Dr Belinda Borell, HRC Emerging Māori Health Research Leader
Belinda (Ngati Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi, Whakatōhea) has expertise in understanding racism as a social determinant of health. Dr Borell has a broad public health and social science background. She is particularly interested in how structural privilege works to maintain and entrench health and social inequities. She is currently examining how government datasets can be utilised to examine the ways trauma, and privilege, may be passed through generations.
Her doctoral work, The Nature of the Gaze: a conceptual discussion of societal privilege from an indigenous perspective examines how societal privilege shapes health and social inequities that can produce severe consequences for dominant cultural groups as well as marginal. Kaupapa Māori analyses of white privilege can illuminate pathways of redress that will benefit all New Zealanders and provide more embracing perspectives of nationhood. In 2018 Dr Borell was awarded the Hohua Tutengaehe Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Health Research Council of New Zealand to further her research into societal privilege.
In 2024 Dr Borell was awarded an Emerging Māori Health Research Leadership award from the Health Research Council of New Zealand to explore intergenerational transmission of trauma and privilege. She is also committed to building the capabilities of the health workforce to understanding racism as a social determinant of health.
Her Masters thesis, about cultural identity of young Māori in South Auckland can be found here: Living in the City Ain’t So Bad: Cultural Diversity of South Auckland Rangatahi.
Email: b.borell@massey.ac.nz
Commentary
Moewaka Barnes, A., Borell, B., & McCreanor, T. (2023, June 27). Decolonising the news: 4 fundamental questions media can ask themselves when covering stories about Māori. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/decolonising-the-news-4-fundamental-questions-media-can-ask-themselves-when-covering-stories-about-maori-205916
Journal Articles
Borell, B. (2021). The Role of Emotion in Understanding Whiteness. Bioethical Inquiry 18, 23-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-020-10074-z A557
McConville, A., Wetherell, M., McCreanor, T., Borell, B., & Moewaka Barnes, H. (2020). ‘Pissed Off and Confused’/‘Grateful and (Re)Moved’: Affect, Privilege and National Commemoration in Aotearoa New Zealand. Political Psychology, 41(1), 129-144. A508
Borell, B., Moewaka Barnes, H., & McCreanor, T. (2018). Conceptualising Historical Privilege: the flip side of historical trauma, a brief examination. AlterNative, 14(1), 25-34. A427
Borell, B. (2015). Being Maori in the City: Indigenous Everyday Life in Auckland by Natacha Gagné. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013 [Book Review]. Aboriginal Policy Studies, 4(1), 73-75.
Borell, B. (2014). When the marginalised research the privileged One Maori group’s experience. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 7(2). A354
Rankine, J., Moewaka Barnes, A., Borell, B., Nairn, R., & McCreanor, T. (2014). Content and source analysis of newspaper items about Maori issues: Silencing the ‘natives’ in Aotearoa? Pacific Journalism Review, 20(1), 213-233. A350
Nairn, R., DeSouza, R., Moewaka Barnes, A., Rankine, J., Borell, B., & McCreanor, T. (2014). Nursing in media saturated societies: implications for cultural safety in nursing practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Journal of Research in Nursing, 19, 477-487. A349
McCreanor, T., Rankine, J., Moewaka Barnes, A., Borell, B., Nairn, R., & McManus, A.-L. (2014). The association of crime stories and Maori in Aotearoa New Zealand print media. Sites: New Series, 11(1), 121-144. DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.11157/sites-vol11iss1id240. A343
Moewaka Barnes, H., Borell, B., & McCreanor, T. (2014). Theorising the structural dynamics of ethnic privilege in Aotearoa: Unpacking "this breeze at my back". International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 7(1). A341
Moewaka Barnes, A., Taiapa, K., Borell, B., & McCreanor, T. (2013). Maori experiences and responses to racism in New Zealand. MAI Journal, 2(2), 63-77. A336
Nairn, R., McCreanor, T., Moewaka Barnes, A., Borell, B., Rankine, J., & Gregory, A. (2012). “Maori news is bad news”: that’s certainly so on television. MAI Journal, 1(1), 38-49. A309
Moewaka Barnes, A., Borell, B., Taiapa, K., Rankine, J., Nairn, R., & McCreanor, T. (2012). Anti-Maori themes in New Zealand Journalism; toward alternative practice. Pacific Journalism Review, 18(1), 195-216. A304
McCreanor, T., McManus, A.-L., Moewaka Barnes, A., Rankine, J., Borell, B., & Nairn, R. (2011). Maori business news in the mass media. Sites: New Series, 8(2), 32-56. A335
Rankine, J., Moewaka Barnes, A., Borell, B., McCreanor, T., Nairn, R., & Gregory, A. (2011). Suburban Newspapers’ reporting of Māori news. Pacific Journalism Review, 17(2), 50-71. A297
Nairn, R., Moewaka Barnes, A., Rankine, J., Borell, B., Abel, S., & McCreanor, T. (2011). Mass Media in Aotearoa: An Obstacle to Cultural Competence. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 40(3), 168-175. A296
Gregory, M., Borell, B., McCreanor, T., Moewaka Barnes, A., Nairn, R., Rankine, J., Abel, S., Taiapa, K., Kaiwai, H. (2011). Reading news about Maori: responses from non-Maori audiences. AlterNative, 7(1). 51-64. [Abstract] A280
McCreanor, T., Rankine, J., Moewaka Barnes, A., Borell, B., Nairn, R., Gregory, M., Kaiwai, H. (2010). Maori sport and Maori in sport: mass media representations and Pakeha discourse. Alternative, 6(3). 235-247. [Abstract] A266
Borell, B., Gregory, A., McCreanor, T., Jensen, V., & Moewaka Barnes, H. (2009). 'It's hard at the top but it's a whole lot easier than being at the bottom': The role of privilege in understanding disparities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Race/Ethnicity, 3. 29-50. [Abstract] A250
Rankine, J., Moewaka Barnes, A., Borell, B., Nairn, R., McCreanor, T., & Gregory, A. (2009). Intentional use of te reo Maori in New Zealand newspapers in 2007. Pacific Journalism Review, 15(2). 174-190. [Abstract]
Chapters In Books
Moewaka Barnes, H., Borell, B., Edwards, S. & McCreanor, T. (2009). Epistemological domination: Social science research ethics in Aotearoa. In Mertens, D. & Ginsberg, P. (Eds.), Handbook of Social Research Ethics (pp.442-457). Los Angeles: Sage. SB47
Borell, B. (2005). Living in the city ain't so bad: cultural identity for young Maori in South Auckland. In Liu, J., McCreanor, T., McIntosh, T. and Teaiwa, T. (Eds.), New Zealand Identities: Departures and Destinations (pp. 191-206). Wellington: Victoria University Press. SB39