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.
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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.
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