This article reports research that set out to investigate men’s experiences at taiaha wānanga in Waitaha/ Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand, and whether those experiences helped to shape tāne Māori identity. There is a gap in our existing understanding of men’s experiences in this kaupapa, providing a unique opportunity to learn how mau taiaha has shaped participants’ lives. The strongest themes identified within the data include cultural disconnection and the search for tāne Māori identity, along with the role of taiaha wānanga in male identity construction.

There have been many attempts at measuring Māori identity and cultural engagement, yet there have been no scales created to specifically explore whanaungatanga. Whanaungatanga can be operationalised as active participation in and a sense of belonging to social groups and collective, reciprocal caring relationships. In this article, we document the development of a whanaungatanga scale alongside a measure of Māori identity.

How does cultural identity matter for Māori economic decision-making? Te Rangahau o Te Tuakiri Māori me Ngā Waiaro ā-Pūtea | The Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study (MIFAS) aims to address this question. The MIFAS is the first large-scale (n = 7,019) nationwide study of Māori aged 18 and over that aims to correlate personal cultural beliefs and practices to economic choices. This article describes the theoretical underpinnings of the MIFAS in identity economics and explains the process by which we have used Western methods and methodology to explicate the relationship between Māori identity and economic activity.

Pōwhiri has a long history and generates deeper meanings beyond the formal enactment of welcome. What happens when this ritual is transferred into contemporary environments, especially those beyond the traditional marae? In particular, how might the performance of this ritual as adapted to suit objectives beyond its ritual origins be seen, even so, to reconstruct and reinforce the sense of identity, communality and belonging—who we are and how we come together—that pōwhiri was evolved to engender? The act of performing pōwhiri itself creates a sense of marae—a kind of “virtual” or “alt-marae”— regardless of the actual setting.

Statistics from the New Zealand Electoral Commission (2013) show that only 55% of those who indicate they are of Māori descent are enrolled on the Māori electoral roll. In this paper, we aim to find the statistical predictors of being enrolled to vote on the Māori roll versus being enrolled on the general roll. We present two models analysing demographic and psychological aspects of people’s subjective identification as Māori to predict enrolment on the Māori roll. In model 1, demographic variables from participants of Māori ancestry involved in a national probability sample N=1,961) were analysed to predict enrolment on the Māori roll.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, the largest growing cohort of Māori engaging in tertiary education at degree level is mature Māori women. For most Māori beginning university there are consider­able challenges to achieving a university-level education and qualification. This paper reports on a study that used Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wāhine research approaches to give voice to five mature Māori women who shared aspects of their first year at university, highlighting the cul­tural dissonance they experienced and how they overcame the challenges they faced as students.

This article discusses original research conducted with Māori high school students in order to explore factors that motivate migration between particular identity positions. It presents the Māori identity migration model as a way of conceptualising the dynamic and diverse nature of urban Māori youth identities, and to allow for an analysis of the resources and threats available to urban Māori youth who occupy different identity spaces.