Mana Motuhake Research Articles

Mana Motuhake o Ngāti Porou: Decolonising Health Literacy

This paper explores decolonising health literacy by reclaiming historical practices shared by Māori to develop a kaupapa Māori health literacy evaluation framework. The work is based on a research innovation within a Primary Health Organisation – Ngāti Porou Hauora – that defines health literacy within the context of the community. This research promotes reclamation of health literacy as a space for Māori to be ourselves; a space that is negotiated, adaptive, and shaped by people, whānau (family group) and communities. The framework attempts to reflect participants’ voices, perceptions, understandings and experiences. Its design was informed by a kaupapa Māori praxis, and aspires to co-ownership, mutually beneficial outcomes and shared power through prioritising participants’ voices to shape and develop the criteria for determining the goals and action areas related to health literacy. The framework includes overall goals and action areas for practicing effective health literacy at individual, whānau, health professional, intervention/programme, and organisational levels. This paper is an example of how Māori can promote and practice health literacy in the context of our histories, honouring a pathway of transformation through decolonising methods.

Kaumātua mana motuhake in action: developing a culture-centred peer support programme for managing transitions in later life

AbstractNew Zealand's ageing population and health inequities for Māori (Indigenous peoples) have prompted calls for innovative, culturally based approaches to improving health and wellbeing, and managing transitions in later life. This is particularly important for kaumātua (Māori elders) who, despite cultural strength and resilience, carry a significant burden in health, economic and social inequities. This paper describes the culture-centred development of a ‘tuakana‒teina’ (elder sibling‒younger sibling) peer support education programme designed to help kaumātua support other kaumātua experiencing transitions in later life. Taking a strengths-based approach that highlights ‘kaumātua mana motuhake’ (elder independence and autonomy), the study used kaupapa Māori (Māori approach, knowledge, skills, attitudes and values) and community-based participatory research methodology, to develop and pilot a culture-centred tuakana‒teina/peer education programme. Methods included establishing two advisory groups (one of kaumātua and one of sector experts); holding five focus groups with kaumātua; and running a pilot programme with 21 kaumātua. The findings demonstrate the value in a strengths-based approach that centralises Māori culture and kaumātua potential, capacity and ability, and recognises the continuing value and contribution of kaumātua to society. The study helps shift the focus from dominant stereotypes of ageing populations as a burden on society and shows the value of kaumātua supporting others during transitions in later life.

Kaum\u0101tua Mana Motuhake: A study protocol for a peer education intervention to help M\u0101ori elders work through later-stage life transitions

BackgroundThe Aotearoa/New Zealand population is ageing and numerous studies demonstrate with this phenomenon comes increases in non-communicable diseases, injuries and healthcare costs among other issues. Further, significant inequities exist between Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand) and non-Māori around poor ageing and health. Most research addressing these issues is deficit oriented; however, the current research project takes a strengths-based approach that highlights the potential of kaumātua (elders) by asserting mana motuhake (autonomy, identity and self-actualisation). We believe that the esteem of elders in Māori culture signals transformative potential. Specifically, this project utilises a ‘tuakana-teina’ (older sibling/younger sibling) peer-educator model, where kaumātua work with other kaumātua in relation to health and wellbeing. The objectives of the project are (a) to develop the capacity of kaumātua as peer educators, whilst having positive impacts on their sense of purpose, health and wellbeing; and (b) to enhance the social and health outcomes for kaumātua receiving the intervention.MethodsThe research is grounded in principles of Kaupapa Māori and community-based participatory research, and brings together an Indigenous community of kaumātua, community health researchers, and academic researchers working with two advisory boards. The project intervention involves an orientation programme for tuakana peer educators for other kaumātua (teina). The research design is a pre- and post-test, clustered staggered design. All participants will complete a baseline assessment of health and wellbeing consistent with Māori worldviews (i.e., holistic model). The tuakana and teina participants will be divided into two groups with the first group completing the intervention during the first half of the project and the second group during the second half of the project. All participants will complete post-test assessments following both interventions allowing comparison of the two groups along with repeated measures over time.DiscussionThe findings will provide an evidence base for the importance and relevancy of kaumātua knowledge to create contextually based and culturally safe age-friendly environments that facilitate engagement and participation by kaumātua for kaumātua. If the model is effective, we will seek to facilitate the dissemination and scalability of the intervention.Trial registrationAustralia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12617001396314); Date Registered: 3 October 2017 (retrospectively registered).

Ngā Tāpiritanga

While Western attachment theory has tended to focus on the interpersonal attachments between people, indigenous Māori attachment perspectives have always included connections and relationships to aspects outside of the interpersonal domain. Collective, cultural and tikanga-based extrapersonal relationships are significant in Te Ao Māori and include connection to whānau/hapū/iwi (extended family and community groups), whenua (land and the natural world), and wairua (interconnection and spirituality). Alongside vital interpersonal relationships, these extrapersonal connections are substantial to the development of an indigenous Māori self which is well and supported within a holistic framework. This article explores the extrapersonal connections outlined above, their importance to Hauora Māori and implications for the practice of psychotherapy in Aotearoa New Zealand.WhakarāpopotongaI te wā e warea ana te arotahi kaupapa piripono a te Uru ki te piringa whaiaro tangata ki te tangata, ko tā te Māori tirohanga piripono he whakauru i ngā here ngā whanaungatanga ki ngā āhuatanga i tua atu i te ao whaiaro. He take nunui te whānau kohinga ahurea o te Ao Māori whakakaohia ki tēnei te here ā-whānau, ā-hāpū, ā-iwi (whānau whānui me ngā rōpū hāpori), te whenua, te taiao me te wairua (ngā taura here, te waiuratanga). I tua atu o ngā here whaiaro he wāhanga tino nui tō ēnei kohinga ahurea ki te whanaketanga o te mana motuhake o te tangata whenua Māori e ora ana e tautokohia ana e te papa whānui nei. E wherawhera ana tēnei tuhinga i ngā here whakawaho kua whakaarahia i runga ake nei, te hira o ēnei ki te Hauora Māori me ngā whakahīrau mō ngā mahi hauora hinengaro i Aotearoa.

Te Arewhana Kei Roto i Te Rūma: An Indigenous Neo-Disputatio on Settler Society, Nullifying Te Tiriti, ‘Natural Resources’ and Our Collective Future in Aotearoa New Zealand

This practice-research based article explores the relationship between mana motuhake and white patriarchal sovereignty in Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing on Ngāti Tūwharetoa as a case study. It seeks to find the relevance of Aboriginal academic Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s white possessive doctrine to the Aotearoa New Zealand context. In particular, it highlights the racist nature of the law and planning systems and their inadequacies to provide for hapū and iwi. It provides a key theoretical analysis regarding the nature of white patriarchal sovereignty in Aotearoa and the need of the state to appear virtuous, to continue the legacy that started with the Treaty of Waitangi to maintain this whenua as a white possessive. Lastly, the piece questions the position of Britishness within Aotearoa New Zealand and asks key philosophical questions for all about the need to find common understandings or māramatanga about our collective future as a society.

Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake

This article brings perspectives from three Māori activists, each promoting issues of self-determination in different ways. It centres on tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake, two concepts that inform modern Māori activism and life and practice, and more recently conceptions of Māoridom as “nation”. Using a Gramscian framework we argue that the New Zealand state has over time created a notion of one people within one state, and has in the past incorporated challenges to its legitimacy within a framework of popular consent. The desire by some Māori activists for self-determination promotes a separateness that to some extent challenges this idea of nation–state unity. An examination of these modern Māori activist politics allows us to observe the operations of hegemony as it forms and reforms in modern New Zealand.

Political Expression and Ethnicity: Statecraft and Mobilisation in the Maori World

Introduction From Resistance to Co-existence The Structure of Maori Political Life From Labour to Independent The Foundation of Mana Motuhake The Battle of the By-Election A Campaign of Hope and Vision A Distinctive Alternative The Meaning of Mana Motuhake Glossary Bibliography Postscript Index

Contesting new terrain: Red‐green politics in New Zealand∗

The Alliance is a new progressive force in New Zealand politics. Uniting the Greens, Mana Motuhake (the movement for Maori self‐determination), the Democrats (which emerged from the former Social Credit Party), the Liberals, and the New Labour Party (itself formed in 1989 by activists who broke with the old Labour Party), the Alliance began as a collective initiative in late 1991. A public opinion poll in late 1992 recorded that Alliance had the support of 38 percent of New Zealand's voters. It would need over 40 percent of the vote to form a government at the October, 1993 national elections.