In the past, Maori experiences of research have been described by Jahnke and Taiapa (1999) as follows: "Contemporary Maori society has become increasingly focused on issues of self-sufficiency, self-determination and whanau, hapu and iwi development. Attempts to address these issues have highlighted a lack of satisfactory research in respect of these and other Maori concerns. Much of the research done on Maori in the past has proven to be of little benefit to Maori themselves, tending to emphasise negative statistics without attempting to provide the information necessary to effect positive change. As a consequence, many Maori treat research with a degree of suspicion, questioning both the motives of researches and the methodologies employed" (p.37). A number of tools have been used to define the public health of Maori, including Maori women. This dissertation aims to describe some of the methodologies and methods used in relation to analytical frameworks developed by leading Maori research academics such as Linda Tuhiwai Smith, in critiquing research undertaken defining the key public health issues for Maori women. Maori Health Researchers experiences of research, methodologies and methods used have also been determined based on qualitative interview techniques. There are currently significant gaps in both the information in determining the methodologies and methods used, particularly in research contributing to gains for Maori women.

Throughout the twentieth century, Maori life expectancy for both men and women has increased significantly. For most health conditions however, medical statistics show that the Maori mortality rate remains significantly higher than the rate for the NZ non-Maori population. The results of epidemiological studies show that some of these health conditions may be environmentally induced. There appears to be a high incidence of obesity in the Maori population which has been related to dietary intake, with an associated high incidence of diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. These conditions appear to be particularly prevalent among Maori women. It is thought that the Maori population are gentically susceptible to obesity; a trait which manifests itself when there is a plentiful food supply in the population. At present, there is very little information available about the dietary intake of the Maori population, or the effect of diet upon obesity and associated health disorders in this group. The aim of this survey was to obtain information about the dietary intake of a sample of Dunedin Maori women using the diet history method of assessment. Also to determine the incidence of obesity and other dietry related health conditions in this group. Chapter 2 reviews the change in food habits and health status of the Maori population over the last two centuries, as well as reviewing the different methods by which information for dietary surveys is obtained. After setting out the methods and findings of the survey, Chapter 5 discusses the results in light of information obtained from similar dietary studies of NZ women. The samples intake is compared to recommended nutrient allowances for NZ women and the incidence of dietary related health disorders is also discussed. Overall, Dunedin Maori women�s diet was not deficient in any of the recorded nutrients. Dunedin Maori women, in their middle years, exhibited substantially higher energy intakes than middle years non-Maori women in the 1977 National Dietary Survey. The level of Dunedin Maori women�s carbohydrate intake was the main contributing factor for this higher energy intake. Dunedin Maori women over 50 years of age exhibited substantially higher energy intakes than NZ women aged 50-54 years in the 1985 Timaru Health District Survey, with an overall higher consumption of carbohydrate, protein and fat. Over half of Dunedin Maori were classified as overweight or very overweight. Hypertension and diabetes were reported, and obesity was commonly found among women with these health conditions. Over half of Dunedin Maori women used cigarettes, the majority using between ten and thirty cigarettes per day. Dunedin Maori women are relatively isolated from the more densely populated areas of North Island Maori. As a result, the survey results cannot be interpreted as characteristic of NZ Maori women in general. The significance of these findings is rather the elucidation of a regional situation. Further studies of Maori women in both rural and urban areas of the North and South Island are necessary to determine if an overall pattern of high intake exists with a deleterious impact upon the health of Maori women.

Throughout the twentieth century, Maori life expectancy for both men and women has increased significantly. For most health conditions however, medical statistics show that the Maori mortality rate remains significantly higher than the rate for the NZ non-Maori population. The results of epidemiological studies show that some of these health conditions may be environmentally induced. There appears to be a high incidence of obesity in the Maori population which has been related to dietary intake, with an associated high incidence of diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. These conditions appear to be particularly prevalent among Maori women. It is thought that the Maori population are gentically susceptible to obesity; a trait which manifests itself when there is a plentiful food supply in the population. At present, there is very little information available about the dietary intake of the Maori population, or the effect of diet upon obesity and associated health disorders in this group. The aim of this survey was to obtain information about the dietary intake of a sample of Dunedin Maori women using the diet history method of assessment. Also to determine the incidence of obesity and other dietry related health conditions in this group. Chapter 2 reviews the change in food habits and health status of the Maori population over the last two centuries, as well as reviewing the different methods by which information for dietary surveys is obtained. After setting out the methods and findings of the survey, Chapter 5 discusses the results in light of information obtained from similar dietary studies of NZ women. The samples intake is compared to recommended nutrient allowances for NZ women and the incidence of dietary related health disorders is also discussed. Overall, Dunedin Maori women�s diet was not deficient in any of the recorded nutrients. Dunedin Maori women, in their middle years, exhibited substantially higher energy intakes than middle years non-Maori women in the 1977 National Dietary Survey. The level of Dunedin Maori women�s carbohydrate intake was the main contributing factor for this higher energy intake. Dunedin Maori women over 50 years of age exhibited substantially higher energy intakes than NZ women aged 50-54 years in the 1985 Timaru Health District Survey, with an overall higher consumption of carbohydrate, protein and fat. Over half of Dunedin Maori were classified as overweight or very overweight. Hypertension and diabetes were reported, and obesity was commonly found among women with these health conditions. Over half of Dunedin Maori women used cigarettes, the majority using between ten and thirty cigarettes per day. Dunedin Maori women are relatively isolated from the more densely populated areas of North Island Maori. As a result, the survey results cannot be interpreted as characteristic of NZ Maori women in general. The significance of these findings is rather the elucidation of a regional situation. Further studies of Maori women in both rural and urban areas of the North and South Island are necessary to determine if an overall pattern of high intake exists with a deleterious impact upon the health of Maori women.

This thesis is a theoretical and empirical exploration of Māori women's knowledges and understandings of Papatūānuku in contemporary Aotearoa. The primary focus of this research is on the complexities, connections, and contradictions of Māori women's embodied relationships with the spaces of Papatūānuku - spaces that are simultaneously material, discursive, symbolic, and spiritual. In doing so, I displace the boundaries between coloniser/colonised, self/other, rational/irrational and scientific/spiritual. I demonstrate that Māori women's colonised realities produce multiple, complex and hybrid understandings of Papatūānuku. This thesis has three main strands. The first is theoretical. I offer mana wahine (Māori feminist discourses) as another perspective for geography that engages with the complex intersections of colonisation, race and gender. A mana wahine geography framework is a useful lens through which to explore the complexities of Māori women's relationships to space and place. This framework contributes to, and draws together, feminist geographies and Māori and indigenous academic scholarship. Autobiographical material is woven with joint and individual semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with nine Māori women in the Waikato region. The second strand, woven into this thesis, is a critical examination of the colonisation of Māori women's spiritual and embodied relationships to Papatūānuku. The invisibility of Māori women's knowledges in dominant conceptualisations of mythology, tikanga and wairua discourses is not a harmless omission rather it contains a political imperative that maintains the hegemony of colonialism and patriarchy. I argue that to understand further Māori women's relationships to space and place an examination of wairua discourses is necessary. The third strand reconfigures embodied and spatial conceptualisations of Papatūānuku. Māori women's maternal bodies are intimately tied to Papatūānuku in a way that challenges the oppositional distinctions between mind/body and biology/social inscription. Māori women's maternal bodies (and the representation of them in te reo Māori) are constructed by, and in turn, construct Papatūānuku. Furthermore, women's spatial relationship to tūrangawaewae, home space and wider environmental concerns demonstrates the co-constitution of subjectivities, bodies and space/place. My hope is that this thesis will add to geographical literature by addressing previously ignored knowledges and that it will contribute to indigenous scholarship by providing a spatial perspective.

Thesis (PhD)--AUT University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print ([15], 222 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 303.4833082 HAM)

Thesis (M.Dev.Stud.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Située au croisement de plusieurs disciplines – anthropologie, sociologie, histoire de l’art, études féministes et sur le genre – cette thèse s’intéresse aux oeuvres, aux pratiques, aux parcours et aux discours des femmes artistes māori néo-zélandaises s’inscrivant dans le champ de l’art contemporain et vivant en milieu urbain. Ces artistes sont à l’origine de revendications politiques et d’affirmations identitaires singulières du fait de leurs multiples appartenances : leurs productions recèlent des références simultanées à leurs histoires individuelles, à leur statut de membres d’une minorité autochtone et d’une tribu, à leur condition de femmes et de citoyennes au sein de la nation néo-zélandaise. L’analyse des données obtenues après avoir mené une enquête de terrain d’un an en Nouvelle-Zélande en 2012-2013, des recherches complémentaires sur Internet et des échanges avec les artistes au retour du terrain permet de montrer comment ces dernières s’inscrivent dans le mouvement actuel d’affirmation māori. En effet, suite à la colonisation britannique du XIXe siècle, les Māori luttent toujours pour affirmer leurs droits. Dans ce contexte, l’art est utilisé par certaines femmes comme un puissant moyen de contestation et de promotion d’un changement social visant à la reconnaissance du mana wahine (pouvoir, prestige féminin). Ce travail révèle également que la pratique artistique leur offre l’opportunité de réaffirmer les liens les unissant au monde māori tout en leur permettant d’accéder à une certaine autonomisation et émancipation. Elles développent des stratégies originales pour affirmer leur créativité sans transgresser des règles toujours importantes pour les Māori.

Située au croisement de plusieurs disciplines – anthropologie, sociologie, histoire de l’art,études féministes et sur le genre – cette thèse s’intéresse aux oeuvres, aux pratiques, aux parcours et aux discours des femmes artistes maori néo-zélandaises s’inscrivant dans le champ de l’art contemporain et vivant en milieu urbain. Ces artistes sont à l’origine de revendications politiques et d’affirmations identitaires singulières du fait de leurs multiples appartenances : leurs productions recèlent des références simultanées à leurs histoires individuelles, à leur statut de membres d’une minorité autochtone et d’une tribu, à leur condition de femmes et de citoyennes au sein de la nation néo-zélandaise.L’analyse des données obtenues après avoir mené une enquête de terrain d’un an en Nouvelle-Zélande en 2012-2013, des recherches complémentaires sur Internet et des échanges avec les artistes au retour du terrain permet de montrer comment ces dernières s’inscrivent dans le mouvement actuel d’affirmation maori. En effet, suite à la colonisation britannique du XIX e siècle, les Maori luttent toujours pour affirmer leurs droits. Dans ce contexte, l’art est utilisé par certaines femmes comme un puissant moyen de contestation et de promotion d’un changement social visant à la reconnaissance du mana wahine (pouvoir, prestige féminin). Ce travail révèle également que la pratique artistique leur offre l’opportunité de réaffirmer les liens les unissant au monde maori tout en leur permettant d’accéder à une certaine autonomisation et émancipation. Elles développent des stratégies originales pour affirmer leur créativité sans transgresser des règles toujours importantes pour les Maori. / At the intersection of several disciplines – anthropology, sociology, art history, and feminist and gender studies, this thesis deals with the works, practices, careers and discourses of New Zealand Maori women artists active in the field of contemporary art and living in an urban environment. Due to their many forms of belonging, these artists are behind specific political demands and identity affirmations: their work contains simultaneous references to the individual histories, their status as members of an indigenous minority and a tribe, and their condition as women and citizens of the New Zealand nation. The analysis of the data obtained after a fieldwork investigation in New Zealand carried out over a year from 2012 to 2013, of complementary research on the Internet and exchanges with artists when back from the field makes it possible to show how these artists are part of today's Maori assertion movement. For since British colonization in the 19th century, the Maori have continued to assert their rights. In this context, some women use art as a powerful means of protest and of promoting social change aimed at the recognition of mana wahine (women's power or prestige). This work also reveals that their artistic practice affords them the opportunity to reassert the ties linking them to the Maori world while at the same time enabling them to attain a certain empowerment and emancipation. They develop original strategies for asserting their creativity without transgressing the rules which remain important for the Maori people.

Thesis (M.A.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.