PhD thesis, University of Otago, Wellington

n recent times, government appears to have conferred co-design a place of prominence in the future of hauora Māori. Yet an ever-increasing enthusiasm for co- design as ‘the solution’ has not equated with an increasing evidence-base around its effectiveness or appropriateness as an applied approach within hauora Māori. This thesis has explored concepts of co-design in relation to equitable health and/or disability related services for tamariki and rangatahi, within the broader context of sovereign tāngata whenua rights to health and well-being in Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu.

Underpinned by Kaupapa Māori, ‘Oranga Mokopuna’, the conceptual and theoretical framework developed during this research, provides the underlying perspective to my approach to systematic inquiry in this PhD. Building on mātauranga Māori practices foregrounding the treasured status of mokopuna within Te Ao Māori, ‘Oranga Mokopuna’ provides a decolonial frame of reference for the full realisation of tāngata whenua rights to health and well-being.

My research design – ‘Te whenua i whiriwhiri/The woven land’ – allowed for exploration of the emerging and evolving landscape of co-design within Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu. As a metaphor, ‘Te whenua i whiriwhiri’ alludes to the multiple yet complementary and interconnected methods of data collection and analyses undertaken to navigate this landscape. These involved an environmental scan, a systematic literature review, document and critical discourse analyses, in-depth interviews with ngā kaipūkenga, and focus group interviews with mokopuna Māori.

Research findings identified the emergence of co-design as a market/commodity, and the parallel presence of harmful colonial, racist, paternalistic, deficit, othering, voyeuristic and extractive discourses within the field of co-design. A lack of engagement with ethics was also evident. Thus, there is an apparent disconnect between the rhetoric of co-design and its purported benefits, and how co-design appears to be currently practised.

Lack of definitional clarity in the literature around the term ‘co-design’ has been acknowledged as unhelpful. However, what may be more unhelpful and potentially harmful, is the continued use of the term within elite discourses without description of what is meant. This leaves the term open to interpretation within the field, with those in power the apparent beneficiaries from this. In addition to the requirement for definitional clarity around the term, the development of a code of ethics is considered fundamental for the field of co-design within Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu.

Informed by ‘Oranga Mokopuna’ and based upon the voices of mokopuna and ngā kaipūkenga, a new definition of ‘ethical co-designing’ is put forward. Ethical co-designing with mokopuna and whānau is proposed as an ongoing reflexive, respectful and reciprocal process of designing that, underpinned by tāngata whenua rights, requires equitable power-sharing throughout in the determining of, and collective creativity in addressing those issues of importance to them. Ethical co-designing necessitates accountability to mokopuna and whānau and supports meaningful transformative outcomes. ‘Te Wānanga’ is offered as a new framework supporting ethical co-designing with mokopuna and whānau that is grounded in Māori ways of knowing and being, tikanga and mātauranga Māori, and in tāngata whenua rights to health and well-being.

The ethic of prior thought emphasises that, for Māori, designing is not a new concept. It is aged in aeons as evident in our whakapapa narratives from our origins across and beyond the cosmos. They are ngā taonga for us to understand that we have always seen (and continue to see) our many worlds of the pluriverse as evolving and iterating over space-time, and thus requiring in response, a relationality and creativity in our ways of knowing and being.

The voices of mokopuna in this research give emphasis to their agency and their capability as knowledge holders, creators, and makers of meaning. Just as whakapapa and space-time are processes of never-ending beginnings, so is the search for knowledge. Like Te Kore – the realm of potentiality, the realm of unlimited possibilities – mokopuna too have unlimited potentiality as our knowledge holders, our creators, and our makers of meaning across the many worlds of the pluriverse. Including mokopuna in processes of knowledge creation through an honouring of their consciousness, supports them to make their own contributions to our collective decolonising and dismantling of knowledge and systems, and to the designing of divergent futures and never-ending beginnings for themselves, their whānau and communities. (Author's abstract). Record #8081