About Us | Mō Tātou
%
of New Zealand Youth identify as an ethnic minority
Our lives are impacted by multiple and shifting identities. For young people on the cusp of adulthood, understanding who they are and where they fit in is essential to their health and influences their future.
Here in Aotearoa New Zealand we stand on many faultlines: ethnic, cultural and gender. Despite this richness of experience, ethnic minorities, defined here as Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American or African, are under-studied and often left uncounted. Within ethnic minorities those identifying with an additional minority identity such as gender diverse, disabled, from financially constrained backgrounds are also largely invisible to researchers and statisticians.
The Purpose of the Study
Our study is planned to travel through four phases over three years; these phases are concurrent, and will influence and inform each other ways to engage with them and their health. Through out each of these study phases, we aim to be innovative, flexible and provocative while also grounding our work in the latest research.
Our Research Questions
How do we understand the needs of those young people whose identities cross more than one faultline?
How do we see them more clearly, and engage them with services developed to fit their unique needs?
The Four Phases of our Research
Phase One: Descriptive Study
Phase 1 will provide us with a better understanding of how often ethnic minority young people experience alienation and discrimination, and its impact on their health and wellbeing, including emotional and future health.
We will look at existing research including population surveys such as Youth 2000, New Zealand Health surveys.
This will allow us to look at how young people currently experience discrimination in environments such as health, education and justice, as well as track how this might change over time and influence health outcomes.
Phase Two: Study of Public Discourse
In this phase, we will explore how ethnic minority youth with intersecting identities are viewed, portrayed or referred to in public discourse, particularly as New Zealanders, and their contribution to the society. We will also explore how they view themselves and engage with their health.
This will involve analysing data from media narratives, and holding interviews with relevant stakeholders (i.e., youth and community leaders, and service providers).
This will help us understand how ethnic minority youth with intersecting identities are represented by others or themselves and positioned within New Zealand society.
Phase Three: Study of Lived Experiences
In this phase, we will explore ethnic minority young people’s lived experiences of intersecting identity/ies in Aotearoa New Zealand, how this is explored by them and developed over time, and how they navigate social institutions, communities, and other people. We also examine how these experiences impact their health and wellbeing.
In this phase, we will conduct interviews with ethnic minority youth who have one or more intersecting minority identity to examine their lived experiences.
Phase Four: Creative Co-Design Study
This phase will use co-design processes and invite youth participants to take on a central role and gain control of the narrative.
In this phase we will explore young people’s response to how people perceive them and act towards them and what can they show us about better ways to engage with them and their health.
We will bring ethnic youth participants together with creative professionals in a field of their interest, such as film, spoken word, dance, theatre, literature or visual arts. The creative mentors will help facilitate expression via art forms. By removing the borders of traditional research, we aim to empower our young people to explore these questions and come up with new insights and solutions.
About our Logo
Our symbol is based on the woven mats used in many parts of the world to set pots or dishes on. These mats serve a practical and decorative function: supporting vessels of nourishment, as well as insulating and protecting surfaces, and contributing to the visual appeal of food. The designs, simple or complex, featuring local materials and motifs, speak volumes about the families the mats belong to. Art, heritage and the everyday in one.
The interlacing fibres weave in and out, under and over each other in an interlocking and wrapped pattern with no beginning and end. Each individual fibre overlaps with other fibres at multiple points, forming points of tension and support. This is evocative of the multigenerational factors affecting how young people navigate social and structural systems, including the healthcare system, how they should be supported, and the many crossroads, in communities and within an individual, that must be negotiated.
Ethical Considerations
This research is conducted under the auspices of the University of Auckland. Phases 2 and 3 are approved by Auckland Health Research Ethics Committee (Reference: AH23606 and AH24474). Phase 4 has been approved by Auckland Health Research Ethics Committee (Reference: AH25686). This research is funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (Project Grant: 21/425)