The research team of Tō mātou kāinga were lucky to have an amazing summer scholar join us for 10 weeks in January. Hannah brought fresh perspectives and talent to our team and has a growing passion for research and they're already making valuable contributions to our work. We're excited to share part of their journey and insights in this interview.
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ki te taha o tō mātou kuia
Ko Whetumatarau te maunga
Ko Awatere to awa
Ko Ngāti Porou te iwi
Ko Hinerupe te marae
Ki te taha o tō mātou koroua
Ko Ōkahuatiu te maunga
Ko Waikākāriki te awa
Ko Whānau-a-Kai te iwi
Ko Rongopai te marae
Ko Wī Pere te rangatira
My pāpā is also Pākehā (Danish, English), with whakapapa to Te Āti Awa. And my mother’s side has Scottish and Scandinavian whakapapa within it as well.
This is a photo of me and my immediate whānau at our recent whānau reunion in Te Araroa. There are hundreds of descendants from my kuia Anne, however this was our modest turn-out.
This summer, I had the chance to dive into a Whakauae research project exploring what "home" means to Māori. I was particularly interested in how these experiences link with policy and practice and the role of the government in determining whether Māori are housed or not and whether policies improve Māori wellbeing or put whānau Māori in harms way. Is government making room for Māori housing models or ignoring mātauranga Māori in housing altogether? We can improve economic, social, and health outcomes of Māori by challenging the status quo and using strong evidence-based policy. Participants have often spoken about how home is more than just a place, it's deeply personal, shaped by culture, tikanga, relationships, and life experiences.
For this project, I have been learning about reflexive thematic analysis, a method that is helping me interpret participants' narratives and experiences while reflecting on my own worldviews, perspectives and biases. Reflexive thematic analysis is a qualitative research method that focuses on identifying patterns in data while recognising the researcher's role in shaping interpretations. Reflexive thematic analysis is flexible and encourages critical reflection of one’s own positionality, which made it a perfect fit for exploring something as subjective as home. Being able to practice this analysis style has helped me to understand some of the complexities of qualitative research. Reflexive thematic analysis is intentional about the language used to describe and interpret data analysis, acknowledging that themes do not simply "emerge" from data but are reactively developed through interpretation. This has been a valuable learning experience for me as a student.
What does "home" mean to you? How has your understanding of home changed over time?
Home to me is a place that I will always be able to go back to, and will always be familiar with, no matter how long I spend away from it.
Home is where you know your whānau are, whether they're alive or gone, you can always visit them, share some time together and know they're at peace where they are.
Home to me is my whenua, all around te Tairāwhiti region; Manutuke, Waituhi, Tologa, Tokomaru, Te Araroa, and all the landmarks and unique qualities of those places.
Home is something that is always on my mind and heart, and gives me a sense of self and purpose, knowing that there are people there, and whenua there that needs service and manaaki and kaitiakitanga. And so I'll return for good eventually, and give back as much as I can to the place that raised me and the place I feel I belong.
My understanding of home has changed as I’ve grown up, as people have moved or passed on, as I myself have moved cities and formed new connections, leaving behind old ones. Home has also changed the more I’ve learned about it; its history, our whānau history (on both sides) and about the people who I’m connected to, that have lived there too.
How did reflexive thematic analysis shape your interpretation of the data? Did your own perspectives shift during the process?
Reflexive thematic analysis helped me to be aware of how my experience and perspective was coming into my interpretation of the data into codes. I became more aware of perspectives and experiences unfamiliar to me; such as housing precarity, the struggle of getting accessible housing, homelessness, experiences of whānau violence, state violence (such as uplifting pēpē), and the serious financial struggle that many stakeholders explained they’d witnessed, and which I myself have neither experienced nor witnessed. It has changed my perspective on how serious and immediate the issue of housing is for many tangata Māori and whānau Māori.
What was the most surprising or challenging part of analysing the data? How did you navigate uncertainty in qualitative research?
I found it challenging to interpret the meaning in some of the quotes, as I didn’t interview the stakeholders myself so don’t know the tone or body language of the participants, nor did I transcribe the interviews so I can’t read anything beyond words on the paper and my own interpretation (informed by reflexivity). I navigated this challenge by relying on our chosen analysis methodology, where meaning is subjective to the researcher, and therefore informed by my understanding and background, which will be acknowledged in any output from my analysis. I also navigated this through discussion with my tuakana, who from their own research experience using this analysis method, advised me to begin coding in detail to maintain coherence to the participants' words, before interpreting more into the data when theming, at a later point. I also found the sheer volume of data overwhelming, as well as some of the content given it’s out of my field (i.e. financial, design, architecture, health etc). I navigated the volume of data by using the pomodoro work method and going through the data in bits at a time. I navigated the unfamiliarity with some of the content by acknowledging the gaps I have, but approaching the data from my own lens (as informed by reflexive thematic analysis) and working to maintain the meaning of more technical terminology I didn’t recognise, rather than over-interpreting those bits of kōrero.
If you continued this research, what new questions would you explore? What aspects of home still feel unanswered?
I would like to explore the possibility of restoring more traditional ways of living (i.e. papakāinga housing models) in urban settings but also for people who want to live that way anywhere in the country – with people who may not all be related or who are away from their own hau kāinga – as a way of improving Māori wellbeing and health in urban settings/away from ‘home-as-whenua’.
I would like to write a policy paper using stakeholder data to advise government departments/agencies/kaimahi on how they could improve their systems for Māori.
I’d like to explore the idea of safety at home for whānau Māori, wāhine Māori, tāne Māori, tamariki Māori, as this to me should be a basic foundation for all, not a privilege, in the same way that housing should be a right for all Māori, and not a special privilege.
What does this mahi with our organisation mean for you?
Doing this mahi with Whakauae means a lot to me because the institute is fully Kaupapa Māori owned and operated and is an independent research organisation. My aspiration is to work in spaces like this where Māori can work together to do meaningful and impactful Kaupapa Māori research that assists and uplifts Māori communities, without the constraints that are put on us in other spaces such as non-Māori research institutes, universities, and government agencies or institutes.
It has meant I’ve been able to ‘be Māori’ in my approach to research on this project, including having time and space to write a creative output, and to go deeper into powerful themes like tino rangtiratanga and mana motuhake in housing and what that could look like. It’s emboldened my passion to work under the lens of Kaupapa Māori theory for future mahi and specifically now, for my master’s dissertation in sociology where I hope to explore the revitalisation of mana wāhine and mana tāne as strategies to resist micro and macro-level violence both from within and from outside our communities.
