The idea of kanohi ki te kanohi is an important practice for Māori people and culture in that face-to-face engagement invokes physical and spiritual aspects of intimacy and connection. The title of this thesis is „Kanohi ki te kanohi – a thing of the past?‟ With the advent of SNS as a common and widely used form of communication and interaction, the thesis title poses a question which works to provoke discussion around the idea that this quintessentially Māori practice is in danger of falling into disuse, and what the implications of this change might be for the very fabric of Māori society. The fundamental question in this research is “How are SNS changing Māori practices of communication, socialising, identity, values and society?” Discourses, norms and practices around the use of SNS in relation to interactions amongst Māori, will be the central focus of the research that constitutes this thesis.
From this main question, four aims were designed to flesh out the impacts of SNS on kanohi ki te kanohi. These aims were established at the beginning of this research project in order to have some clear objectives and direction as to what would be explored. The aims were loosely defined and acknowledged that the data would inform, shape and mould them as the project progressed. The aims have largely remained the same throughout the project and have provided a stable foundation from which specific research questions and interview questions were designed and produced to draw out related data.
The aims of the research are to;
2. Compare ideas of online and offline whakawhanaungatanga45 and how social networking technologies are fostering or hindering the cultural concept of whakawhanaungatanga
3. Develop an understanding on the construction of rangatahi Māori self- image/individual identity and cultural identity within a Māori context and in relation to geographical locations of these rangatahi and their access to cultural knowledge
4. Explore the advantages and disadvantages of Māori cultural values being practised online and how that impacts on the physical space of practice and kanohi ki te kanohi
These aims provide the basis of the thesis and corresponding data chapters, cumulatively contributing to a discussion about the importance of kanohi ki te kanohi in the context of the marae, its function and its roles.
The Social Networking Project
This PhD study is part of a larger three-year Marsden-funded research project entitled, „The Social Networking Project‟ (MAU 015). The larger project involves seven primary investigators (from Victoria University of Wellington, Massey University, the University of Bath, UK and the University of New Hampshire, USA). The team also consists of three PhD students (including myself, a Pākehā woman and a Samoan woman – each looking at their own ethnic groups) two Masters students, and an honours student. The central aim of the wider research project is to provide in-depth understandings of young adult New Zealanders‟ cultures of identity, celebrity and alcohol use and the roles that new media technologies play in these
contexts. More specifically, the Social Networking Project investigates (Lyons, 2010):
The ways in which young adults are actively creating and negotiating identities within a globalised culture of celebrity and self-branding.
The interface of commercial and personal practices and the implications arising from the elision of these domains.
How these identities are produced and performed through specific drinking (alcohol) practises, drinking cultures, and the public display of drinking experiences.
The roles that new social networking technologies play in these processes.
As part of the wider research project, I was tasked with conducting interviews with a Māori ethnic sample of youth aged between 18 and 25 years, from across the country with a wide spread of residence and gender balance. As with the two other PhD projects in the programme, these data were collected in individual and focus group interviews that I conducted and were used for both the PhD and Marsden research aims. This contribution to the wider research project enabled primary investigators to have a good spread of youth perspectives from three main ethnic backgrounds that informed and enabled investigation of many of their aims around alcohol, youth and SNS. The primary investigators for the project are completing articles and presentations alongside PhD, Masters and Honours students and provide meaningful contributions to this area of inquiry (McCreanor et al., 2013; Tonks, 2012).
In addition to the materials for the joint Marsden and PhD interests, I gathered two databases designed to complement the interviews with rangatahi Māori. I carried out an online survey of SNS use by Māori who have lived outside Aotearoa for 12
months or more and also two case studies of the issues around Internet use from two iwi. These data have been used throughout the thesis to ensure a diversity of perspectives on Māori use of Internet technologies.