“You’re the One That Was on Uncle’s Wall!”: Identity, Whanaungatanga and Connection for Takatāpui (LGBTQ+ Māori)

Takatāpui (Māori LGBTIQ+) challenge static notions of relationality and belonging or whanaungatanga for Māori. Explorations of Māori and LGBTIQ+ identity can often polarise experiences of family as either nurturing spaces or sites comprised of actors of spiritual and physical violence. However, such framing ignores the ways in which cultural practices for establishing relationality for takatāpui extend beyond dichotomies of disconnection or connection within families and into spaces of new potential. In this paper we outline a bricoleur research praxis rooted in Māori ways of being which underpins the research. We engage in photo-poetry as an analytic tool, constructing poetry from our interviews with Waimirirangi, a twenty-year-old whakawahine (Māori term for trans woman or trans femme) and bring them into conversation with the images she provided as part of the broader research project. As the interface between her ancestors and future generations, Waimirirangi demonstrates the potentiality of whanaungatanga as a restorative practice for enhancing takatāpui wellbeing

Te Tapatoru: a model of whanaungatanga to support rangatahi wellbeing

ABSTRACTWhanaungatanga (nurturing of relationships) is at the heart of wellbeing for rangatahi (Māori youth), yet little research has considered how rangatahi understand and experience whanaungatanga. Furthermore, policy makers, organisations and practitioners have had limited guidance to reflect on whanaungatanga with young Māori in ways that support rangatahi wellbeing and aspirations. As part of a broader photo-elicitation project on whanaungatanga with young Māori, we describe Te Tapatoru, a model of whanaungatanga based on the experiences and insights of 51 rangatahi. Using a Māori critical realist approach, we demarcated rangatahi descriptions of whanaungatanga into three interconnected areas. The first component, ko wai, a reciprocal connection, emphasised the importance of a reciprocal connection with people (or more than people). The second component, he wā pai, a genuine time/place, spoke to how contexts, time and places provided the space for meaningful connections to take root and flourish. The final component, he kaupapa pai, a genuine kaupapa (activity, process) considered how rangatahi desired connection which responded to their desires and aspirations. This approach harnesses rangatahi potential by creating reciprocal and invigorating supportive environments based on rangatahi aspirations and insights. Policy and practice recommendations are made which centre this rangatahi informed approach to whanaungatanga

Prejudice toward Muslims in New Zealand: insights from the New Zealand attitudes and values study

Following the March 15th Christchurch terrorist attack, members of our research team have been repeatedly asked to comment or provide summary statistics from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) on prejudice toward Muslims. As the curators of the NZAVS, we think that these findings should be in the public domain and accessible to as wide an audience as possible. In this article, we aim to provide a comprehensive summary of what we know from the NZAVS about attitudes toward Muslims and prejudice in New Zealand more generally. From 2012 onwards, the NZAVS included a feeling thermometer rating of people’s level of warmth toward Muslims. Here, we summarize what we know from the NZAVS about levels of warmth toward Muslims in the New Zealand population. We describe the distribution of thermometer ratings of warmth toward Muslims annually from 2012 onward, and compare these with thermometer ratings of a range of other groups that we also track. We present a regression model documenting the extent to which a broad range of demographics and aspects of personality are associated with low levels of warmth toward Muslims, and present a parallel model assessing warmth ratings toward immigrants as a comparison. Finally, we present a series of growth curve models outlining the relative level and rate of change over time in warmth toward Muslims and other groups from 2012-2018. Results from these analyses indicate that over the 2012-2018 period, levels of warmth toward Muslims in New Zealand were comparatively low relative to warmth ratings of other groups. However, warmth toward Muslims has also been steadily but gradually increasing over time in New Zealand