Confirmation of Candidature - PhD - Toni Torepe

Cultural taxation: Cultural Myth or Workplace Reality?

Abstract

For many years the New Zealand Government has developed and focused national policies on improving the education outcomes of Māori students in both compulsory and post compulsory sectors. However, little has been done to examine the workplace reality of Māori teachers and academics. Given the role of our educators to fulfil these Crown policies we have a responsibility to support these key stakeholders and foster positive workplace environments for contemporary Māori academics in the 20th Century.

Having worked in mainstream tertiary institutions for a number of years I have witnessed and personally experienced the additional responsibilities and roles that are solely placed on Māori academics. This ‘cultural taxation’ (Padilla, 1994) is often centred on cultural customs, the upskilling of non-Māori academics, and representing the ‘Māori voice’ on faculty committees, research teams and interview panels. The concept of additional cultural expectations is not unique, nor limited, to a New Zealand context. Research in Australia, Canada and the United States has also highlighted similar experiences for Indigenous, faculty of colour, and ethnic minority academics working in traditional Eurocentric tertiary institutions. Given the dearth of literature in a national context coupled with my own experiences and those of my colleagues I am drawn to this topic of research in an attempt to gain an understanding of the degree in which Māori academics are affected by cultural taxation.

This study will utilise an indigenous knowledge framework and methodology. More specifically I will utilise the mechanics of a kaupapa Māori research methodology, a localised New Zealand framework, to underpin this research project. This framework will naturally influence how the data is gathered, analysed and interpreted. It will influence the questions I ask and how I approach and interact with those involved in the research.

Date Thursday 23 June 2016

Time 2pm to 4pm

Location Social Science Building 24 Room 302 St Lucia Campus

Panel: Associate Professor Gloria Dall’Alba and Dr Louise Phillips

Principal Advisor: Dr Eileen Honan

Associate Advisor/s: Associate Professor Liz Mackinlay