The Critical Health and Wellbeing Research Group is made up of transdisciplinary critical health and wellbeing researchers with diverse backgrounds and interests across the social sciences.
With an emphasis on qualitative methodological approaches, researchers in the Group share a commitment to highlighting the social, environmental, political and cultural dimensions of health, wellbeing, illness and care for individuals, families and communities.
The concepts of health and wellbeing align with Mason Durie’s notion of Mauri Ora - the flourishing of Mauri. Mauri, or ‘life force’, refers to vitality, spirituality, personality and energy. The Mauri is a whole-of-person reflection of spirit, mind, body, relationships, and the environment (Durie, 2016).
Research group members draw on a range of contemporary social theories in their research, such as critical theories (e.g. critical realism, critical race theory); social constructionism, narrative inquiry, kaupapa Māori and Indigenous epistemologies, postcolonialism and decolonisation, post-structuralism and posthumanism.
They do this in order to disrupt dominant societal norms, highlight flows of power at work in creating and maintaining oppression, marginalisation and privilege, and reconfigure the possibilities for more equitable, favourable and flourishing health and wellbeing outcomes for all in Aotearoa New Zealand.
