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Co-designed research is gaining prominence within the health care space. Community engagement is a key premise of co-design and is also particularly vital when carrying out kaupapa Māori research. Kaupapa Māori describes a “by Māori, for Māori” approach to research in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This article discusses the research process of Hā Ora: a co-design project underpinned by a kaupapa Māori approach. The objective was to explore the barriers to early presentation and diagnosis of lung cancer, barriers identified by Māori. The team worked with four rural Māori communities, with whom we aimed to co-design local interventions that would promote earlier diagnosis of lung cancer. This article highlights and unpacks the complexities of carrying out community- engaged co-design with Māori who live in rural communities. In particular, we draw attention to the importance of flexibility and adaptability in the research process. We highlight issues pertaining to timelines and budgets, and also the intricacies of involving co-governance and advisory groups. Overall, through this article, we argue that health researchers need to prioritise working with and for participants, rather than on them, especially when working with Māori communities.

The majority of Indigenous health models do not directly acknowledge that health is a contested political space. Providing a Foucauldian analysis, this article suggests a function of biopower is to naturalise discourses such as the poor Māori health statistic to appear based on factual evidence and thus are apolitical. Employing Foucault's triad of power 'sovereign, disciplinary and biopower' to understand the genealogy of Māori health, this article proffers mana motuhake (Māori political self-governance) as an appropriate health analytic because it, first, identifies Indigenous health as political and, second, because it recognises the disempowering role that colonialism has played in relation to Māori biopolitical self-governance. Hence, we suggest Māori health will be enhanced by mana motuhake and that research underpinned by Indigenous agency and self-governance resists biopower. The article references two Ageing Well National Science Challenge funded research projects because they innovatively fundamentalise mana motuhake and politics to Indigenous health.

Health inequities experienced by kaumātua (older Māori) in Aotearoa, New Zealand, are well documented. Examples of translating and adapting research into practice that identifies ways to help address such inequities are less evident. The study used the He Pikinga Waiora (HPW) implementation framework and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to explore promising co-design and implementation practices in translating an evidence-based peer-education programme for older Māori to new communities.

Developing equitable marine management systems that recognise Indigenous worldviews, values, and practices, alongside international initiatives such as Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) are paramount in countries which aim to recognise Indigenous rights. This is the case for New Zealand (NZ) where Indigenous-Māori rights to partner with the Government for the purpose of environmental management were guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi, 1840, and subsequent Acts (e.g. Resource Management Act, 1991). Our aim was to explore how both Indigenous-Māori and NZ societal values can be integrated into a marine co-management decision-making framework. Here we describe the Waka-Taurua (double-canoe) framework, and how it can be applied in developing a NZ marine management system (NZ-MMS), which includes both kaitiakitanga (a Māori concept of reciprocal care between Indigenous-Māori people and their territorial environment), and EBM, equitably. We argue that the Waka-Taurua framework can improve how marine co-management systems are developed by facilitating a more structured and equitable discussion of both Indigenous-Māori and broader societal worldviews, values, and practices.

This research hypothesized that respondents who have a good understanding of Matauranga Maori (Maori knowledge) are those with a secure cultural identity and are more likely to be concerned with the environment. A quantitative survey was carried out using two separate samples drawn from the Maori population; one from the general Maori population (N=331) in the city of Auckland and the other from a sub-tribe (N=61) whose traditional land has been encompassed by Auckland City. The responses from the survey presented a consistent environmental concern attitude across both samples and challenge a priori assumptions. The meaningfulness of a Maori cultural identity (MCI) measure to represent Matauranga Maori perspectives of the environment is discussed. The conclusion from the findings is that cultural identity is much more complex than an ordinal number and that caution should be used when employing the MCI measure.

Freshwater environments are challenged by multiple pressures from all parts of society, as well as contests over ownership and availability as a public or private resource. In many parts of the world, indigenous peoples are one part of society asserting rights in relation to water and advocating for the inclusion of indigenous knowledge within policy frameworks. Aotearoa New Zealand provides a fascinating case study of efforts to demonstrate the value and utility of indigenous knowledge (mātauranga Māori) in addressing contemporary issues of freshwater management. National policy statements for freshwater now recognize the role of Māori communities in decision-making and acknowledge the potential for mātauranga Māori to inform the management of freshwater. In a regional context, treaty settlements have resulted in specific provisions for tribal (iwi) consultation and engagement, and the formulation of iwi management plans that will underpin freshwater management into the future. The New Zealand experience illustrates the challenges of integrating different value sets and knowledge traditions as part of the governance and management regime. We argue that “post-normal” science provides a theoretical basis for problem-solving complex issues related to science and indigenous knowledge based on the notion that uncertainty, value loading, and the plurality of legitimate perspectives are an integral part of the context for policy making, particularly for the natural environment.

This commentary reflects upon the major Māori land reforms in te Ture Whenua Māori Bill (2016). The reforms implement more bureaucracy and replace some mechanisms used by the Māori Land Court to protect against Māori land loss. The Waitangi Tribunal, which has dealt with Māori grievances over land loss for over 30 years, issued a critical report in March 2016 along with recommendations about the reforms. That report was largely ignored by the New Zealand Government. This commentary contains a review of the literature on Māori land to date, as it helps to understand the ideas behind the Tribunal's report as well as the reforms. There is also an examination of the main points made by the Waitangi Tribunal, as well as aspects of te Ture Whenua Māori Bill (2016). The overall conclusion is that the Māori people should be very nervous about the reforms for their lands.

This article explains that the concept of citizenship for Maori in New Zealand has evolved. The 'Native Rights Act 1865' declared all Maori to be subjects of the Crown. This implication then justified the confiscation of lands in the 1860s from those Maori deemed to be disloyal to the Crown. By the beginning of the twentieth century, politicians began to use the concept of citizenship to force Maori to fight in World War I. In the mid-twentieth century, the Maori politician Apirana Ngata used the term 'price of citizenship' to gain social and political rights for all Maori, as a result of the efforts of Maori soldiers fighting as New Zealand citizens in World War II.

Despite the growing political and economic importance of iwi in New Zealand, little attention has been given to their changing demography. Using data from the New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings, we analyse the growth trajectories of four iwi - Ngāi Tahu, Waikato, Ngāti Awa and Tūhoe - between 1991 and 2006. We find a great deal of variation in iwi growth between censuses and over the entire focal period. In most instances, iwi birth cohorts increased rather than decreased in size, and gains from “new” members were especially marked among children, the middle-aged and women. The findings confirm the importance of accounting for non-demographic factors when projecting and planning for future iwi population growth.

He tuhinga tēnei hei whakamārama i te whakatewhatewhatanga i ngā raru o ngā kaipupuri whenua kei ngā whenua tarahiti. Arā noa atu ngā hua kei ngā whenua e takoto ana, heoi anō, arā noa atu ngā aupēhinga ka piri ki ngā whānau kia huihui rātau mō ō rātau whenua. Ko tēnei rangahau ka whai whakaaro mō ngā raru kei roto i ngā Taitara Whenua Māori. Me pēhea e taea ai te whakapakari i ngā hiahia o te whānau kia kore ai e warea te one tapu? 1.4666 miriona heketea o ngā whenua kei ngā ringa o Māori e pupuri ana. E hāngai ana tēnei ki te 5.5% o te katoa o Aotearoa. Ināianei, e 27,308 ngā Taitara whenua, e 2.7 miriona heketea ko taiapahia hei whenua takitahi. Koianei ka titiro ki ētahi raru i puta mai e pā ana ki ngā Kaipupuri Whenua, kei ngā kare ā-roto pea ētahi whakamārama.