We have a new HVN PhD scholarship. Georgia McLellan is a PhD student from the University of Auckland and has received funding from HVN to explore how novel Māori food / nutrition economies develop in Aotearoa New Zealand, including historical and contemporary enterprises. “Through my PhD research I intend to explore how novel Māori food economies are being made,” says Georgia.
“Background literature on market making, diverse economies, and indigenous economies will aid this exploration,” she says. “I am interested in how Māori food enterprises are being assembled, the depths of these networks, the knowledge bases underlying them and how different Māori groups are enrolling themselves into this economy. I will explore the different roles that Māori economy stakeholders play within these economies and how relationships within the Māori economy are played out.”
Georgia is particularly interested in relationships between novel Māori food economies and Māori sovereignty. This relationship is increasingly important amongst Māori scholars’ concerns about Māori economies becoming capitalocentric, with increasingly evident disparities between Māori economic growth and Māori social wellbeing.