Te whakaohooho, te whakarauora mauri : the re-awakening and re-vitalising indigenous 'spirit' of power, healing, goodness and wellbeing : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
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Date
2023
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Massey University
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Abstract
A ‘spirit’ of Indigenous healing, wellbeing and re-vitalisation has been quietly, yet surely re-awakening our personal-global Indigenous hearts, homes and nations for the last few decades. To trace, track and understand the source, force and course of this movement and release much needed healing into our communities, the stories of six Indigenous people who were raised in ‘against-all-odds’ identity development conditions, yet are now proudly and perpetuatingly Indigenous have been received, held, analysed and synthesised. To ensure the Original teachings, stories and Indigenous-centric scholarship of this research remain grounded in the vital and re-vitalising relevancies of our everyday embodied experiences of Indigenous source, a ‘Mana Wairua’ (‘spirit’ is primary) Kaupapa Māori theoretical form was created. By tracing the growing, yet not well understood movement of Indigenous re-vitalisation into and through my own and other Indigenous people’s hearts, bodies, lives and literature, the power, presence and movement of an indelible Indigenous source force, and the knowings, knowledge and language related to it have been re-emerged. This unstoppable force derives from the source of creation. It inspires the healing, wellbeing and dignity associated with Indigenous identities and development. Even when separated from our people, lands and lifeways, we continue to embody pools of Indigenous knowing that enable us to feel and respond to this force and to our Ancestors. This research confirms, a ‘spirit’ of Indigenous re-vitalisation is indeed stirring in and moving our personal-global indigenous ‘hearts-bodies’ and lives, however, subsequent to the past-ongoing silencing, denigration and dismantling of the institutions that taught us how to understand, speak about and align with it - a yawning discrepancy now exists between our almost unconscious-embodied, ‘individualised’ experiences, and our collective capacities to tune into and deliberately release these life-giving vitalities into all levels of our lives. In accord with Indigenous source and Ancestors, this work calls us to wake up and illumine our personal-collective-global Indigenous minds with the ‘spirit’ of re-vitalisation that is already moving our hearts and bodies. It is time for us to turn towards and come home to the wholeness of our indomitable and sovereign Indigenous healing, wellbeing, dignities and potentials.
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Keywords
Māori (New Zealand people), Psychology, Ethnopsychology, Well-being, Healing, Tāngata whenua, Iwi taketake, Hauora wairua, Māori Doctoral Thesis