Older New Zealand Women Doing the Work of Christmas: A Recipe for Identity Formation

2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Wright-St Clair ◽  
Clare Hocking ◽  
Wannipa Bunrayong ◽  
Soisuda Vittayakorn ◽  
Phuonjai Rattakorn
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Family Rituals ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Chiang Mai ◽  
Public Recognition ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Family Identities ◽  
Group Interviews

‘Christmas, because it is rather a sentimental time you tend to look for the familiar and go back into what you remember in your childhood.’ In the process of preparing family favourites or trying exciting new foods at Christmas, older New Zealand women construct self and family identities. This paper presents the New Zealand findings from an interpretive, multi-site research project exploring older women's experiences of food occupations at Christmas in Auckland, New Zealand, and Kentucky, USA and Songkran (the tradition Thai New Year) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Narrative data were collected through focus group interviews with 16 New Zealand women, aged 65 years or over. Talk about recipes and kitchen things used, and how the foods are prepared and served revealed layers of identity work. While recipes from, and stories about, mothers’ and grandmothers’ homemade cooking are kept alive through doing the food work at Christmas, being a women in contemporary New Zealand allowed new identities to emerge. Identity as a family unit is formed and reformed over time by blending cultural and family traditions and remaking new ones through Christmas foods and family rituals. Significantly, the women's skilled preparation and customising of recipes for Christmas foods creates a rich opportunity for self-affirmation and public recognition. For these older women, the gift of Christmas food was like giving something of themselves.

scholarly journals “Just Be Strong, You Will Get through It” a Qualitative Study of Young Migrants’ Experiences of Settling in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1292
Author(s):  
Enoka De Jacolyn ◽  
Karolina Stasiak ◽  
Judith McCool
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Inductive Method ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Acculturation Process ◽  
Migrant Youth ◽  
Support Seeking ◽  
New Beginnings ◽  
Group Interviews

Migration, when it occurs during adolescence, is particularly challenging as it coincides with a myriad of other developmental and social changes. The present study set out to explore recent young migrants’ experiences of settling in New Zealand. The qualitative study aimed to identify areas of particular challenge, examples of resilience and new insights into the acculturation process. Focus group interviews were conducted with migrant youth aged 16–19 from three urban secondary schools in Auckland The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed using a general inductive method. Key themes centered on new beginnings, confronting new realities, acceptance, support seeking and overcoming challenges. Young migrants in this study shared similar challenges during the early post-migration period. They were often faced with additional responsibility, being caught between two cultures while struggling with communication and language. However, they were able to draw on their own self-growth, gratitude, and social connections. This study provides an insight into experiences of young migrants in New Zealand, and offers suggestions for developing culturally relevant support to foster migrant youth wellbeing.

scholarly journals KAVA CONSUMPTION AND FAMILY VIOLENCE

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 303-310
Author(s):  
Malakai Ofanoa ◽  
Samuela Ofanoa
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Family Violence ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
The Family ◽  
Group Interviews

Kava drinking has become an intrinsic part of Tongan culture. It involves regular participation and high consumption of kava drink in kava clubs and other kava venues in Tonga and New Zealand. However, mounting evidence has indicated that the reasons for, and perceived effects of kava consumption are yet to be fully understood (Nosa and Ofanoa, 2009, Ofanoa, 2010). A qualitative study to explore the issues related with Tongan men abusing kava consumption was conducted in Tonga and Auckland, New Zealand (Ofanoa, 2010).   The study used culturally safe, Pacific qualitative research approaches of Kakala (Thaman, 1997) and Talanga (Ofanoa, 2010) to obtain information related to the issue. There were focus group interviews conducted with a convenience sample of 104 Tongan men across 5 kava clubs each in Tonga and Auckland, New Zealand. The analysis of the focus group interviews in both places involved a general inductive approach.   The findings reported that kava use is socially sanctioned and easily accessible in both countries.  Further, kava presents concerning health and social issues. It increases poor family relationships that leads to family violence. Usually the family violence happens after kava sessions. The Kava men sleep long hours; they spent a lot of their family income in Kava sessions and makes many excuses. Moreover, kava men are usually very lazy to work, and slow to recover in the next day. Hence, the poor wives usually shoulder everything in the family. In many instances, some of them behave violently and aggressively.  When such practices happen consistently, family violence starts, and many husbands physically abuse their wives. Evidently, one end up in the hospital with serious injuries or both husband and wife appear in court. The study concludes that Tongan men in both countries cannot continue to hide the truth that their abusive consumption of kava contributes to family violence. Hence, there is a tremendous need for urgent actions to prevent and minimize this practice. Further, since addressing the issue is sensitive and complex, a call for multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary effort with the Tongan society in both Tonga and New Zealand is required to minimize the risks and optimize the benefits of kava use.

“We are not privileged enough to have that foundation of language”: Pasifika young adults share their deep concerns about the decline of their ancestral/heritage languages in Aotearoa New Zealand

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-139
Author(s):  
Lina-Jodi Vaine Samu ◽  
Helen Moewaka Barnes ◽  
Lanuola Asiasiga ◽  
Tim McCreanor
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
National Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Group Interviews

Focus group interviews conducted with Aotearoa New Zealand–born Pasifika young adults aged 18–25 years highlighted their intense apprehension about the diminishing abilities of New Zealand–born Pasifika people to speak their ancestral/heritage Pasifika languages in Aotearoa. Some Pasifika languages are also declining at their homeland wellsprings. There has been no comprehensive strategic national language policy developed in New Zealand where Pasifika heritage and other community languages can flourish. New Zealand appears to default to a monocultural given where English prevails without critique. Minority languages are battling it out with each other for legitimacy of existence. Resulting from New Zealand’s failure to create a comprehensive languages strategy for all, younger generations of Pasifika neither have fluency in their ancestral languages which impact negatively on their identity security and their ability to attain critical fluency in English to thrive as their migrant parents and grandparents envisioned they would in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Cross-Cultural Understandings of Festival Food-Related Activities for Older Women in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Eastern Kentucky, USA and Auckland, New Zealand

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie A. Wright-St Clair ◽  
Doris Pierce ◽  
Wannipa Bunrayong ◽  
Phuanjai Rattakorn ◽  
Soisuda Vittayakorn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Chiang Mai ◽  
Eastern Kentucky

Exploring youth citizenship during COVID-19 lockdowns in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Mutch ◽  
Marta Estellés
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Youth Citizenship ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The City

The research presented in this article explores how young people in New Zealand exercised their citizenship during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Building upon the theoretical concepts of ‘actions’ and ‘acts of citizenship’, this qualitative study draws on data from the experiences of 30 young people aged over 16 in the city of Auckland. Data included classroom observations, focus group interviews, individual interviews and the sharing of student artefacts (e.g. posters and videos). The experiences of the participants covered a wide range of engagement in citizenship rights, sites, scales and acts. Our findings offered an alternative to prevailing portrayals of young people as either passive victims or self-centred troublemakers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lessons for citizenship education are discussed at the end of the article.

scholarly journals “And the Word was made flesh?” – Exploring young people’s situated learning in leadership and spirituality in a secular context

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Katarina Westerlund
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Situated Learning ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Legitimate Peripheral Participation ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Church Of Sweden ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The Church

Abstract This article explores the situated learning found among 18 young volunteers taking part in an education programme about leadership and Christian spirituality in the Church of Sweden. Focus group interviews and observations are analysed in the framework of situated learning, using legitimate peripheral participation as a lens. The study shows how the young people, through the education programme, formed a safe community where new identities were shaped through participating in new ways of worship, making pilgrimages, engaging in peer dialogue, and in reflection. They also gained new perspectives and models for volunteering. The young people´s experience of living in a secular culture presents challenges to their identity formation and to their ongoing spiritual practice and development. The use of situated learning provides a deeper understanding of the process of learning in spirituality and of the problems associated with conflicting communities of practice.

Exploring youth citizenship during COVID-19 lockdowns in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Mutch ◽  
Marta Estellés
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Youth Citizenship ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The City

The research presented in this article explores how young people in New Zealand exercised their citizenship during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Building upon the theoretical concepts of ‘actions’ and ‘acts of citizenship’, this qualitative study draws on data from the experiences of 30 young people aged over 16 in the city of Auckland. Data included classroom observations, focus group interviews, individual interviews and the sharing of student artefacts (e.g. posters and videos). The experiences of the participants covered a wide range of engagement in citizenship rights, sites, scales and acts. Our findings offered an alternative to prevailing portrayals of young people as either passive victims or self-centred troublemakers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lessons for citizenship education are discussed at the end of the article.

Values, Body Weight, and Well Being: The Influence of the Protestant Ethic and Consumerism on Physical Activity, Eating, and Body Image

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Vanden Heede ◽  
Suzanne Pelican ◽  
Betty Holmes ◽  
Sylvia A. Moore ◽  
David Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Protestant Ethic ◽  
Health Improvement ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
Improvement Project ◽  
Group Interviews

This article explores how people's values shape their experiences and emotions with respect to physical activity, eating, and body image. It describes the results of a grounded theory analysis of individual and focus group interviews conducted as part of a community-based health improvement project, Wellness IN the Rockies (WIN the Rockies). The analysis links core theoretical constructs, including habitus, sedimentation, and natural attitude, to larger socio-cultural and historical trends embodied in the Protestant ethic and the rise of consumerism, illuminating how these values shape people's everyday understanding of their experiences. Key analytic frameworks focus on the socialization processes involved in inculcating values, identity formation, and moralization as they relate to health attitudes and behaviors. Major implications of the results are discussed, especially the need to enhance self-understanding about social values in health education.

scholarly journals Experiences of using an activating spinal orthosis in women with osteoporosis and back pain in primary care

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Kaijser Alin ◽  
Nathalie Frisendahl ◽  
Ann-Charlotte Grahn Kronhed ◽  
Helena Salminen
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Back Pain ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Spinal Orthosis

Abstract Summary Women with osteoporosis and back pain took part in focus group interviews and described their experiences of using and handling an activating spinal orthosis. The women described the back orthosis as being like a “close friend”, a support in everyday life and a reminder to maintain a good posture. Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe and gain a deeper understanding of the views of older women with osteoporosis and back pain seeking primary care regarding their use and handling of an activating spinal orthosis. Method We chose a qualitative method whereby information was gathered via focus group interviews and analysed using inductive content analysis. Women who previously participated in a randomised controlled trial and wore an activating spinal orthosis for 6 months were asked. Out of 31 women, 18 agreed to participate. Five focus group interviews were conducted. Results The analysis resulted in an overall theme in which the experiences of wearing the spinal orthosis were described as follows: “A well-adapted spinal orthosis could develop into a long-lasting friendship that provided support and help in daily life”. The overall theme was based on three main categories: impact on daily life, individual adaptation and personal relationship. The main categories were well differentiated from each other but had an interdependency. All three categories involved cases in which the spinal orthosis was perceived as relieving symptoms and making daily life easier, as well as when it was perceived as being hard to manage and provided no symptom relief. Conclusion In older women with osteoporosis and back pain, an activating spinal orthosis could be perceived as being a “close friend” and a support in everyday life. To facilitate acceptance of the spinal orthosis, it was important for it to be well adapted and for follow-ups to be carried out regularly.

scholarly journals Hell’s Grannies and Crazy Ladies—Challenging the Precarization of Older Women

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Precarious Situation

AbstractOlder women are often portrayed as particularly vulnerable and in need of protection, producing processes of ageist “othering” that deny agency, foster “appropriate” behaviors, and work to exclude them from everyday life. While not denying many women face a precarious situation in later life, some older women resist their subjectivation as vulnerable. Drawing on a concept of precarity as governmentality, older women’s acceptance and resistance to being characterized as “vulnerable” and in need of protection are explored in relation to focus group interviews with female pensioners in four Swedish municipalities.

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