Estructura y Proceso de Planeación Comercial de una Compañía

This chapter explores the several dimensions that underpin Maori research in modem times and sets the parameters for the research conducted for this thesis. First it examines methodological perspectives and second, it discusses a range of ethical i ssues and the response of ethical committees to them. In both sections Ngakau Maori research is introduced as an extension of earlier research methods and an original contri bution to the Miiori research understandings.

For many years Maori were simply subjects for non-Maori researchers. Early anthropologists were fascinated by tribal life, rituals of encounters, material culture and the never ending search for Miiori origins. Later, social scientists from a range of discipl ines explored Maori well-being using non-Maori as the benchmark and inevitably conceptual ising Maori aspirations according to non-Maori values and ambitions. The assumptions were - perhaps still are - that Miiori could be understood by using the methodologies of western research and the same tools of inquiry that might be applied to any other group. Standard western methodologies were seen to transcend background, ethnicity, and culture and the researchers l i ved under the illusion that interaction with Maori required no particular skills other than those that could be masked by the cloak of objecti vity.

However, the shortcomings of research methods that purport to address the Maori condition but draw solely from western frameworks has long been seen as problematic. Ngata and B uck discussed this issue between themselves over many years of collegial correspondence and encouraged each other to research aspects of Maori culture and tradition, making use of insider knowledge and access to

information ( e.g. Sorrenson 1 988 :23 1 -243 ). But in more recent times it was

Ranginui Walker who drew attention to the inappropriateness of both western frameworks and western researchers to investigate the Maori situation. "To put the

matter succinctly it is difficult for those who are monocultural to analyse problems from a bicultural point of view" (Walker 1 97 3 : 1 1 2).

The Pakeha majori ty who dominate the decision making positions with i n New Zealand society make many decisions on behalf o f the minority. If those decisions are to be effective then they need to be made within the total social context of bicu lturalism and not from a single cultural frame of reference. (Walker 1 974:54)

A new generation of Maori academics has continued the debate In education and allied disciplines, but it was in the field of health that the introduction of a Maori framework significantly changed the way theory, research, policy and practice could be advanced.

The Whare Tapa Wha framework dev ised by Mason Durie drew on key Maori concepts of health. It was first presented to a 1 982 conference in Hamilton to begin the Waikato stage of the Maori Women 's Welfare League research project Rapuora (Durie, M . 1 994). The framework legitimated the role of the League as researchers i n their own right and ignited Maori communities to exam i ne their own health status and take action to i mplement strategies for progress. The Whare Tapa Wha framework was adopted j ust as quickly by Maori health professionals looking to build on the ideas, and it appeared in a Health Department B u l letin as well as providing the background for an i ntroduction to a Hui on Maori health, Hui Whakaoranga. About the same time Rose Pere (Ako, 1 982) had prepared a monograph about concepts of learning in traditional Maori communities, a reminder of another body of knowledge that might contribute to contemporary Maori learning and teaching needs. In a similar vein, after meeting w ith officials from the Department of Maori Affairs to further "Science Plans," Evelyn S tokes from the Social Sciences Committee of the National Research Advisory Council prepared a discussion paper on w hat was referred to as a 'Miiori Research Perspective ' ( 1 985). Again the focus was on the utilisation of key Maori values in research and practice.

If these three initiatives are considered together, it can be seen that they all had significant impact well beyond the circumstances of the initial presentation. The Durie framework had its i mmediate effect on Maori communities and professionals as

well as on the national Maori organisation, the lvfaari Wamens ' Welfare League and the research hui where it was presented. The ideas in the framework spread further through subsequent hui on Maori health and research held in and around the Manawatu and Horowhenua in the early 1 980' s and subsequently Te Whare Tapa

Wha was embraced widely as a model of health. Aka was an academic publication

that legitimated a space for the Maori academic community to include among its theoretical approaches a powerful Miiori concept for learning and teaching. Teaching professionals could benefit from the work, drawing from it major implications for pedagogy and critique of existing methods. The paper developed by Evelyn Stokes ( 1 985 : 1 ), was timely given the undertakings by the Labour government of the day to ex.amine the question of Maori economic development and the need for better research to inform government pol icy.

These contributions which all appeared in the early 1 980s, introduced Maori thought and values i nto research and academic arenas and gave a concerted push to the evolving Miiori research movement. For Miiori they signalled a sense of return of cultural sovereignty, a view from within rather than without, using intuitive and taken-for-granted insights that were beyond anthropological claims to interpretation. In each field Ma.ori were taking control over discourses about Maori, thus giving a legitimation of the 'Maori voice ' .

The work of earlier writers w h o raised Maori philosophical issues and claimed a place for Maori thought in the everyday l ives of their people prepared the way for Maori analytical frameworks across a range of sectors including health, education, land, and social pol icy. For ex.ample, several of the chapters found in the 1 976 publication edited by Michael King, Te Aa Hurihuri, discuss a range of Maori concerns from a Maori view.

Many Maori are actively engaged in furthering Maori approaches to research and

" Maori theoretical foundations to inform practice. At Te Wananga a Raukawa, Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal has work that is centred around the ideas of Matauranga Maori and Whakapapa as a research methodology (Te Oru Rangahau, 1 998 :79-87). That work adds a greater dimension to the concepts of Maori epistem010gies and how they may be used. Chris Cunningham from the Maori S tudies Department at Massey

Uni versity, has attempted a typology of Maori research, identi fying what he sees as characteristics of each category i n use i n the broad field of Maori research. (Te Oru Rangahau, 1 998:394-405)

Linda S mith ( 1 999) has published a major text titled 'Decolonising lvlethodologies:

Research and Indigenous Peoples ' that calls for the decolonisation of research

methods. In her opening sentence she expresses the view that "from the vantage point of the colonised . . . the term 'research' is inextricably l inked to European imperialism and colonialism". (S mith,L.T. 1 999: 1 ) Both Linda and Graham S mith have classified their research approaches as Kaupapa Maori research and continue to build on this classification in their work. Mason Durie has built a range of research frameworks around a category he has classified as Maori centred research to single it out more clearly from more general Maori approaches to research. (Te Hoe Nuku Roa, 1 993) Undoubtedly the classificatory terms will grow as researchers find categories that more accurately represent the core of their particular work.

A range of categories have been distinguished within Maori research paradigms; the most general is the category of Kaupapa Maori research and there is some question as to w hether or not there is but one research paradigm evolving and whether this category captures the features of it. Regardless of the question, the growth is evident. Maori centred research methods arose in response to a need for a research paradigm to capture a Miiori reality, including lifestyle, patterns of thought, aspirations for the future, and a determination to retain a Maori identity.