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.

Downloads

Published

12-03-2021

Issue

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

Section

Articles

License

Copyright © in this published form is held by Sites: New Series, Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa New Zealand, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Individual readers and non-profit libraries acting for them, are permitted to print or download a single copy of an article without charge for use in research or teaching. Permitted use includes providing a link to an article, or hosting a PDF article in online Learning Management Systems or E-Reserve Systems for authorised users. A single article may be used in print or online Course Packs. Interlibrary loan is permitted. New Zealand Copyright Law and Copyright Licensing New Zealand Education Licence provisions apply. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works or for resale. For such uses, written permission is required. Write to the Editor: sites@otago.ac.nz

How to Cite

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