evolving one. Its initial development occurred at a time when it was taken for granted that mainstream understandings of health and mainstream systems of service delivery would not only be appropriate for all New Zealanders, but would also service the needs of all New Zealanders. Latterly however there has been an acknowledgment that a wholly different understanding of health and health care has existed in this country; the worldview understood and shared by tangata whenua. This thesis uses a theoretical framework devised specifically for this research to investigate the experience of Maori mental health providers as they contract to provide mental health services for the Crown; to ascertain whether Maori mental health providers deliver outside of their contracts; and to examine the role multiple accountabilities play in contracting. The theoretical framework, the "Maori research paradigm net" is inclusive of both the kaupapa Maori and Maori centred approaches, moving beyond the traditional dichotomy that frames Maori health research and allowing the researcher the freedom to select and use the best and most appropriate research tools from both traditional social science research practices, and from Maori culture and tikanga, to answer the research question posed. The thesis concludes that Maori mental health providers deliver mental health services at the interface between two philosophical viewpoints or worldviews: that of the Maori community in which they are located and to whom they provide services; and that of the funder, from whom they obtain resources to enable them to deliver services. As a consequence of working at the interface, Maori providers regularly and routinely work outside the scope of their contracts to deliver mental health services which are aligned with those values and norms enshrined in Maori culture. To adequately acknowledge and validate the beneficial extra-contractual provision which occurs as a result of delivering mental health services at the interface, and prevent less desirable provision, a more responsive contracting environment and a performance measurement framework, which integrates both worldviews and which takes account of the multiple accountabilities that Maori providers manage, is required.

The goal of this study was to review Maori oral health services utilising a kaupapa Maori framework. The aims of the study were to identify the issues in the development, implementation and operation of Maori dental health services within each of the three types of Maori health providers (mainstream, iwi-based, partnership). The three Maori oral health services are: (i) Te Whare Kaitiaki, University of Otago Dental School, Dunedin. (ii) Te atiawa Dental Service, New Plymouth. (iii) Tipu Ora Dental Service, in partnership with the School Dental Service, Lakeland Health, Rotorua. Method: A literature review of kaupapa Maori research was undertaken to provide the Maori framework under which this study was conducted. The kaupapa Maori methodology utilised the following criteria: (i) Rangatiratanga: The assertion of Maori leadership; (ii) Whakakotahitanga: A holistic approach incorporating Te Whare Tapa Wha; (iii) Whakapapa: The origins and development of oranga niho; (iv) Whakawhanuitanga: Recognising and catering for the diverse needs of Maori; (iv) Whanaungatanga: Culturally appropriate forms of relationship management; (v) Maramatanga: Raising Maori awareness, health promotion and education; and (vi) Whakapakiri: Recognising the need to the build capacity of Maori health providers. Ethical approval was granted by the Otago, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki Ethics Committees to undertake interviews and focus groups with Maori oral health providers in Dunedin, Rotorua and New Plymouth. Information was also sought from advisors and policy analysts within the Ministry of Health. A valuable source of information was hui korero (speeches and/or discussion at Maori conferences). An extensive literature was undertaken including an historical search of material from private archives and the now defunct Maori Health Commission. Results: An appropriate kaupapa Maori methodology was developed which provided a Maori framework to collate, describe, organise and present the information on Maori oral health. In te ao tawhito (the pre-European world of the Maori) there was very little if any dental decay. In te ao hou (the contemporary world of the Maori) Maori do not enjoy the same oral health status as non-Maori across all age groups. The reasons for this health disparity are multifactorial but include the social determinants of health, life style factors and the under-utilisation of health services. In order to address the disparities in Maori oral health, Maori providers have been very eager to establish kaupapa Maori oral health services. The barriers to the development, implementation, and operation of a kaupapa Maori oral health service are many and varied and include access to funding, and racism. Maori health providers have overcome the barriers through two strategies: firstly, the establishment of relationships within both the health sector and the Maori community; and secondly, through their passion and commitment to oranga niho mo te iwi Maori (oral health for all Maori). The outcome of this review will contribute to Maori health gain through the recognition of appropriate models and strategies which can be utilised for the future advancement of Maori oral health services, and hence to an improvement in Maori oral health status. Conclusion: This review of Maori oral health services has found that there are oral health disparities between Maori and non-Maori New Zealanders. In an effort to overcome these disparities Maori have sought to provide kaupapa Maori oral health services. Whilst there is a diversity in the provision of Maori oral health services, kaupapa Maori services have been developed that are appropriate, effective, accessible and affordable. They must have the opportunity to flourish.

The primary objective of this thesis is to review literature written about poi in order to construct an historical overview of poi from pre-contact Maori society until the 1920s. The mythological and Polynesian origins of poi, traditional and contemporary materials and methods used to make poi, early travellers, explorers, and settlers accounts of poi and two case studies on the use of poi in the Taranaki and Te Arawa areas will be included in this thesis. The information will be used to show the changes in poi that have occured since Maori and European arrival to New Zealand until the 1920s.

Nga mahi a Tane-rore me Te Rehia (traditional Maori performing arts) is one of the most visible aspects of Maori culture. Traditional Maori performing arts is one of the key elements seen on the marae and it marked the first experiences between the Maori and European explorers. However, since the arrival of tauiwi (foreigners) the art has evolved, largely as a result of outside influences. Many of the changes that have been introduced to the art have been a product of the struggle of Maori to maintain their language and customs, despite the onslaught of cultural domination. An example of one such change is the introduction of a Western style competition, that is, a formal style of competition that includes judges, assessment criteria and/or competition rules, and prizes. This thesis will explore the evolution of traditional Maori performing arts with particular reference to how this traditional art form has been affected by the 'Western' notion of competition.