Kaupapa Krero: a Mori cultural approach to narrative inquiry

In Indigenous culture, stories are a common repository of knowledge and facilitate the process of knowing. maori academics (Indigenous to Aotearoa New Zealand) have developed approaches based on key principles of maori research, oral traditions and narrative inquiry to express experiences as maori. To extend this, a maori approach called Kaupapa Krero was developed to gather, present and understand maori experiences. The application of whakapapa (genealogy) as a relational analytical framework provided a way of identifying personal krero (stories) and integrating them within layers of interrelated krero about their whnau (family), te ao maori (maori culture) and society that influences contemporary experiences of being maori. Whakapapa also enabled a cross-examination of krero and identification of common intersecting factors such as maori ethnicity, age, parenting status and socioeconomic position. This maori narrative approach revealed a more complex and nuanced understanding of the interrelatedness and influence of societal expectations, indigeneity, maori culture and whnau.