He kākano ahau – identity, Indigeneity and wellbeing for young Māori (Indigenous) men in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

This article examines how dominant Eurocentric approaches to mental health are unable to address the diverse needs of young Māori men in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Drawing on current health inequities facing Māori and young Māori men in particular, this commentary explores how colonisation has impacted young Māori men in negative ways. Through shaping current health structures in Aotearoa/New Zealand, dominant Eurocentric approaches foreground individualised conceptualisations of Māori ill-health, and then apply predominantly Western therapies to resolve this. These approaches are ill-equipped to address the intergenerational and structural issues which are at the root of mental health disparities for young Māori men. This article adds to a growing body of Indigenous psychology literature that speaks to the inadequacies within (mental) health systems for addressing the ongoing challenges that Māori experience due to colonisation. It further highlights how the intersections among ethnicity/race, class, age and masculinity for Māori men are shaped by colonial discourses. These inadequacies reflect a broader issue of the constraints placed on Māori self-determination by the colonial systems of power in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The article closes by proposing some alternative approaches to supporting Māori wellbeing that centre the needs and aspirations of Māori.

Introducing ‘Ngaruroro’, a New Model for Understanding Māori Wellbeing

“…Taonga tuku iho is a valuable theme that explicates the utility of our cultural treasures as sources of wellbeing. This idea is not new and is consistent with well-established ideas of 'culture as a cure', where connection to ancestral language, knowledge, practices, and ways of being is linked to wellbeing [33][34][35][36]38,40,41]. This view has been researched extensively in the Aotearoa context and has sparked conversations and new lines of research into what it means to be culturally embedded [35][36][37].…”

“…The research endeavour described in this article is part of a new era of Māori scholarship that seeks to model and psychometrically measure Māori cultural capacities, concepts, connections, and identities related to wellbeing [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. This surge of Māori quantitative research reflects a growing appetite for measurement tools that are grounded in both te ao Māori and quantitative scientific paradigms.…”

Resistance, resurgence, and wellbeing: climate change loss and damages from the perspective of Māori women

“…Today, despite the existence of a Māori elite class, many whānau in both urban and rural spaces (including the Kaipara and surrounds) experience high rates of deprivation and complex forms of racial, class-based, and gendered marginalisation that perpetuate poor health and wellbeing (Houkamau and Sibley, 2014; Johnston and Pihama, 2019; Meijl, 2020; Smale, n.d.; Stats NZ, 2021). Like other Indigenous populations (McKinley et al, 2020; Sherwood, 2013; Young et al, 2020), Māori have shorter life expectancy than non-Indigenous residents of Aotearoa, experience disproportionately high rates of physical and mental health complaints and associated traumas (including suicide, substance, and interpersonal abuse) and are over-represented in the justice and state care system (Hamley and Grice, 2021; Ministry of Health, 2018a, 2018b, 2018c). These disparities are often conceptualised as the embodiment of grief, loss, and intergenerational or historical trauma associated with colonisation (Brave Heart et al, 2011; Getz, 2018).…”