Different Coloured Tears: Bicultural Bereavement- A study

The Role of Emotion in Understanding Whiteness

“…To accept a gift and to reciprocate gives dignity to the receiver. To create something new through the process of sharing is to recreate the old, to reconnect relationships and to recreate our humanness (188) While it is often argued in stereotypes of Māori that there are no "full-blooded" Māori left (McCreanor 2009, Moewaka Barnes et al 2012 and that for some Māori their connection with customary markers of Māori identity see them positioned as culturally "disconnected" (Borell 2005), the temerity of Māori to embrace the expression and sharing of emotion, particularly grief, appears to transcend region, upbringing, background, even nationality (Potiki 2018;Edge 2017). Tangihanga is defined as the "complex of culturally defined mourning practices and rituals through which Māori respond to death" (Nikora and Te Awekotuku 2013, 170).…”

“…They recommended the cultural importance of tupaapaku to Māori be more formally recognized to improve relationships with affected agencies and Māori communities leading to, amongst other things, an amendment of the Coroners Act 2006. 2 The ability for Māori who live elsewhere (Australia for instance) to meet their obligations to the deceased is also an area of growing concern (New Zealand Herald 2016;Edge 2017;Nikora and Te Awekotuku 2013;McIntosh 2001). Mead (1997) characterized the expression of grief for Māori in the following way:…”