Being Pākehā & Researching the Experiences of Māori Women and Weight Loss Surgery: On Ethics & Ethnography

Authors

  • Clare Joensen Massey University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11157/sites-id464

Keywords:

Embodied becoming, ethics of representation, Māori, Pākehā positionality, weight loss surgery

Abstract

This paper proposes that the positionality of Pākehā researchers wishing to learn from Māori, can be reimagined as an atmospheric inter-subjective space within which conversations can happen across difference and between commonalities. I outline my own reckoning as a Pākehā attempting to enter this field as a part of my MA research on Māori women’s experiences of weight loss surgery. I argue that a form of differential distancing, while holding onto an ethic of care, enables a form of academic inquiry that is less stymied by the politics of permission. This paper also proposes that ethical representation can be bolstered by staying close to the logics for living of our participants and conceptualising their narratives through ‘embodied becoming’. I argue that this multi-faceted approach enables ethnography which retrieves nuance and releases participants, to a degree, from discourses that primarily frame individuals as victims of the state.

Author Biography

Clare Joensen, Massey University

I recently graduated with an MA in Social Anthropology after completing my thesis entitled 'Being Big, Becoming Small: Conversations with Māori Women about Weight Loss Surgery' (2019). This research into the experiences of Māori women who had undergone weight loss surgery has sparked further interest in narrative research, learning from Māori and, through drawing on the Deleuzian work of João Biehl, exploring how nuance and differing trajectories for living can be represented in ethnography. I recently graduated with an MA in Social Anthropology after completing my thesis entitled Being Big, Becoming Small: Conversations with Māori Women about Weight Loss Surgery (2019). This research into the experiences of Māori women who had undergone weight loss surgery has sparked further interest in narrative research, learning from Māori and, through drawing on the Deleuzian work of João Biehl, exploring how nuance and differing trajectories for living can be represented in ethnography. I recently graduated with an MA in Social Anthropology after completing my thesis entitled Being Big, Becoming Small: Conversations with Māori Women about Weight Loss Surgery (2019). This research into the experiences of Māori women who had undergone weight loss surgery has sparked further interest in narrative research, learning from Māori and, through drawing on the Deleuzian work of João Biehl, exploring how nuance and differing trajectories for living can be represented in ethnography.

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Published

12-03-2021

How to Cite

Joensen, C. (2021). Being Pākehā & Researching the Experiences of Māori Women and Weight Loss Surgery: On Ethics & Ethnography. Sites: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.11157/sites-id464

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2020): General Issue

Section

Articles

License

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