{"id":{"repo_id":"cambridge","oai_identifier":"oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/388853"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cambridge/oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/388853","repository":{"repo_id":"cambridge","name":"Cambridge University","base_url":"https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Story Weavers: Collective Counter-Story Sharing and Māori women’s experiences with Crown education, healthcare, and criminal justice systems","abstract":"This thesis asks what Māori women’s stories tell about the ways in which harm is perpetuated through the state-run healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. By engaging with multiple forms of storytelling ranging from pūrākau to personal narratives this study centres those stories often minimised or hidden behind statistics. One of the study’s main contributions is the methodologies for gathering narrative data and how women’s stories frame and contextualise the issues of coloniality, racism, and misogyny in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Adding to the existing models of anti-colonial theory, and inspired by Aníbal Quijano’s colonial matrix of power, this research develops a theoretical framework grounded in the imagery of an interwoven net. This concept of a net bridges the gap between the expansive view provided by Quijano’s colonial matrix of power and the individualistic perspective highlighted by intersectionality theory, focusing on narrative and community. Further, this study contributes to the expanding library of decolonial, feminist research methodologies through the development of collective counter-story sharing as a methodology for both data collection and analysis. This thesis is broken into seven chapters. The first positions my research question and positionality in the contexts of Aotearoa’s colonial history as well as the relationships between research and Māori and Indigenous people. Chapter Two details the theoretical frameworks with on which this study is grounded, along with an introduction of my interwoven net theory. This image of a net of coloniality becomes a basis for how I show the interactions between different forms of coloniality as well as how coloniality shows up in each state-run system. In Chapter Three I elucidate the various methodologies with which I engaged throughout this study and bring in my methodology of collective counter-story sharing as a way to focus not only on individual narratives but also understand how multiple narratives interact to create clearer perspectives. This methodology also creates a relational connection between story sharers and story witnesses. Chapter Three through Six utilise Māori women’s narratives to critically assess how the racism and sexism endemic to the colonial experience serves to perpetrate ongoing harm against Māori people in the healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. These chapters then expand on how that harm adds to the burden of care that Māori women carry. Finally, Chapter Seven serves to draw together threads of women’s stories, thrivance, and oppression that are carried through this study. This chapter also further elaborates upon the uses of the two concepts I introduce to the field: The interwoven net theory and collective counter-story sharing. Additionally, Chapter Seven identifies limitations and areas for further study. In response to my research question, I found through this study that the process of hearing narratives, particularly those shared in collective spaces offers increased nuance and understanding of the specific roadblocks that prevent Māori women from seeking support or care from Crown government systems. The narratives shared with me identified a pattern not only of neglect, but also of abuse and minimisation. They also show spaces of resistance, ingenuity, and community building; aspects which can be invisibilised in quantitative data.","abstract_html":"This thesis asks what Māori women’s stories tell about the ways in which harm is perpetuated through the state-run healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. By engaging with multiple forms of storytelling ranging from pūrākau to personal narratives this study centres those stories often minimised or hidden behind statistics. One of the study’s main contributions is the methodologies for gathering narrative data and how women’s stories frame and contextualise the issues of coloniality, racism, and misogyny in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Adding to the existing models of anti-colonial theory, and inspired by Aníbal Quijano’s colonial matrix of power, this research develops a theoretical framework grounded in the imagery of an interwoven net. This concept of a net bridges the gap between the expansive view provided by Quijano’s colonial matrix of power and the individualistic perspective highlighted by intersectionality theory, focusing on narrative and community. Further, this study contributes to the expanding library of decolonial, feminist research methodologies through the development of collective counter-story sharing as a methodology for both data collection and analysis. This thesis is broken into seven chapters. The first positions my research question and positionality in the contexts of Aotearoa’s colonial history as well as the relationships between research and Māori and Indigenous people. Chapter Two details the theoretical frameworks with on which this study is grounded, along with an introduction of my interwoven net theory. This image of a net of coloniality becomes a basis for how I show the interactions between different forms of coloniality as well as how coloniality shows up in each state-run system. In Chapter Three I elucidate the various methodologies with which I engaged throughout this study and bring in my methodology of collective counter-story sharing as a way to focus not only on individual narratives but also understand how multiple narratives interact to create clearer perspectives. This methodology also creates a relational connection between story sharers and story witnesses. Chapter Three through Six utilise Māori women’s narratives to critically assess how the racism and sexism endemic to the colonial experience serves to perpetrate ongoing harm against Māori people in the healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. These chapters then expand on how that harm adds to the burden of care that Māori women carry. Finally, Chapter Seven serves to draw together threads of women’s stories, thrivance, and oppression that are carried through this study. This chapter also further elaborates upon the uses of the two concepts I introduce to the field: The interwoven net theory and collective counter-story sharing. Additionally, Chapter Seven identifies limitations and areas for further study. In response to my research question, I found through this study that the process of hearing narratives, particularly those shared in collective spaces offers increased nuance and understanding of the specific roadblocks that prevent Māori women from seeking support or care from Crown government systems. The narratives shared with me identified a pattern not only of neglect, but also of abuse and minimisation. They also show spaces of resistance, ingenuity, and community building; aspects which can be invisibilised in quantitative data.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wong, Shaaroni"],"institution":"University of Cambridge","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Desai, Manali","Blell, Mwenza"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-09-30","date_published":"2024-09-30","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:54Z","subjects":["Coloniality","Colonisation","Criminal Justice","Decolonisation","Education","Gender","Healthcare","Indigenisation","Maori","Narrative","Race","Women"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/7c1ef315-68d7-4513-babd-ee9062a35743/download","http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121026","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.doi"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Desai, Manali","Blell, Mwenza"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Wong, Shaaroni"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2024-09-30"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cambridge"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/388853"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Coloniality","Colonisation","Criminal Justice","Decolonisation","Education","Gender","Healthcare","Indigenisation","Maori","Narrative","Race","Women"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/7c1ef315-68d7-4513-babd-ee9062a35743/download","http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121026"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/eee1c968-0958-4bd0-bc50-d8861a039197/download"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis asks what Māori women’s stories tell about the ways in which harm is perpetuated through the state-run healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. 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Further, this study contributes to the expanding library of decolonial, feminist research methodologies through the development of collective counter-story sharing as a methodology for both data collection and analysis. This thesis is broken into seven chapters. The first positions my research question and positionality in the contexts of Aotearoa’s colonial history as well as the relationships between research and Māori and Indigenous people. Chapter Two details the theoretical frameworks with on which this study is grounded, along with an introduction of my interwoven net theory. This image of a net of coloniality becomes a basis for how I show the interactions between different forms of coloniality as well as how coloniality shows up in each state-run system. In Chapter Three I elucidate the various methodologies with which I engaged throughout this study and bring in my methodology of collective counter-story sharing as a way to focus not only on individual narratives but also understand how multiple narratives interact to create clearer perspectives. This methodology also creates a relational connection between story sharers and story witnesses. Chapter Three through Six utilise Māori women’s narratives to critically assess how the racism and sexism endemic to the colonial experience serves to perpetrate ongoing harm against Māori people in the healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. These chapters then expand on how that harm adds to the burden of care that Māori women carry. Finally, Chapter Seven serves to draw together threads of women’s stories, thrivance, and oppression that are carried through this study. This chapter also further elaborates upon the uses of the two concepts I introduce to the field: The interwoven net theory and collective counter-story sharing. Additionally, Chapter Seven identifies limitations and areas for further study. In response to my research question, I found through this study that the process of hearing narratives, particularly those shared in collective spaces offers increased nuance and understanding of the specific roadblocks that prevent Māori women from seeking support or care from Crown government systems. The narratives shared with me identified a pattern not only of neglect, but also of abuse and minimisation. 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The first positions my research question and positionality in the contexts of Aotearoa’s colonial history as well as the relationships between research and Māori and Indigenous people. Chapter Two details the theoretical frameworks with on which this study is grounded, along with an introduction of my interwoven net theory. This image of a net of coloniality becomes a basis for how I show the interactions between different forms of coloniality as well as how coloniality shows up in each state-run system. In Chapter Three I elucidate the various methodologies with which I engaged throughout this study and bring in my methodology of collective counter-story sharing as a way to focus not only on individual narratives but also understand how multiple narratives interact to create clearer perspectives. This methodology also creates a relational connection between story sharers and story witnesses. Chapter Three through Six utilise Māori women’s narratives to critically assess how the racism and sexism endemic to the colonial experience serves to perpetrate ongoing harm against Māori people in the healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems. These chapters then expand on how that harm adds to the burden of care that Māori women carry. Finally, Chapter Seven serves to draw together threads of women’s stories, thrivance, and oppression that are carried through this study. This chapter also further elaborates upon the uses of the two concepts I introduce to the field: The interwoven net theory and collective counter-story sharing. Additionally, Chapter Seven identifies limitations and areas for further study. In response to my research question, I found through this study that the process of hearing narratives, particularly those shared in collective spaces offers increased nuance and understanding of the specific roadblocks that prevent Māori women from seeking support or care from Crown government systems. The narratives shared with me identified a pattern not only of neglect, but also of abuse and minimisation. They also show spaces of resistance, ingenuity, and community building; aspects which can be invisibilised in quantitative data."],"dc:format.checksum.md5":["902f134f8c250a2fa0540453c2a18c78","87eda9de84448d1f82354d60eee3eb5f"],"dc:identifier.doi":["https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121026"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/eee1c968-0958-4bd0-bc50-d8861a039197/download"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cambridge"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/388853"],"dc:rights":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/7c1ef315-68d7-4513-babd-ee9062a35743/download","http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"],"dc:subject":["Coloniality","Colonisation","Criminal Justice","Decolonisation","Education","Gender","Healthcare","Indigenisation","Maori","Narrative","Race","Women"],"dc:title":["The Story Weavers: Collective Counter-Story Sharing and Māori women’s experiences with Crown education, healthcare, and criminal justice systems"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:54Z"}