Risk, offending behaviour and young people in the Cook Islands: A study of cultural resilience

Abstract

This thesis begins with the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Australian prisons and the suggestion by Homel, Lincoln and Herd (1999) that cultural resilience might be a protective factor in Indigenous communities. The concept of cultural resilience appeared in the literature when Native American educators observed that there were specific cultural factors, such as family strength, tribal identity, spirituality and ceremony, which were protecting Indian families and communities (Heavyrunner and Morris, 1997). The Cook Islands is a previously colonised, self-governing Māori nation in the South Pacific with a low rate of incarceration and no juvenile detention facilities. As the rate of incarceration in the Cook Islands is approximately one sixth of that for Māori in New Zealand and less than one tenth of that for Indigenous Australians, it was thought that cultural factors might be protecting the young people in the local communities. Following Bhabha (1974) culture is seen as ever-changing; new and hybrid cultures arising when traditional Indigenous cultures meet colonisation or global capitalism. This is a hybrid thesis, a psychological and phenomenological study of offending behaviour embedded in an ethnographic study of a South Pacific community, recognising the history of Western imperialism in research noted by Tuhiwai Smith (1999). The principles of the Indigenous research paradigm, as described by Chilisa (2012), have been adhered to; research that promotes transformation and social change, guided by respect and relational accountability, and informed by postcolonial discourses. Semi-structured interviews or conversations with young prisoners and young people under supervision on the main island of Rarotonga revealed that risk factors include the general factors found by Homel et al. (1999); poverty, child abuse, and school exclusion. In addition, out migration of young people or their parents to New Zealand or Australia and/or returning to the islands creates risk, as does the death of grandparents, who are frequently the principal carers for the children. Semi-structured interviews or conversations with adult community stakeholders and participant observation on Rarotonga suggested that protective factors include the kōpū tangata or traditional extended family as the source of aroʻa (loving kindness and compassion) and that the Polynesian cultural tradition of tamariki ʻangai or informal adoption extends and strengthens the attachment bonds between family members. Group memberships in church, village and island communities create further connections to land and people, strengthening the social networks. Cook Islanders also benefit from polycultural capital, being well versed in traditional culture, exposed to a Western but bilingual education and, as citizens of New Zealand, having the opportunity to study and work overseas. Postcolonial theory is used as the lens to analyse the community risk factors in the Cook Islands; the ongoing economic domination by European settlers, the low wages for local people, and the ever-expanding tourist industry, described as devastating to the Indigenous peoples in other Pacific nations. Tourism on Rarotonga creates employment for foreign workers, alienates valuable land, pollutes the lagoon, drains the water supplies in the villages, turns mana (spiritual power) into a name for a cheap ballpoint pen, and the ancient Gods of Polynesia become ticky tacky airport art. Tuhiwai Smith (1999) states that self-determination is the centre of the Indigenous research agenda. Self-determination theory suggests that autonomy, relatedness and competence are necessary for emotional and social well-being and these factors may be protecting the Cook Islands community in the face of the disheartening postcolonial legacy. The people enjoy strong interpersonal relationships and high levels of competence in traditional arts and crafts, as well as in Western education and training. Most significant, almost 50 years of self-government have allowed Cook Islanders the freedom to practice their culture and so to maintain a high level of cultural resilience. These findings suggest that the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the prisons of settler countries, such as Australia and Canada, is linked to the historical disruption of connections between people, their extended families, their ancestors and their land. Drawing on the wisdom of the Cook Islands Māori people, Jonassen quotes Teina Lily Napa as saying “ka nā roto mai te aroʻa i te pito” (2005, p. 27); “love and compassion arise from connectedness”. It would seem that it is piriʻanga, relationship or connection, both in a physical and emotional sense, which facilitates the socio-cultural processes which act as protective factors in the face of risk (Rutter, 1987), so creating resilience.