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Research Commons is the University of Waikato's open access research repository, housing research publications and theses produced by the University's staff and students.
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Publication Queering the real: Antisociality and the impossible nothing of queer(Thesis, The University of Waikato, 2025)This project charts a logic of queer antisociality along literary, cinematic, and theoretical works. Reading across a collection of textual case studies from Gertrude Stein, Herman Melville, and Samuel Beckett, as well as films from Derek Jarman and David Cronenberg, this thesis thinks through antisociality, employing it as a critical approach to reconcile moments of textual disorientation as queer encounter. The ambition of this thesis is not to designate certain works as queer texts, or to suggest a unifying queer thread across them; it is the very nature of queer as resistant to coherence and continuity that such a task could only ever fail. Rather, reading through antisociality offers a way to think queerness beyond a rubric of sexual difference as what frustrates or works against established forms of knowledge and trace modes of queer negation along inconsistent lines as aporetic junctures, opacity, and incoherence. This approach is developed in conversation with Lee Edelman’s Bad Education where he conceptualises queer aligned to the incomprehensibility of the Lacanian Real – as being outside of identity markers or systems of recognition. Queer as such does not locate an ontology or a sexuality, but rather resists determinate meaning and troubles categorisation; queer is that which disturbs coherence. To think queerness then, Edelman suggests, is to think beyond the structural limits of language. Following this invocation to think queerly beyond structures of knowledge, this project contemplates its application and details what it might look like to do so. Each chapter then illustrates forms of queer negation that resist the controls immanent in language, and articulates antisociality as a way of thinking, and indeed a way of reading, attuned to semiological abstractions and improper grammar as queer methods of resistance. Since queer cannot be secured within language, this thesis works to reframe incoherence as queer encounter that changes shape across whatever given literary or visual landscapes. Antisociality then operates as a conceptual lens to locate queer not as content but as form: as structural idiosyncrasies that frustrate comprehension and unsettle conventional logic. Writing this thesis and working across different texts and mediums then allowed for a mapping of the different ways that queer is discursively constructed while simultaneously conceptualising modes of resistance that work against these constructions.Item Exploring fears of death and dying using network analysis(Journal Article, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025)Objective Fear of death is often pathologised, yet little research has examined its unique links to different aspects of an individual’s life. This study investigated the unique associations among fear of death, psychological distress, mindfulness, compassion, life limiting illness, spirituality, meaning in life, and self-esteem using network analysis. It also explored the potential influence of meditation and psychedelics. Method A total of 486 community-based participants including university students completed a series of online surveys, which comprised a sociodemographic questionnaire and eight self-report rating scales. A Bayesian Gaussian Graphical Model was used to estimate nondirectional associations between variables, while a Directed Acyclic Graph depicted probabilities of directional links. Results The directed network revealed the central role of fear of another's death and its direct influence on other facets of death anxiety, life limiting illness, mindfulness, meaning in life, and subsequently spirituality and other variables in the network. The remaining facets of death anxiety had no significant influence on any wellbeing-related variables. This study empirically expanded upon the Terror Management Theory and found that self-esteem may not buffer death anxiety as previously proposed. Secondary analyses found that psychedelic use and meditation experience correlated with lower death anxiety, but these findings require replication due to small samples between groups. Conclusions These findings reframe assumptions about death anxiety by revealing its specific effects and avenues for promoting wellness surrounding mortality. In addition, they provide empirical support for Buddhist teachings, which emphasise the awakening effect of directly realising mortality. These results suggest that death anxiety could facilitate existential growth, contributing to the body of literature that highlights its potential positive effects.Item Computational thinking for young indigenous learners in New Zealand(Journal Article, Wiley, 2024)This article presents the findings from a study aimed to investigate how the computational thinking aspect of digital technologies can be embedded authentically into students’ technological practice. The project explored teaching and learning computational thinking in context and particularly focus on technological needs and practice for young Māori learners. There is recognition internationally about the need for digital technologies within the curriculum. Computational thinking is a critical component of this and is defined as an approach to problem-solving, designing computer systems, and understanding related human behaviours, while drawing on fundamental ideas of computing. Therefore, it is critical that all students acquire computational thinking skills. Technology practice is most successful when embedded within authentic contexts, thus this paper presents a study that facilitated the learning of two concepts of computational thinking: sequencing and orientation within culturally embedded technology practice. The study’s vision is to assist mainstream Māori learners from low socio-economic backgrounds to develop an understanding of related concepts of computational thinking. The research design drew on Māori values and practice that situates learning within authentic Māori contexts. Kaupapa Māori pedagogies were used in our design-based intervention programme to achieve the research goal. The focus of the project was to improve digital technologies learning outcomes to ensure Māori tamariki (children) see themselves as comfortably situated in a digital world.Item Application of wavelet transform for extracting and analysing evapotranspiration-induced diel fluctuations in streamflow records(Journal Article, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025)Diurnal fluctuations in groundwater and streamflow are produced due to evapotranspiration, indicating a strong connection between streamflow and the groundwater reservoir. Studying the patterns of diel fluctuations can provide valuable information on the hydrological processes in a catchment. Analysing these fluctuations makes it possible to estimate the evapotranspiration rate as well. In this paper, the signal analysis technique of the wavelet transform is applied to the streamflow time series to extract and analyse diel fluctuations. The performance of two main types of wavelet transform, continuous and discrete, is assessed against widely applied methods of trend extraction, such as moving average. The results show that wavelet transform can be used successfully to identify periodic and non-periodic features of the time series, such as seasonal and trend components, and to distinguish between signal and noise. The continuous wavelet transform demonstrates that the diurnal component of streamflow exhibits significant variation over different temporal scales, with the dominant periods ranging from 12 to 36 h. In conclusion, the findings suggest that wavelet transform can effectively capture evapotranspiration-induced diurnal streamflow fluctuations and provide insights into the hydrological processes at different temporal scales.Publication Exploring the experiences of young Māori mothers(Thesis, The University of Waikato, 2024-06-23)This thesis explores the lived experiences of three young Māori mothers (aged 16 years old) in Aotearoa, New Zealand, focusing on their strengths, challenges, and resilience. By employing a Kaupapa Māori methodological framework, the research aims to reframe narratives about young Māori mothers towards a strengths-based perspective, advocating for protection and nurturing Māori whakapapa. Using qualitative methods, the study explores the pūrākau (stories) of three young Māori mothers attending a teen parent unit in Waikato. The study highlights how, by living within both individualistic and collective realms, these young mothers actively challenge stigma, assert their worth, and develop unique underlying strengths. The findings, structured around emergent themes from their collective experiences, reveal a dichotomy: these young mothers must navigate the individualistic pressures and high expectations of motherhood while also drawing strength from collective responsibilities upheld within their whānau and supportive community services. Despite facing significant societal stigma and systemic barriers, the mothers demonstrate immense strength. Their resilience is grounded in whānau connections, proactive self-care, and engagement with taiao, wairua, and tino rangatiratanga—processes that also support intergenerational healing. This research underscores the importance of culturally responsive support systems that honour Indigenous knowledge and collective well-being. It offers insights for reorienting policy and practice to empower young Māori mothers, recognising their tino rangatiratanga and transformative agency by embracing their multifaceted realities.
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