Students’ Social Interest and University Partnership with Local Indigenous People

Abstract

According to Alfred Adler, people will have a meaningful life if they contribute to the realisation of an ideal cooperating community. The psychological process of “contributing” is captured in the Adlerian concept of “social interest.” This study investigates students’ social interest in university partnership with local indigenous people. The partnership between the University of Waikato and local tribes of Tainui is a particular concern of this study, with Kīngitanga Day as the specific phenomenon. Mixed methods–descriptive statistics and thematic analysis–were employed to investigate students’ social interest. Data collection was done in three phases. From data analysis, I found eight primary themes of students’ social interest, namely knowledgeability, significance to self, identification, awareness of community context, gradation of sympathetic concern, willingness, action, and reflection. How the findings relate to the literature on social interest and university-community partnership is discussed. A new model of applied social interest is developed. This thesis ends with elaboration on limitations and recommendations for future research.