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​​Kaupapa Kōrero: A maori cultural approach to narrative inquiry

Ware, F., Breheny, M., & Forster, M. (2018). Kaupapa Kōrero: a Māori cultural approach to narrative inquiry. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 14(1), 45–53.

This 2018 AlterNative article provides strong theoretical and cultural grounding for narrative work within Aotearoa. It positions Kaupapa Kōrero as a distinctly Māori approach to narrative inquiry, centering Māori worldviews, relational ethics, language, history, and lived experience within research and storytelling practice. The authors affirm that storytelling is not simply a method of gathering information, but a culturally embedded, relational process that honours whakapapa, collective identity, and community accountability. The article highlights how narrative inquiry, when shaped by kaupapa Māori principles, becomes a vehicle for restoring voice, strengthening cohesion, and challenging dominant Western research paradigms. For the Telling Your Stories Project, this work offers both philosophical validation and methodological clarity. It reinforces the importance of culturally grounded, relational storytelling practices that uplift identity and community connection. It provides a powerful research-based foundation for advocating narrative-based learning approaches that are inclusive, transformative, and responsive to the cultural context of Aotearoa.

This 2018 AlterNative article provides strong theoretical and cultural grounding for narrative work within Aotearoa. It positions Kaupapa Kōrero as a distinctly Māori approach to narrative inquiry, centering Māori worldviews, relational ethics, language, history, and lived experience within research and storytelling practice.

The authors affirm that storytelling is not simply a method of gathering information, but a culturally embedded, relational process that honours whakapapa, collective identity, and community accountability. The article highlights how narrative inquiry, when shaped by kaupapa Māori principles, becomes a vehicle for restoring voice, strengthening cohesion, and challenging dominant Western research paradigms.

For the Telling Your Stories Project, this work offers both philosophical validation and methodological clarity. It reinforces the importance of culturally grounded, relational storytelling practices that uplift identity and community connection. It provides a powerful research-based foundation for advocating narrative-based learning approaches that are inclusive, transformative, and responsive to the cultural context of Aotearoa.

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