September 23, 2020
Waikato leads research to challenge racism
University of Waikato researchers Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki, Dr Arama Rata and Professor Francis Collins have received a $10 million grant from the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment’s Endeavour fund to lead a five-year project investigating racial oppression across society.
They say racism is a social structure that underpins forms of interpersonal and institutional discrimination.
It is evident in inequitable outcomes across almost every indicator of wellbeing, including health, education, housing, employment and justice.
The Working to End Racial Oppression or WERO project involves a multi-institute team of 21 researchers from New Zealand and Canada, including experts in Māori studies, immigration, economics, data science, human geography, Pacific studies, justice, sociology and psychology.
It will examine the costs or impacts of racism, attempt to understand how inequities are created and perpetuated in social and institutional systems and identify how government, institutions and communities can challenge racism.
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