Kaupapa Kōrero: a Māori cultural approach to narrative inquiry

Interviews with 19 young Maori parents (17 mothers and 2 fathers), on their experiences of support during pregnancy, birth and early parenting.

Stories are a source of knowledge in Maori Indigenous cultures, and are also used to express the experience of being Maori. Using Kaupapa Kōrero, a Maori cultural approach to narrative inquiry, the research gathered stories of young Maori parents, on their experiences of support during pregnancy, birth and early parenting. The stories are integrated within the wider layer of family, culture and society, to provide a complex and nuanced perspective on societal expectations, indigeneity, and Māori culture.

Transcript of the interview were given to each person for them to verify.

Indigenous research is valued when it is done by Indigenous people, based on their cultural values and provides benefits to the people. Indigenous participants must be involved in the design, methods and analysis of the research.

Interview audio and transcripts

These young Maori stories of their parenting experiences can inform policies and practices, highlights the positives of Maori culture from a Maori perspective, and empowered a group of young parents to tell their own stories in their own way.

"Indigenous methodologies draw on local ways of meaning-making as the source of theoretical approaches to understand their own experiences." (p. 46)

"By considering the broader historical, social, cultural and political contexts, it created the opportunity to write about culture,
identity and early parenting and the experiences, challenges and successes of young Māori parents that are rarely explored in the literature." (p. 49)

Family
Indigenous Parenting