“You’re not coming out – you’ve been there all along and just no one’s looked”: Māori LGBT+ youth and identity exploration

Laurence, Rebekah

“You’re not coming out – you’ve been there all along and just no one’s looked”: Māori LGBT+ youth and identity exploration

dc.contributor.advisor	Barber, Carrie Cornsweet
dc.contributor.advisor	Green, Alison
dc.contributor.author	Laurence, Rebekah
dc.date.accessioned	2020-11-18T01:43:56Z
dc.date.available	2020-11-18T01:43:56Z
dc.date.issued	2020
dc.date.updated	2020-10-21T02:50:35Z
dc.description.abstract	This research is a Masters-level project on Māori LGBT-plus (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other) youths’ experience of exploring their gender and sexual identities, highlighting how whānau (loosely, ‘extended family’) can provide mana (authority, power) such that youth can exercise mana rangatiratanga (a Maniapoto description of ‘autonomy, self-determination’) regarding their identities. This is a novel, exploratory study. Adapted elements from a Mana Wāhine (Māori feminist) perspective of Kaupapa Māori theory comprised the theoretical framework for this project. These elements were Mana rangatiratanga (adapted from Tino rangatiratanga), Te reo Māori me ōna tikanga (Māori language and its culture), and Whanaungatanga (relationships). The three elements were adapted to fit a Ngāti Maniapoto worldview. Qualitative research methods were used for this study. There were five participants aged between 17 and 24 years, who were Māori and had diverse gender or sexual identities. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants, which allowed them to share their experiences of exploring their gender and sexual identities and of whānau support. Interviews were analysed using a process of inductive thematic analysis, which identified and analysed patterns across the dataset. Eight themes were derived from participants’ experiences. These themes were Ko Tūhura, which described the process of discovery that participants have experienced; Ko Matatapu, which described participants’ experience of authenticity and concealment of their gender and sexual identities; Ko Tautoko, which described how whānau have empowered participants to explore their identities, and how participants have been denied empowerment; Ko Mata-ngaro, which described participants’ early lack of exposure to diverse identities, and their having their identities unseen by others; Ko te Ahunga-ki-te-aunoa, which described how diverse identities have been accepted within participants’ whānau; Ko Tauawhi, which described how participants have been embraced for their diverse identities; Ko Mata-pū-take, which describes participants’ experience of finding somewhere to belong; and Ko Kiritau, which describes participants’ becoming settled in their expression of their gender and sexual identities. The findings of the thesis describe roles that whānau play in participants’ exploration of their gender and sexual identities and some of the effects that colonisation has had within participants’ whānau regarding their gender and sexual identities. Nonetheless, participants actively resisted these aspects of colonisations and found ways to give voice to their gender and sexual identities. Given that participants shared that there was a dearth of information regarding gender and sexual identities available to them within their whānau and school environments, organisations within psychology and related fields may work to proactively provide all young Māori people and their whānau with information regarding diverse gender and sexual identities. Moreover, to address the dearth of resources designed for Māori LGBT-plus youth, New Zealand-based researchers may collate information specifically regarding Māori LGBT-plus youth experience of identity exploration and Māori knowledges regarding gender and sexual identities. This information may be collated in community-based resources that are designed specifically for members of this group and their whānau, and professionals who work for them.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Laurence, R. (2020). ‘You’re not coming out – you’ve been there all along and just no one’s looked’: Māori LGBT+ youth and identity exploration (Thesis, Master of Social Sciences (MSocSc)). The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/13966	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/13966
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	The University of Waikato
dc.rights	All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
dc.subject	Māori
dc.subject	LGBT+
dc.subject	youth
dc.subject	takatāpui
dc.subject	rangatahi
dc.subject	indigenous
dc.subject	Kaupapa Māori
dc.subject	sexual identity
dc.subject	gender identity
dc.subject	whānau
dc.subject	Mana Wahine
dc.subject	mana rangatiratanga
dc.subject	te reo Māori me ōna tikanga
dc.subject	whanaungatanga
dc.subject	Ngāti Maniapoto
dc.subject	New Zealand
dc.subject	identity exploration
dc.subject	Mana Wāhine
dc.title	“You’re not coming out – you’ve been there all along and just no one’s looked”: Māori LGBT+ youth and identity exploration
dc.type	Thesis
pubs.place-of-publication	Hamilton, New Zealand	en_NZ
thesis.degree.grantor	The University of Waikato
thesis.degree.level	Masters
thesis.degree.name	Master of Social Sciences (MSocSc)