Book launch—Pakukore—Poverty, by Design

Poverty in Aotearoa is not accidental. It is designed into our systems, our institutions, and our policies.

Thursday 11 September 2025
Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

BWB—Bridget Williams Books and the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies hosted the launch of two publications on Thursday 11 September 2025.

Pakukore—Poverty, by Design

Edited by Rebecca Macfie, Graeme Whimp and Brigitte Bӧnisch-Brednich

Poverty in Aotearoa is not accidental.  It is designed into our systems, our institutions, and our policies.  Poverty is not the result of individual failure or misfortune.  It is a product of the design of our economic and institutional systems.  Pakukore brings together leading thinkers and practitioners to expose the systemic nature of poverty in Aotearoa and explore pathways for change.

Hardship and Hope—Stories of Resistance in the Fight Against Poverty in Aotearoa

Rebecca Macfie

Behind the inequality, suffering and polarisation that afflicts Aotearoa we have the foundations upon which we can choose to build a country that puts whānau at the centre, and where all can thrive.

Rebecca Macfie is an acclaimed New Zealand journalist and award-winning author.  In 2024 she was the JD Stout Fellow at the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies.

Graeme Whimp is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the School of Social and Cultural Studies, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

Brigitte Bӧnisch-Brednich is the Director of the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, and Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.