Four plausible scenarios for transport in New Zealand in 2048

This document results from a project exploring the implications of changing transport systems. It has a particular focus on autonomous vehicles (AVs) and their implications for the wellbeing of older people and ageing populations. The project aims to facilitate proactive decision making about the future of transport in New Zealand. A summary document covering the wider content of the project to date is available (Fitt et al., 2018)

The main divide - nature/culture dualisms and the Maori adoptee

The main divide – nature/culture dualisms and the Māori adoptee The dichotomy of the ‘nature-culture divide’ (Vaisman, 2013) punctuates the lived experiences of Māori adopted within New Zealand between 1955 and 1985, in several ways. The ‘closed stranger’ adoption process sought a ‘clean break’ between birth family and child, promoting the supremacy of environment and socialisation over biology, nurture over nature (Griffith, 1997). However, the engineering of new adoptive kinship relationships as if they were biological (Delany, 1997), simultaneously dissolved and mimicked ‘natural’ ties, placing adoptive families in the position of producing the very differences they were constructed to deny, and adoptees in a situation of “irresolvable contradictions” (Yngvesson & Mahoney, 2000, p. 83; Blake, 2013). According to several writers, identity provides the coherence sought by adoptees in the face of biological/social ‘rupture’ (Haenga Collins, 2011; Yngvesson & Mahoney, 2000). For Māori adoptees, reconnecting with birth whānau (family) and whakapapa (genealogy) holds the promise of identity fulfillment, legitimacy and perhaps even ‘authenticity’. This too can be fraught, as the fragmentation perpetuated by adoption is not easily reconciled with the emphasis on integrity and wholeness of whānau and continuity of whakapapa in the Māori world (Ministerial Advisory Committee, 1988; Bradley, 1997). Furthermore, adoptees may find that their claim to biological ties nonetheless falls short of the upbringing within Māori community that is integral to Māori identity and personhood (Kāretu, n.d., Durie, 1997, cited in Newman, 2011). Caught between a dualism of essentialism and constructionism (Woodward, 1997), the Māori adoptee identity ‘project’ is complex and has the potential to yield important insights relating to identity (West, 2012). This presentation will outline current PhD research that is exploring Māori adoptee identities as they are constructed ‘in between’ (Collins, 1999; Waters, 2004; Webber, 2008; Yngvesson & Mahoney, 2000), from experience (Alcoff, 2010) and as resources (Wieland, 2010)

Health policy, health inequalities and Maori

Health policy has the very important role of guiding the efforts of the health sector towards population health, navigating the ‘choppy waters’ or dynamic contexts within which health is impacted and promoted. As the whakataukī (proverb/s) above caution, there are inherent dangers in being misguided, or in not coordinating efforts. In relation to Māori health, policy in Aotearoa New Zealand is marked by fluctuations between policies of assimilation and policies that support the retention and development of Māori interests (Durie, 2005, p. 4). Policy changes have been subtle but at times profound, moving gradually closer to a Māori worldview within a sectorally based public sector (Cunningham & Durie, 2005, p. 211). With reference primarily to public policy, this chapter will outline the broad dimensions of health policy in New Zealand, how health policy has, and has not, addressed the needs of Māori with particular reference to the health disparities that characterise Māori health in New Zealand

Adoption and surrogacy - Maori perspectives

I’m Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll, I’m a lecturer in Maori health at the University of Canterbury. In relation to the adoption aspect of my presentation, I’m undertaking PhD study of the experiences of Maori adoptees. In relation to the focus on surrogacy, I’m part of a project that is examining surrogacy laws in New Zealand, and am exploring Maori perspectives within that. The intention of my presentation today is to not necessarily provide a definitive Maori perspective in relation to either topic, but to consider some important threads, and weave these together, loosely

He kōrero wairua: indigenous spiritual inquiry in rongoā research

The Ngā Tohu o te Ora research project was developed to investigate outcomes associated with rongoā Māori, in order that this practice might enjoy increased support as a funded service. The primary aims were to: 1) identify wellness outcome measures used by traditional Māori healers; and 2) develop and test a framework of traditional Māori wellness outcome measures. The Ngā Tohu o te Ora research team met with healers in a series of workshops over 3 years. The process of inquiry that unfolded was guided and shaped by healers. This established a specific set of ethical parameters and processes influenced strongly by wairua, which thereby influenced the conduct of the research. What emerged methodologically was a variant of kaupapa Māori participatory research, resembling broader indigenous research approaches, with features of “spiritual inquiry”. This paper will outline this unique form of research, and implications for engaging meaningfully with healing communities

Enacting kaitiakitanga: challenges and complexities in the governance and ownership of rongoa research information

This article explores the tensions one research team has faced in securing appropriate governance or stewardship (which we refer to as kaitiakitanga) of research data. Whilst ethical and regulatory frameworks exist which provide a minimum standard for researchers to meet when working with Maori, what our experience has highlighted is there is currently a “governance” gap in terms of who should hold stewardship of research data collected from Maori individuals or collectives. In the case of a project undertaken in the traditional healing space, the organisation best placed to fulfil this governance role receives no funding or support to take on such a responsibility; consequently by default, this role is being borne by the research team until such time as capacity can be built and adequate resourcing secured. In addition, we have realised that the tensions played out in this research project have implications for the broader issue of how we protect traditional knowledge in a modern intellectual property law context, and once again how we adequately support those, often community-based organisations, who work at the interface between Indigenous knowledge and the Western world

Genetic research, population health and Maori

Early genetic research focused on identifying single genes responsible for specific familial disorders. However, radical technological advancements such as high throughput testing and genome-wide scanning techniques have made it possible to examine complex conditions influenced by multiple genes and environmental factors to determine population susceptibility. Genetic epidemiology studies the distribution of genetic traits and variation within families and populations, risk factors associated with the frequency of genetic traits, and the role of genetic factors in disease aetiology (Khoury, Beaty & Cohen, 19931). This enables the impact of a specific genetic variation on disease risk in an individual or in a population to be estimated (Kaprio, 20002). As the contribution of a single gene variant to disease can be relatively small, it is important to understand not only the contribution of other genetic factors but how these interact with environmental factors to modulate disease risk

Windows, wheels and wai: public policy, environmental health action and Maori community development - implications for (eco)social work

Many New Zealanders take access to safe drinking-water for granted, yet approximately 20 percent of Aotearoa New Zealand’s population is supplied with water that does not comply with drinking-water standards. Non-compliant drinking-water supplies place communities at increased risk of contracting waterborne pathogens such as hepatitis A, Campylobacter and Giardia (Ministry of Health, 2013). These pathogens contribute significantly to the burden of illness in rural communities. For example, monitoring undertaken by Northland Health (Project Waiora) in the late 1990s found persistent faecal coliform (Escherichia coli) transgressions in many Northland schools and marae (Auckland Regional Public Health Service, 2005). In 1998 a hepatitis A outbreak at a Hokianga marae, caused by contaminated drinking-water, required the vaccination of 800 people (New Zealand Public Health Report, 1999). Despite the urgent public health need, no action was taken. There are several possible reasons for this: a lack of drinking-water treatment expertise in the local public health unit; safe drinking-water not being accorded priority, or funding by the Ministry of Health, due to its non-regulated nature (Mistry, 2012); a lack of political will to remedy the situation; and/or funding constraints being used to justify inaction (Jellie et al., 2003). For Hokianga hapū (sub-tribes), access to safe drinking-water is a community priority. A clean and healthy environment, and the ability to fulfill kaitiaki (environmental stewardship) responsibilities, is critical to whānau, hapū and iwi (family, sub-tribe and tribe) identity and wellbeing. For the past two decades, in the face of local authority inaction, local health provider Hokianga Health Enterprise Trust (HHET)/Hauora Hokianga has supported (ultimately successful) hapū efforts to improve community drinking-water supplies. These developments have shaped public policy, environmental health practice and understanding of community development throughout the country. In this chapter the case of small water-supply management in the Hokianga region will be explored, firstly to demonstrate the ways in which policy can be utilised by communities for gains unforeseen by policy-makers, and secondly to offer insights into the social policy/social work interface

Māori views of forensic DNA evidence: an instrument of justice or criminalizing technology?

© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. DNA profiling is just one of many tools available to police in a criminal investigation. However, unlike any other criminal investigative tool, DNA profiling has captured the public imagination. Its portrayal in popular fiction has given rise to the “CSI effect”, whereby the weight and credibility of science, combined with the predictive potential of DNA, produce an aura of infallibility and certainty only amplified by creative license. Genetic material holds particular significance for Indigenous peoples, establishing identity and group membership, as well as associated rights. This taonga (treasure) status entails particular sensitivities regarding its handling and use; these have been well explored in health, but less so in the forensic context. This article presents professional and lay Māori perspectives on forensic DNA technologies in New Zealand, highlighting the inseparability of these from Indigenous experiences of criminalization but also their value in informing operational, ethical and justice-oriented considerations