Researching in Maori contexts: An interpretation of participatory consciousness

Abstract

A recent study of five research projects demonstrated how a group of researchers, both Maori and non‐Maori, had been re‐positioned within new ‘story‐lines’ that addressed the contradictory nature of the traditional researcher/researched relationship. The language used by the researchers contains the key to the new story‐lines; metaphor and imagery that are located within the research participant's domain. The researchers either were or have moved to become part of this domain. In the narratives developed in this research project, the researchers demonstrated how they had been re‐positioned by the use of contextually constituted metaphor within the domain where others can constitute themselves as agentic. Within this domain there are discursive practices that provide the researchers with positions that enable them to carry through their negotiated lines of action. An examination of the language used by the researchers demonstrated researcher reflection on their somatic involvement in the research process that is understandable in terms of a form of knowing, which Heshusius terms Participatory Consciousness. The narratives demonstrate how such somatic positioning and consciousness enable Kaupapa Maori (Maori philosophy) concerns about initiation, benefits, representation, legitimation and accountability in research to be addressed from within Maori cultural contexts by Maori preferred practices.