Adapting Traditional Healing Values and Beliefs into Therapeutic Cultural Environments for Health and Well-Being

Although research has long established that interaction with the natural environment is associated with better overall health and well-being outcomes, the Western model mainly focuses on treating symptoms. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, the Indigenous Māori have long demonstrated significantly more negative health outcomes than non-Māori. Little research has examined the causes compared to Western populations or the role of the natural environment in health outcomes for Māori. An exploration of rongoā Māori (traditional healing system) was conducted to ascertain the importance of landscape in the process of healing. Eight rongoā healers or practitioners took part in semi-structured narrative interviews from June to November 2020. Transcribed interviews were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis and Kaupapa Māori techniques. The findings show how rongoā is underpinned by a complex set of cultural values and beliefs, drawing from the connection to wairua (spirit), tinana (body), tikanga and whakaora (customs and healing), rākau (plants), whenua (landscape) and whānau (family). Incorporating such constructs into the landscape can foster our understanding of health and well-being and its implications for conceptualising therapeutic environments and a culturally appropriate model of care for Māori and non-Māori communities.

Adapting Traditional Healing Values and Beliefs Into Therapeutic Cultural Environments for Health and Well-Being

Although research has long established that the interaction with the natural environment is associated with better overall health and well-being outcomes, the Western model mainly focuses on treating the symptoms. In Aotearoa-New Zealand, the Indigenous Māori have long demonstrated significantly more negative health outcomes than non-Māori. Little research has examined the causes compared to Western populations or the role of the natural environment in health outcomes for Māori. An exploration of rongoā Māori (traditional healing system) was conducted to ascertain the importance of landscape in the process of healing. Eight rongoā healers or practitioners took part in semi-structured narrative interviews from June to November 2020. Transcribed interviews were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis and Kaupapa Māori techniques. The findings show how rongoā is underpinned by a complex set of cultural values and beliefs, drawing from the connection to wairua (spirit), tinana (body), tikanga and whakaora (customs and healing), rākau (plants), whenua (landscape) and whānau (family). Incorporating such constructs into the landscape can foster our understanding of health and well-being and its implications for conceptualising therapeutic environments and a culturally appropriate model of care for Māori and non-Māori communities.

‘The wairua first brings you together’: Māori experiences of meaningful connection in neurorehabilitation

Background and Aims: Therapeutic connections enhance patient experience and outcomes after neurological injury or illness. While we have some understanding of the components necessary to optimise therapeutic connections, these have developed from western-centric ideals. This study sought to explore the perspectives of Māori brain injury survivors, and their whānau (wider family and community), to develop more culturally informed understandings of what matters most for Māori in the development and experience of therapeutic connection. Design and Methods: A bicultural approach underpinned by principles of Kaupapa Māori Research was used. Whānau views and experiences were gathered through wānanga (focus groups). These perspectives were analysed drawing on Māori methods of noho puku (self-reflection), whanaungatanga (relational linkage) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship). Findings: Three wānanga were held with 16 people – 5 brain injury survivors and 11 whānau members. The phrase ‘therapeutic connection’ did not resonate; instead, people spoke of meaningful connections. For rehabilitation encounters to be meaningful, three layers of connection were acknowledged. The elemental layer features wairua (spirit) and hononga (connection) which both underpinned and surrounded interactions. The relational layer reflects the importance of whānau identity and collectivism, of being valued, known, and interactively spoken with. Finally, the experiential layer consists of relational aspects important within the experience: relationships of reciprocity that are mana-enhancing and grounded in trust. These layers are interwoven, and together serve as a framework for meaningful connections. Conclusions: Meaningful connections in neurorehabilitation are underpinned by wairua and hononga; are multi-layered; are enabled through interactions with people, practice, process and place; are inclusive of whānau and resonate with Māori worldviews. The primacy of wairua and whānau within an interconnected view of health, challenges individualistic notions inherent in western health models and deepens existing understandings of meaningful connections in neurorehabilitation which can guide future rehabilitation research, teaching and practice.

What are the perspectives of a Ngāti Rākau community towards a potential digital repository for urupā records?

<p>Research problem: Little is known about management of urupā records. The objective of this research was to explore the need for a digital repository. This research project explored how Ngāti Rākau urupā records are currently managed in terms of discoverability, accessibility and sustainability, how records should be managed and potential barriers to a digital repository. Methodology: This research project used an indigenous Kaitiakitanga framework to understand a Māori world view. A Kaupapa Māori paradigm and a co-design approach were also used for the design to appropriately conduct research with Māori participants. A qualitative methodology was used to gain attitudes and opinions from Ngāti Rākau participants. Results: No written records exist through Mōtuiti Marae. Urupā records are currently managed through oral and kanohi ki te kanohi assimilation. Participants support documentation of Ngāti Rākau urupā records. Clarifications around digital protection of urupā records will need to be communicated before a digital repository is created. Potential barriers include generational views, modern Māori perspectives versus traditional perspectives, the desire to uphold cultural traditions and a fear of shared records. Implications: The study was restricted to one hapū and only five participants. Further research could explore how information should be presented and how other hapū and iwi feel about the digitisation of urupā records for more generalised findings.</p>

“It came from me” – Māori representation in Ramai Te Miha Hayward’s authorship

<p>Addressing the critical question of authorship in historical film, this thesis considers Ramai Te Miha Hayward’s works dealing with Māori and Pākehā intercultural representations. During a time when Māori in film were severely underrepresented, Te Miha Hayward prioritised Māori perspectives in The Arts of Maori Children (1962) and Eel History was a Mystery (1968), subversively critiquing the continuation of assimilationist integration policy. These contributions, and Te Miha Hayward’s extensive interviews and unpublished manuscripts, shed light on the change in intercultural representations between Rewi’s Last Stand (1940) and To Love a Maori (1972), feature films that entail romance narratives. Te Miha Hayward’s positionality is key to each chapter’s methodology, locating her voice in extensive primary and secondary materials. This work challenges the debate around film’s value as a source of history, engaging at an intersection of disciplines. The analysis of Rewi’s Last Stand interprets its narrative text and Te Miha Hayward’s paratextual discussion through mana wāhine and kaupapa Māori theories. Such interpretation looks beyond the finished text, to Te Miha Hayward’s affirmation of its historical relevance. Connecting her work with the social realism genre, To Love a Maori’s dual narrative speaks to Māori and Pākehā audiences in different ways, further criticizing assimilation and Pākehā discrimination towards Māori. Navigating the issues of authorial ambiguity is central to locating Te Miha Hayward’s voice, thereby illuminating her authorship. Hence, I argue her contribution to Māori representation in film demonstrates her self-determination as a filmmaker.</p>

Tangata Ngākau: Māori Boys and Masculinity in the Writing of Bruce Stewart, Witi Ihimaera, and Whiti Hereaka

<p>This thesis surveys a selection of writing by Bruce Stewart, Witi Ihimaera, and Whiti Hereaka, and considers how these texts represent varying modes of masculinity available to and expressed by Māori boys and young men. Whilst the three authors present starkly different characters, all of these characters challenge pre-existing claims about Māori men and masculinity propagated by earlier, predominantly Pākehā writers. The first chapter focuses on the collection Tama and Other Stories by Bruce Stewart (1989). Many of the characters in this collection feel pressured to be tough and stoic, but I argue that such pressures are shown to come largely from Pākehā father figures. The modes of masculinity that the boys either portray or wish to portray are much less focused on stoicism, aggression, and physicality than what they see from their fathers. I suggest that Stewart sees instruction in tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori as useful if not essential for young Māori men to escape the pressure of oppressive colonial narratives about Māori masculinity. The second chapter discusses Witi Ihimaera’s novel Bulibasha (1994). In contrast to Stewart’s stories, Bulibasha presents a young boy largely isolated from Pākehā society, but I argue that this does not mean that he is free from the influence of Pākehā masculinity. The novel presents many different expressions of masculinity but only those that are influenced by colonial narratives and which reinforce Pākehā hegemony seem to prosper. Such colonial narratives and influences are arguably less visible than they are in Tama and Other Stories, but this does not make them any less insidious nor damaging to the men in Bulibasha. I suggest that spaces where Pākehā masculinity is less dominant, men are shown to be less stoic, domineering, and oppressive. Likewise, characters who appear to be more immersed in te ao Māori also seem to promote a greater sense of balance and equity between men and women. The final chapter looks at the novel Bugs by Whiti Hereaka (2013). The influence of Pākehā societal norms and narratives on Māori masculinity is shown to be more acute in the setting of this text than in the mid-20th century setting of Tama and Other Stories and Bulibasha. Characters in Stewart’s writing are able to construct their own decolonised spaces where Māori masculinity can be expressed, whilst Ihimaera’s characters struggle to avoid colonial influences even in a predominantly Māori community. By contrast, Hereaka shows characters who feel the full effect of urbanisation and the inherent marginalisation of te ao Māori. For characters in the urban 21st century setting of Bugs, connection to te ao Māori and the ability to access knowledge of tikanga Māori is severely restricted. Whilst Stewart’s and Ihimaera’s characters had access to different visions of Māori masculinity, and varying access to te ao Māori, characters in Bugs are more isolated. I argue that because of this, their ability to reject Pākehā narratives is more limited, and after rejecting the influence of Pākehā masculinity it is not always obvious what alternatives are available. Throughout this thesis deference is given to critics who write from a decolonising and kaupapa Māori perspective. In particular, the works of Brendan Hokowhitu on Māori masculinities, Ani Mikaere on gender in Māori society, Linda Tuhiwai Smith on decolonizing methodologies, Elizabeth Kerekere on sexuality, gender, and Māori, and Belinda Borell on cultural identity and urban Māori, inform the reading and analysis of each of the texts.</p>

What are the perspectives of a Ngāti Rākau community towards a potential digital repository for urupā records?

<p>Research problem: Little is known about management of urupā records. The objective of this research was to explore the need for a digital repository. This research project explored how Ngāti Rākau urupā records are currently managed in terms of discoverability, accessibility and sustainability, how records should be managed and potential barriers to a digital repository. Methodology: This research project used an indigenous Kaitiakitanga framework to understand a Māori world view. A Kaupapa Māori paradigm and a co-design approach were also used for the design to appropriately conduct research with Māori participants. A qualitative methodology was used to gain attitudes and opinions from Ngāti Rākau participants. Results: No written records exist through Mōtuiti Marae. Urupā records are currently managed through oral and kanohi ki te kanohi assimilation. Participants support documentation of Ngāti Rākau urupā records. Clarifications around digital protection of urupā records will need to be communicated before a digital repository is created. Potential barriers include generational views, modern Māori perspectives versus traditional perspectives, the desire to uphold cultural traditions and a fear of shared records. Implications: The study was restricted to one hapū and only five participants. Further research could explore how information should be presented and how other hapū and iwi feel about the digitisation of urupā records for more generalised findings.</p>

Tangata Ngākau: Māori Boys and Masculinity in the Writing of Bruce Stewart, Witi Ihimaera, and Whiti Hereaka

<p>This thesis surveys a selection of writing by Bruce Stewart, Witi Ihimaera, and Whiti Hereaka, and considers how these texts represent varying modes of masculinity available to and expressed by Māori boys and young men. Whilst the three authors present starkly different characters, all of these characters challenge pre-existing claims about Māori men and masculinity propagated by earlier, predominantly Pākehā writers. The first chapter focuses on the collection Tama and Other Stories by Bruce Stewart (1989). Many of the characters in this collection feel pressured to be tough and stoic, but I argue that such pressures are shown to come largely from Pākehā father figures. The modes of masculinity that the boys either portray or wish to portray are much less focused on stoicism, aggression, and physicality than what they see from their fathers. I suggest that Stewart sees instruction in tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori as useful if not essential for young Māori men to escape the pressure of oppressive colonial narratives about Māori masculinity. The second chapter discusses Witi Ihimaera’s novel Bulibasha (1994). In contrast to Stewart’s stories, Bulibasha presents a young boy largely isolated from Pākehā society, but I argue that this does not mean that he is free from the influence of Pākehā masculinity. The novel presents many different expressions of masculinity but only those that are influenced by colonial narratives and which reinforce Pākehā hegemony seem to prosper. Such colonial narratives and influences are arguably less visible than they are in Tama and Other Stories, but this does not make them any less insidious nor damaging to the men in Bulibasha. I suggest that spaces where Pākehā masculinity is less dominant, men are shown to be less stoic, domineering, and oppressive. Likewise, characters who appear to be more immersed in te ao Māori also seem to promote a greater sense of balance and equity between men and women. The final chapter looks at the novel Bugs by Whiti Hereaka (2013). The influence of Pākehā societal norms and narratives on Māori masculinity is shown to be more acute in the setting of this text than in the mid-20th century setting of Tama and Other Stories and Bulibasha. Characters in Stewart’s writing are able to construct their own decolonised spaces where Māori masculinity can be expressed, whilst Ihimaera’s characters struggle to avoid colonial influences even in a predominantly Māori community. By contrast, Hereaka shows characters who feel the full effect of urbanisation and the inherent marginalisation of te ao Māori. For characters in the urban 21st century setting of Bugs, connection to te ao Māori and the ability to access knowledge of tikanga Māori is severely restricted. Whilst Stewart’s and Ihimaera’s characters had access to different visions of Māori masculinity, and varying access to te ao Māori, characters in Bugs are more isolated. I argue that because of this, their ability to reject Pākehā narratives is more limited, and after rejecting the influence of Pākehā masculinity it is not always obvious what alternatives are available. Throughout this thesis deference is given to critics who write from a decolonising and kaupapa Māori perspective. In particular, the works of Brendan Hokowhitu on Māori masculinities, Ani Mikaere on gender in Māori society, Linda Tuhiwai Smith on decolonizing methodologies, Elizabeth Kerekere on sexuality, gender, and Māori, and Belinda Borell on cultural identity and urban Māori, inform the reading and analysis of each of the texts.</p>

“It came from me” – Māori representation in Ramai Te Miha Hayward’s authorship

<p>Addressing the critical question of authorship in historical film, this thesis considers Ramai Te Miha Hayward’s works dealing with Māori and Pākehā intercultural representations. During a time when Māori in film were severely underrepresented, Te Miha Hayward prioritised Māori perspectives in The Arts of Maori Children (1962) and Eel History was a Mystery (1968), subversively critiquing the continuation of assimilationist integration policy. These contributions, and Te Miha Hayward’s extensive interviews and unpublished manuscripts, shed light on the change in intercultural representations between Rewi’s Last Stand (1940) and To Love a Maori (1972), feature films that entail romance narratives. Te Miha Hayward’s positionality is key to each chapter’s methodology, locating her voice in extensive primary and secondary materials. This work challenges the debate around film’s value as a source of history, engaging at an intersection of disciplines. The analysis of Rewi’s Last Stand interprets its narrative text and Te Miha Hayward’s paratextual discussion through mana wāhine and kaupapa Māori theories. Such interpretation looks beyond the finished text, to Te Miha Hayward’s affirmation of its historical relevance. Connecting her work with the social realism genre, To Love a Maori’s dual narrative speaks to Māori and Pākehā audiences in different ways, further criticizing assimilation and Pākehā discrimination towards Māori. Navigating the issues of authorial ambiguity is central to locating Te Miha Hayward’s voice, thereby illuminating her authorship. Hence, I argue her contribution to Māori representation in film demonstrates her self-determination as a filmmaker.</p>

How do traditional Māori values affect the sustainability of Māori tourism businesses?

<p>The Māori economic asset base has seen significant growth over the past 100 years. Research estimates the Māori economy to be valued at 50 billion (NZ Foreign Affairs & Trade, 2018). While this figure represents the Māori economy, Māori tourism makes a significant economic contribution to this asset base. When considering the different aspects of the New Zealand tourism product, a key aspect that sets New Zealand tourism apart from other destinations is the unique Māori culture. This cultural aspect is a key motivating factor for international tourists intending on visiting New Zealand. Māori tourism businesses offer a range of tourism products and services that are embedded in, and informed by Māori values. When incorporated in business, many of these traditional Māori values align closely to the three pillars of business sustainability. Literature on Māori tourism, Māori values and business sustainability provide some insight into this phenomenon. However, little is known about how these three components interrelate. Ultimately very little is known about how traditional Māori values impact the business sustainability of Māori tourism businesses. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether Māori tourism businesses incorporate traditional Māori values into their business and if so, how does the application of these values affect the sustainability of Māori tourism businesses. Developed from an interpretive social science research paradigm aligned with Kaupapa Māori research, this thesis assesses the impacts of the incorporation of Māori values on the business sustainability of Māori tourism businesses. Semi-structured interviews were selected as an appropriate method of data collection. 12 respondents from eight Māori tourism businesses were interviewed and their responses along with an analysis of the wider literature enabled the researcher to answer the overarching research question – how are traditional Māori values affecting the business sustainability of Māori tourism businesses? Key research findings include the following: the importance of hiring Māori, developing cultural capacity of staff and stakeholders, preventing cultural misappropriation, providing opportunities for local communities, the relationship of Māori with the land, the importance of sustainable relationships, the impact of climate change on Kaitiakitanga, and the importance of making a profit – but not at the detriment of culture and the environment. The findings identified that to have the ability to implement sustainable practices requires financial sustainability. This thesis makes a contribution to the literature on Māori values, Māori tourism and business sustainability by providing a greater understanding of which Māori values are applied by Māori tourism businesses and how these values impact business sustainability. In particular, this thesis has done something that previous literature has not, that is, it has attributed the specific effects of individual Māori values against the pillars of business sustainability. This gives the indication of which values have the greatest impact on business sustainability. Finally, in accordance with Kaupapa Māori research, this thesis has provided a practical contribution to the Māori tourism industry. This contribution is in the form of recommendations made to enhance the business sustainability of Māori tourism businesses.</p>