From a Search for Rangatiratanga to a Struggle for Survival - Criminal Justice, the State and Māori, 1985 to 2015. The 2015 JD Stout Lecture

Abstract

In this presentation, I consider not only the relationship between Māori and the state, but the response of key criminal justice agencies to the surge of Māori confidence in the 1970’s and 80’s, and desire to take control of their own destiny – the Māori renaissance as it became known. How did the Police, the prisons and the youth justice system respond to this call for rangatiratanga? How easily did it respond to the idea that Māori, far from being passive recipients of the criminal justice system, wanted a piece of the action? How well did the operational reality meld with, on the one hand, the state’s vision of a bicultural nation, and on the other, the Māori vision for a measure of autonomy, a rangatiratanga not realised in any earlier constitutional or political arrangements?

Challenges facing a Māori prison education leader

“…The Department of Corrections has a priority to keep the community safe, but forgets that the people in their care are also part of that community. Prisoners are instead treated as an underclass who present a safety risk to the rest of the good, law-abiding citizens (Workman, 2016).…”

Marae Ora Kāinga Ora: Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Solutions via Time-Honored Indigenous Spaces

“…As Kaupapa Māori approaches (Smith 1997(Smith , 1999Durie 2004;McIntosh and Mulholland 2011;Workman 2016) aim to create positive outcomes, this research assists in reimagining collective and contemporary development of traditional kāinga. The project conceptualises the co-creation of new community developments based on the notion of ora (Māori notions of wellbeing), and particularly on what can be achieved for the collectives of whānau, hap ū, iwi, and the wider community.…”

“…Purposefully located in South Auckland, this research aims to make meaningful change for some of the most marginalised and impoverished whānau urban communities in Aotearoa. While South Auckland is rich in Māori and Pasifika peoples (especially young people), languages, and cultures, they also share the hallmarks of poverty, featuring in all the negative social indices of health, education, and justice (Smith 1999;Durie 2004;McIntosh and Mulholland 2011;Workman 2016). As Kaupapa Māori research is committed to transformative outcomes, the MOKO project aims to address Māori social and cultural deprivation through the cultural intervention of marae and kāinga.…”

The Experiences of Māori Prison Officers in Aotearoa New Zealand's Prison System

“…However, the presence of western penal philosophies in contemporary New Zealand prisons is so deeply embedded within our neoliberal, settler-colonial society that Māori are likely to often share in these same conceptualisations of punishment (Jackson, 1988, p. 55). The racialised dynamics of 'guard' and 'inmate' were transformed in the 1980s as growing numbers of Māori took-up positions as frontline prison staff, which meant persons of shared whakapapa were interacting at an increased rate on both sides of the wire (Workman, 2015). However, the push to recruit Māori also coincided with the 'prison boom,' where more Māori were being incarcerated than ever before (Workman, 2015).…”

“…The racialised dynamics of 'guard' and 'inmate' were transformed in the 1980s as growing numbers of Māori took-up positions as frontline prison staff, which meant persons of shared whakapapa were interacting at an increased rate on both sides of the wire (Workman, 2015). However, the push to recruit Māori also coincided with the 'prison boom,' where more Māori were being incarcerated than ever before (Workman, 2015). Therefore, the increased employment of Māori in prison symbolised the continuation of the settler-colonial project, where Māori were not only undertaking the state's bidding by disproportionately locking-up people of shared ancestry, but doing so in a way that adhered to the "unchallengeable and unchanging" western ways of doing justicea site of great whakamā to tangata whenua (Jackson, 2018).…”