New light through old windows: nurses, colonists and indigenous survival

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the influences, processes and environments that shaped the practice of European nurses for indigenous New Zealand (NZ) Māori communities who were being overwhelmed by introduced infectious diseases. Historical data were accessed from multiple archival sources and analysed through the lens of colonial theory. Through their work early last century, NZ nurses actively gained professional status and territory through their work with Māori. By living and working alongside Māori, they learned to practise in new ways that influenced Māori health. By developing a new role in new professional territory, nurses extended their practice to include health promotion as well as disease prevention. Māori survival from epidemics improved, and the population grew over that period. For Māori, however, Eurocentric care alleviated their immediate health problems, but the detrimental impact of the mechanisms of colonisation overall has continued to the present day.

Hauora Māori – Māori health: a right to equal outcomes in primary care

“…Advances in Māori health were associated with Māori leadership and tino rangatiratanga, Māori selfdetermination, within a context of cultural, social, and economic development. Durie (1999) identi ed three periods of Māori leadership: 1900-1930 witnessed greater Māori participation in health by tribal leaders and recent Māori medical graduates, despite the Department of Health maintaining a central control which led to displaced community leaders, the Tohunga Suppression Act (1907), and little support for Māori nurses [21]; 1931-1975 involved Māori women, who, although regarded as essentially a support to health professionals, connected Māori to mainstream health services, established the Māori Women's Health League (1937) and Māori Women's Welfare League (1951), and entered the health professions, especially nursing; 1976-1992 Māori health initiatives were active in most Māori communities and Māori models of health were making more explicit the implications of culture to health with due recognition of tikanga Māori.…”

Untitled

“…[45] Eurocentrist views of illness, rejection of Indigenous traditions, and racial inequity create the conditions of social, cultural, and economic marginalization affecting Indigenous populations in Canada and New Zealand. [46,47] A social justice lens represents another fundamental knowledge in nursing. Social justice knowledge develops nursing students' social consciousness as future nurses and citizens.…”

Hauora Māori – Māori health: a right to equal outcomes in primary care

“…Advances in Māori health were associated with Māori leadership and tino rangatiratanga, Māori self-determination, within a context of cultural, social, and economic development. Durie (1999) identified three periods of Māori leadership: 1900–1930 witnessed greater Māori participation in health by tribal leaders and recent Māori medical graduates, despite the Department of Health maintaining a central control which led to displaced community leaders, the Tohunga Suppression Act (1907), and little support for Māori nurses [ 23 ]; 1931–1975 involved Māori women, who, although regarded as essentially a support to health professionals, connected Māori to mainstream health services, established the Māori Women’s Health League (1937) and Māori Women’s Welfare League (1951), and entered the health professions, especially nursing; by 1976–1992 Māori health initiatives were active in most Māori communities and Māori models of health were making more explicit the implications of culture to health with due recognition of tikanga Māori.…”