Māori women (Aotearoa New Zealand’s Indigenous women) experience a high burden of harm and homicide associated with intergenerational family violence, complicated by the ongoing effects of colonialism. Also, the historical, social, and cultural complexities, such as poverty and structural racism, challenge further Māori women seeking help. In this project, we sought to answer two questions: What are Māori women’s sociocultural constructions of “love” within relationships with violent partners? What roles do traditional cultural values play in their relationships? Using Kaupapa Māori (by Māori, for Māori) methodology, we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 27 Māori women and analyzed them using thematic analysis. We identified three core themes that explain how Māori women enter into, stay in, and leave a relationship with a violent partner: (a) it begins with a connection, (b) downplaying the signs, and (c) needing to leave. We found that Māori women’s compassion and caring for their partner was underpinned by their recognition that partners had the potential to be nonviolent and resembled Māori cultural concepts of aroha (compassion, empathy, and respect) and manaakitanga (hospitality, sharing, and caring for others). Through sharing their stories, these women revealed the strength of cultural imperatives that include the importance of whakapapa (genealogy) and whanaungatanga (connections) of which aroha and manaakitanga are integral parts. Our findings highlight the complexity and competing tensions underpinning Māori women’s decision-making when entering and exiting violent relationships. These cultural imperatives are essential for understanding how these influence the decision-making of Māori women, which can position them at odds with those who would tell them they must walk away and not look back.
In this paper, we use research with Indigenous Māori women to explain the research interface to bring together Indigenous and Euro-Western ways of knowing. Our research required using an Indigenous research methodology that drew on traditional cultural knowledge with embedded critical and decolonisation theories to understand this often-marginalised group of Indigenous women. Constructivist grounded theory provided a systematic and rigorous approach to generating theory. Because of the unique histories of colonisation and contemporary realities resulting in Indigenous women's marginalisation, globally, we argue research must be relevant, safe, and meaningful to those researched to produce transformative knowledge. Therefore, planning a research methodology to inform research with Indigenous women that counters current unhelpful constructions required careful consideration. We share how we used kaupapa Māori research methodology and constructivist grounded theory to generate an explanation of how Māori women keep safe in unsafe relationships.
This paper articulates an example of a piece of research undertaken on the basis of a Kaupapa Māori and non‐Western epistemology. The research acts both as a personal endeavour, and as a political stand against the dominant Western paradigm of mainstream research. The intent of this paper is to reveal a different form of “knowing,” and invite the reader to reflect on their own “position” in relation to this stance. Consequently, findings from the research have not been discussed. The use of Māori and non‐English terms is intentional, and presents the reader with an opportunity to experience what it is like to be excluded through the process of languaging. In the spirit of generosity though, as practiced and perhaps required by many indigenous cultures, translations have been provided within the main text or within the glossary.
The politics of toheroa soup is a pūkōrero (story) about the slow depletion of the toheroa, the Foreshore Resource Management act and the impacts on one west coast Northland Māori whānau. Toheroa was a main and staple food source for my whānau (family) from the time our tūpuna (ancestors) migrated to Aotearoa. I say “was” because we are no longer allowed to collect the giant surf clam without permits to do so. This paper discusses how whānau and cultural identity is shaped by the toheroa, the moana, the whenua and the legislation that influences how tamariki and rangatahi Māori experiences unfold within their whānau and hapū. To highlight these connections, I present whānau pūkōrero with the inclusion of discussion points. This paper makes a small contribution towards the special volume of Ata celebrating ten years of Waka Oranga: National Collective of Māori Psychotherapy Practitioners (NCMPP).
This article discusses the development in Aotearoa New Zealand of a fledgling Māori professional organisation, Waka Oranga, which is engaged in providing Indigenous healing and psychotherapeutic support to Māori families who experience trauma and discontent in their lives, and supervision and consultancy to Māori and non-Māori professionals. The article sets this development in context, discusses the symbolism of the organisation’s name and logo, summarises its organisational structure, values and processes, and concludes with its principles and vision.
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