PhD thesis (University of Auckland)

This research considered aspects of building financial capability by exploring the experiences of 55 wāhine Māori in relation to their financial attitudes and behaviours. The women who participated in this research came from a semi-rural Waikato town which, like many small towns in Aotearoa New Zealand, has experienced significant negative socioeconomic impacts from neoliberal policies introduced in the 1980s. Through this research, I sought answers to the question: How can whānau experience financial wellbeing amidst the effects of socio-economic challenges compounded by personal trauma? The methods included an anonymous survey, semi-structured interviews and one focus group. Three main findings emerged: the intergenerational effects of financial precarity, some of which emerge from the impacts of colonisation on Māori; the interrelated impacts of sexual, emotional, physical and/or financial trauma on participants' abilities to make decisions to improve their financial situations, and what I call 'tools of triumph' the women used to overcome their precarious situations, drawing on their cultural beliefs. Overall, the findings identified the need for different ways to deliver financial education to people living in precarity, especially those whose lives are profoundly impacted by trauma. The thesis concludes with a kaupapa Māori model for financial education—He Mauri Tau, He Puna Waiora—which emerged from the findings. This model suggests new ways of engaging with people in precarity, and recognises the physiological, emotional, cultural and cognitive dimensions of financial behaviour change. (Author's abstract). Record #8883