Publication Date
January 2018

This general issue of MAI Journal, Volume 7, Issue 1 (2018) contains a number articles covering a diverse range of research areas including kaupapa Māori film theory and Māori resistance in film history, young parenthood from a Māori perspective. This general issue also includes a Themed Supplement with a particular focus on Whai Rawa: Research for Māori economies as well as two book reviews.

The lead article by Angela Moewaka Barnes, titled Kia manawanui: Kaupapa Māori film theoretical framework considers the ways in which elements of Kia Manawanui: Kaupapa Māori Film Theoretical Framework can be utilised to interrogate Māori film texts as well as film production. Importantly, the author emphasises that "in the predominantly Eurocentric field of film studies, Indigenous understandings are vital to elucidate and develop understandings about Indigenous media and representations of indigeneity more generally”

The second article in this issue is a co-authored piece by Felicity Ware, Mary Breheny and Margaret Forster titled Mana mātua: Being young Māori parents. The research presented in this article draws upon the voices and stories of young Māori parents to shed light on the strategies used to negotiate the space between Māori understandings about raising children and Western assumptions of positive parenting and young parenthood. 

The third article in this issue by Jani Katarina Taituha Wilson, titled Māori Resistance in New Zealand feature film history. This paper examines three distinctive examples of collective resistance by Māori in New Zealand film history to demonstrate the significance of resistance in the development of the film industry in Aotearoa. Overall the paper sheds light on how silence has been used by Māor as a powerful mechanism to protest and resist in New Zealand film history.

The co-authored commentary piece by Tyron Love, Jörg Finsterwalder and Alastair Tombs, titled Māori knowledge and consumer tribes is the first article in the themed supplement for volume 7(1) Whai Rawa – research for Māori economies. The paper considers the ways in which consumer research may benefit from stronger engagement with Māori ways of knowing. 

The second paper in the Whai Rawa themed supplement is titled Economy of Mana: Where to next? written by Kiri Dell, Nimbus Staniland, Amber Nicholson. This paper engages with the concept of mana within the context of traditional Māori economies to develop a concept of an "economy of mana". Taking a future focus, the authors propose that visualising economic progression through an economy of mana framework will help develop alternative economies which will serve Māori moving forward.

The final paper in the Whai Rawa theme is co-authored by Maria Amoamo, Diane Ruwhiu and Lynette Carter and is titled Framing the Māori economy: The complex business of Māori business. This paper challenges the dominant Western/capitalist rational economic model and argues that a diverse economies framework for research and analysis will better enable the stories of Māori Small to Medium Enterprises to be represented in the Māori eonomy.

The next paper fits within the general issue and is titled An iwi homeland: Country of the heart. This paper was written by Adreanne Ormond and Johanna Ormond alongside the people of Rongomaiwāhine from Māhia Peninsula. The research presented in this article draws upon qualitative interviews with iwi members from Rongomaiwāhine to explore the notion of an iwi homeland.

The final article in this issue is co authored by Jessica Hutchings, Jo Smith, Garth Harmsworth and is titled Elevating the mana of soil through the Hua Parakore Framework. In this paper, the authors make the assertion that "...understanding soil as a living, breathing entity – as Hine-ahu-one – with all the kaitiaki obligations attached to such recognition, is the next step that must be taken in building a national strategy around soil health, a step perhaps as revolutionary as those taken to acknowledge the personhood of Te Urewera and Whanganui River."

MAI Journal 2018, Volume 7, Issue 1 ends with two book reviews. The first is a review of Carwyn Jones' book New Treaty, new tradition: Reconciling New Zealand and Māori law by Katharina Ruckstuhl and the second is a review of Dominic O'Sullivan's recent title  Indigeneity: A politics of potential by Moana Jackson.

Articles in this issue
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.1
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.2
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.3
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.4
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.5
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.6
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.7
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.8
Article type
Author(s)
DOI
10.20507/MAIJournal.2018.7.1.10