Contact details +6492136351
Moses is a NZ-born Sāmoan. His father, Leaula (Falelima-Saleaula, Savai'i, Sāmoa), is a church elder, lay preacher and retired machine operator after forty years. His mother, Pepe, (Luatuanu'u-Leusoali'i, Upolu, Sāmoa) is a Justice of the Peace, Lay Advocate for Department for Courts, a former early childhood educator (20 years), and like his father, an active church leader of Ranui Pacific Islands Presbyterian Church.
Moses practised social work for decades before becoming an academic. He worked with youth offenders and young people with behavioural issues both in government and community organisations. He oversees the Bachelor of Social Work degree program and is the Auckland campus coordinator. He is a registered social worker and believes it's important to work on the frontline in order to be an effective lecturer so when he teaches and supervises he brings alive the theoretical and clinical aspects of social and community work practice.
He has published nationally and internationally in the area of social work education and youth gangs. Forthcoming publications in 2019 are two book chapters entitled: “Still feeling it: Addressing the unresolved grief among the Sāmoan Bloods of Aotearoa New Zealand” and "Getting on the K.A.D" - The impact of Kava, Alcohol and other Drugs consumption across Pacific communities. His most recent journal article is in New Zealand Sociology's 2016 journal called, "From the street to the village: The transfer of New Zealand youth gang culture to Sāmoa". His 2015 PhD entitled "Hard-Hard-Solid: Life histories of Sāmoans in Bloods Youth Gangs in New Zealand" is the first of its kind that features 18 months of engagement and interviews with this hard-to-reach population group and gaining national media recognition on television programs such as One Network News in April 2014 and Tagata Pasifika in May 2015.
He has advised on local and government policy developments particularly in youth health, designed and written various courses for certificate, diploma and degree programs, supervised numerous post-graduate research projects and practitioners in the field. He has presented in numerous local and international conferences including Sāmoa, Vietnam and Denmark. He is currently developing publications like arguing that life history method as a research method is also therapeutic, how to social work youth gang members, and introducing an alternative approach to justice theorising called Pacific criminology. He is also developing post-doctoral research study looking at building a theory called Pacific criminology based on life histories of young men and women in youth gangs in New Zealand, Sāmoa, and Hawaii.
Youth Gangs, Youth Justice, Youth Development Studies, Criminology and Delinquency, Southern Theory, Community Development, Grounded Theory, Life History, Inductive Analytical approach and NZ-born Samoan studies
Health and Well-being
Field of research codes
Clinical Social Work Practice (160701):
Counselling, Welfare and Community Services (160702):
Social Work (160700):
Studies In Human Society (160000)
Administration (Social Work), Adolescent Development, Advocacy, Child Abuse, Child Development, Child Protection, Child Welfare, Clinical Social Work, Community Development, Cross-cultural human relationships, Discrimination, Cultural Practices, Cultural Worldviews, Dual Identity crisis, Education (Social Work), Ethics (Social Work), Ethnic minorities, Ethncity, Families, Gangs, Multicultural issues, Pacific, Pasifika, Racism, Race Relations, Religion, Samoan studies, School Social Work, Spirituality (Social Work), Supervision (Cultural), Youth, Youth Gangs, Youth Justice
| Position | Current | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Project Leader | 1 | 1 |
| Team Member | 0 | 1 |
Project Title: Towards a Pacific criminological theory: Life histories of Samoan people's involvement in gangs in Oceania
Date Range: 2020 - 2023
Funding Body: Royal Society of New Zealand
Project Team:
