About this research
PhD Candidate: Ashlea Gillon , Ngāti Awa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāiterangi
Primary Supervisor(s): Professor Tracey McIntosh, Tūhoe
Summary
How do fat Indigenous wāhine experience and enact body sovereignty (as resistance) within systems of oppression? AKA What does body sovereignty mean to you?
Fat Indigenous wāhine and our bodies are subject to multiple forms of discrimination. The ways in which fat Māori wāhine are re-presented as un(deserving), (un)well, (dis)eased, and (un)(re)liable perpetuate how (in)access is enabled for some groups and not others. Biopower and biopolitics maintain these systems of oppression by (over)/(under)surveilling, policing, and (re)inscribing bodies with expectations that are racialised, sexualized, and body sizest. This means that anything that does not conform to the upper end of the hierarchy is labelled deviant and treated as such. While coloniality unduly influences and shapes ‘normative’ meanings of bodies in everyday contexts, Mātauranga Māori conceptualisations of the body and fatness remain inscribed within te reo Māori and our Indigenous whanaungatanga with Papatūānuku, Hinemoana, and Hine-Nui-Te-Pō. These wisdoms provide alternative narratives to colonial systems’ (mis)interpretations of fat bodies. Recognising Indigenous sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga, mana (tinana/motuhake) are important in resistance in this re-conceptualisation and re-prioritisation of access and rights.
Select Outputs
Gillon, A. (Ngāti Awa., Ngāpuhi, Ngāiterangi), Keaulana-Scott, S. (Kānaka Māoli), K. W. (Ngāti Marutūāhu), Antonio, M. (Kānaka Māoli). (2023). Tautitotito – Kama‘ilio: Talking Story – health storytelling between relations. Ethical Space: International Journal of Communication Ethics, 2023(2/3). https://doi.org/10.21428/0af3f4c0.4d9a070b
Gillon, A., & Webber, M. (2023). Whiria Tū Aka: Conceptualizing Dual Ethnic Identities, Complexities, and Intensities. Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies, 2(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.5070/C82161752 Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3mg04662
Gillon, A., Le Grice, J., Webber, M., & McIntosh, T. (2022). Mana whenua, mana moana, mana tinana, mana momona. New Zealand Sociology, 37(1), 165–185. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.370455066991850
Gillon, A., (Ngāti Awa), A. (2020). Fat Indigenous Bodies and Body Sovereignty: An Exploration of Re-presentations. Journal of Sociology, 56(2), 213-228. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783319893506
Gillon, A & Pausé, Cat (2022) Kōrero Mōmona, Kōrero ā-Hauora: a Kaupapa Māori and fat studies discussion of fatness, health and healthism, Fat Studies, 11:1, 8-21, DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2021.1906525
How do fat Indigenous wāhine reclaim body sovereignty as a form of resistance? This research centred on the lived experiences of fat Māori wāhine, challenging colonial and biomedical narratives through the lens of mātauranga Māori. It reclaims tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake of the body, and reimagines access, wellbeing, and worth beyond systems of oppression.
Ētahi atu · Other projects
He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi: Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing. These groundbreaking works celebrate Māori futures rooted in kaupapa Māori values while fostering pathways for responsible relationships, meaningful lives, and flourishing Indigenous wellbeing economies. By emphasising the central role of whānau…
- Mana Touchstones
- Te Ahunga atu ki ngā Ōhanga Oranga Māori: Towards Māori Economies of Wellbeing
- He Rauhī Kupu
He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi: Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing
He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi: Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing. These groundbreaking works celebrate Māori futures rooted in kaupapa Māori values while fostering pathways for responsible relationships, meaningful lives, and flourishing Indigenous wellbeing economies. By emphasising the central role of whānau, these publications provide actionable insights and inspiration for transformative change in economic and cultural systems.
- Mana Touchstones
- Te Ahunga atu ki ngā Ōhanga Oranga Māori: Towards Māori Economies of Wellbeing
- He Rauhī Kupu
Kairangahau · Researchers
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Professor Chellie Spiller
Professor Chellie Spiller
Dr Chellie Spiller, of Matawhaiti Iwitea, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, is Professor of Management and Leadership, and Associate Dean Māori at the University of Waikato. She was previously a senior lecturer and Associate Dean Māori and Pacific at the University of Auckland Business School. She has over 30 years of corporate experience in tourism, finance and marketing, holding senior executive positions in New Zealand and abroad, and brings this experience to her academic work and leadership and management development programmes. Her research explores how Māori and indigenous businesses create… -
Professor Jarrod Haar
Professor Jarrod Haar
Professor Jarrod Haar (PhD) is a Professor of Human Resource Management in the Department of Management and has tribal affiliations of Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Mahuta. In 2018, Professor Haar was appointed as a Member of the Marsden Fund Council and is the Convenor of the Marsden Economics and Human Behavioural Sciences panel. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi (2020), a Research Fellow of the Australia & New Zealand Academy of Management (since 2012), and Chartered Fellow of the Human Resource Institute of New Zealand (HRINZ). He won the inaugural HRINZ HR… -
Professor John Reid
Professor John Reid
Professor John Reid is a researcher whose work focuses on the intersection of sustainability, indigenous knowledge systems, environmental governance, and technological innovation. Based within the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, his research brings together systems thinking, te ao Māori, and interdisciplinary science to address complex social, economic, and environmental challenges facing Indigenous communities and wider society. His work spans environmental management, regenerative land use, Māori economic development, and the governance of emerging technologies, with particular interests in… -
Professor Jason Paul Mika
Professor Jason Paul Mika
Jason Paul Mika Ko Ranginui e tū iho nei, ko Papatūānuku e takoto nei, ko te ira tangata kei waenganui i raro i te kaitiakitanga o ngā atua, o te manaakitanga o te Runga Rawa. Tīhei mauri ora! Ko Ngāi Tūhoe, ko Ngāti Awa, ko Te Whakatōhea, ko Ngāti Kahungunu ōku iwi. Ko Jason Mika ahau. I was born in Whakatāne and raised mainly in Rotorua. In November 2024, I was fortunate join Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland as a Professor of Māori Management and Associate Dean Māori in He Manga Tauhokohoko Auckland Business School. My research, teaching, writing, and practice centres on Māori and… -
Dr Matthew Rout
Dr Matthew Rout
Matt works on indigenous socio-economic development and environmental sustainability initiatives and projects with a focus on applied outcomes through theoretical synthesis. He has a particular interest in how philosophical insights from ontology and epistemology can be used in practical ways to aid indigenous development. Indigenous and modernist ontology and epistemology Institutional economics Postcolonial psychology Settler colonisation Sustainable development
This internship compiled a database of traditional Māori food preservation practices to better understand archaeological midden sites and mahinga kai history. Working with Otago’s SPAR team, the project links historical knowledge with contemporary preservation techniques across Aotearoa.
View projectInvestigating traditional mahinga kai practices of preservation throughout Aotearoa
This internship compiled a database of traditional Māori food preservation practices to better understand archaeological midden sites and mahinga kai history.
Working with Otago’s SPAR team, the project links historical knowledge with contemporary preservation techniques across Aotearoa.
PHD Candidate: Coral Wiapo (Ngati Whātua) Primary Supervisor(s): Dr Sue Adams Work is underway in Te Tai Tokerau to strengthen the Māori nursing workforce by supporting kaimahi to enter the nursing profession; and registered nurses to advance their scope of practice to become nurse prescribers or nurse practitioners (NPs). Improving access to healthcare for…
View projectAhakoa he iti, he pounamu: How do wahine Māori nurses utilise mātauranga Māori as a means to address health equity in Te Tai Tokerau?
Kairangahau · Researchers
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Dr Sue Adams
Dr Sue Adams