The impacts of racism are felt unevenly within and between communities. Structures that perpetuate inequality disadvantage Indigenous and minoritised ethnic groups in different ways, while privileging white ethnic groups and some socio-economically advantaged minority communities or segments of communities. These complex and varied inequalities can generate division between communities even when there are shared circumstances, experiences of racism, and/or geographical co-location. Projects in the Whanaungatanga: Intergroup Relations theme focus on building alternative community relations and solidarities across racial difference to create empowering responses to challenge racism.
Inter-ethnic Racisms and New Exclusions
Inter-ethnic Racisms and New Exclusions is a qualitative PhD research project that focuses on inter-minority ethnic relationships in New Zealand. Broadly, the project explores (a) constructions and representations of ‘minorities by minorities’; (b) the prevalence of historic and cultural contexts in framing these representations, and ensuing relationships; and (c) the implications of these values for social and political cohesion in the NZ context.
The Psychological Impacts of the Christchurch Terror Attacks
The Christchurch terror attacks and the increase in overt Islamophobia that followed have forced many Muslims in Aotearoa New Zealand to reassess their sense of safety, identity and belonging. A PhD research project into The Psychological Impacts of the Christchurch Terror Attacks explores the overall impacts of the attacks on Muslim rangatahi, with a particular focus on mental well-being.
Ethical Remembering
Historical narratives – sung in chorus, shaped in stone, or described in school curricula – often function to normalise unequal social relations between racialised groups. In settler colonies, state narratives obscure colonial violence, which (if acknowledged at all) is minimised and located in a distant past. This project on Ethical Remembering focuses on difficult and contested histories that force us to reconsider the colonial racism of our past and present.
Tangata Moana - Connecting Peoples of the Pacific
This project will explore the settler-colonial racialisation of peoples of Te Moana nui a Kiwa (loosely the Pacific Ocean) through thought space wānanga; and provide training opportunities for Moana peoples to learn about shared ancestry and cultural heritage in order to deconstruct racist discourses, unpack colonial binaries, and strengthen Tangata Moana relations.