Community resilience demonstrated through a Te Ao Māori (Ngāti Manawa) lens: The Rāhui

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This research project is associated with a small rural community utilising the Te Ao Māori (Ngāti Manawa) understanding of Rāhui, as a means of decreasing the possibility of negative impacts for their mostly Māori population, during the Covid-19 pandemic that was experienced in March 2020 in Aotearoa New Zealand. Rāhui is a conservation measure shrouded in tapu designed to limit, restrict or prevent access to the natural environment. For example, Te Wao Tapu nui a Tāne protecting in the process the mauri of our rivers, lakes, streams following a mishap or misfortune such as a drowning. Equally as important, Rāhui was used as a proactive means of conservation.METHOD: Using mixed methods, this study highlights both positive and challenging experiences in the statistical and thematic analysis that may inform future public health planning for the inevitable and ongoing effects of pandemic responses in Aotearoa New Zealand which are potentially transportable beyond Aotearoa New Zealand.IMPLICATIONS: This research identified how Nga ̄ti Manawa of Murupara, utilised Rāhui as a mechanism of resilience in order to keep local residents thriving and healthy during and after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown by setting up checkpoints on the borders of their rohe, and restricting the vehicle and human traffic into Murupara. Support for the Rāhui was significant from five hapū leaders and from the community survey illuminating a sense of safety that the checkpoints offered to a vulnerable and mostly Māori rural community.

The Critical Juncture in Aotearoa New Zealand and The Collective Future: Policy Issues in Settler/Invader Colonial Zombiism Found in “Biculturalism”

“…12 At one point in the late 1980s, unemployment reached 95% in Murupara and Minginui, and today a large proportion of their populations continue to sustain their livelihood via government welfare assistance (Birchfield & Grant, 1993;NMCSA, 2012;Pomeroy & Tapuke, 2016). Rewi and Hastie (2021) highlight this stark disparity in quality of life and observe that in Murupara today: "46% of the residents are oneparent families and the median income is $17,100 per annum" (p. 66). This affirms Terruhn's (2019) point that Māori continue to be overrepresented in many negative social indicators.…”

Reconnecting Māori in a post-COVID-19 world: a blessing in disguise

“…Sixteen articles from published literature emerged from the theme of revival of traditional practices (Dawes et al, 2021; Dutta et al, 2020; Finiki & Maclean, 2020; Keelan et al, 2021; Manurirangi & Jarman, 2021; McLeod et al, 2020; McMeeking et al, 2020; McMeeking & Savage, 2020; Muru-Lanning et al, 2021; Moeke-Maxwell et al, 2020; Penetito et al, 2021; Pihama & Lipsham, 2020; Rewi & Hastie, 2021; Severinsen et al, 2021; Stanley & Bradley, 2021; Whaanga & Merchant, 2021). Grey literature included Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated (2021) and Radio Kahungunu (2021).…”

“…Furthermore, the concept of rāhui (temporary prohibition against a particular area or activity) was integrated into a modern-day form of policing for Māori. The mobilisation of rāhui helped protect Māori within rural and remote communities while supporting the revitalisation of these traditional practices (Rewi & Hastie, 2021; Severinsen et al, 2021; Stanley & Bradley, 2021; Whaanga & Merchant, 2021). Drawing on the experiences of birth, death and spirituality during the pandemic, Moeke-Maxwell et al (2020) and Finiki and Maclean (2020) maintained that traditional practices and protocols would continue to be practised and adapted as they are essential to health and wellbeing for Māori.…”