Findings from a study of kaumātua in Ngātiwai and Waikato-Tainui
Associate Professor Marama Muru-Lanning (School of Social Sciences and the James Henare Māori Research Centre) and her team have been recognised for creating new methodologies drawing on kaupapa Māori and social anthropology. The team includes the Suzanne Woodward from the PPI, and works on making Vision Mātauranga a reality. The Centre’s co-designed research, which focuses on equity and social justice, describes the worlds of kaumātua and includes their voice to inform health, social and environmental policy. They are currently working on a significant study with kaumātua and kuia in Tai Tokerau, Waikato and Tauranga Moana.
This report presents key findings from a Health Research Council funded qualitative study of kaumātua (Māori elders), aged in their early sixties to late eighties, from Ngātiwai and Waikato-Tainui iwi during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The project was co-designed between researchers from the James Henare Māori Research Centre, University of Auckland and kaumātua researchers from the participating communities. Zoom interviews were conducted with 23 kaumātua over a six-week period during May and June 2020, at a time when Aotearoa/New Zealand was emerging from a five-week lockdown into a period of reduced alert levels that retained some restrictions.
Read the full report here (PDF)
