Rich histories and lifestyles

"Each whānau has their own histories, stories and memories (colonisation, land loss and language loss, for example), life experiences, family compositions, living circumstances. "

We often hear that Māori are ‘diverse’ but what does that mean? Each whānau has their own histories, stories and memories (colonisation, land loss and language loss, for example), life experiences, family compositions and living circumstances. They all have strengths to draw from and they all have challenges. Some whānau are rich in their cultural knowledge and others are not. Some are consciously seeking to increase their taha Māori (Māori identity) while others are not. Some identify as traditional and others do not. Some consciously walk the fuzzy line between having plural ethnic identities; today, not all people resemble the Māori stereotype of corporeal phenotypes (brown skinned, brown eyed, and black haired). The numbers of children born to parents of mixed ethnicity (Māori Chinese-Pākehā, Māori American Mexican, and Māori-Pākehā-German) are continuing to grow. Many of our Pae Herenga interviewees also identified having plural ethnicities (often more than one iwi was mentioned).

Furthermore, there are Māori adults and kaumātua whose Māori heritage was concealed from them during the adoption processes in the mid-1900s. Some kaumātua were removed from their whānau in childhood and were legally appointed wards of the state and placed in care homes. Other kaumātua may have spent a large part of their life in a mental asylum and are now living in the community. There are also many other older Māori who were assimilated into a Western knowledge and language system. Many of these kaumātua remember being physically punished for speaking their own language at school and unsurprisingly lost their language and customs. As children and young adults moving to large cities in search of work during the 1950s and 1960s, many urbanised Māori experienced overt racism (difficulties finding employment and housing, for example), and they were made to feel ashamed of being Māori. Today, kaumātua can still carry the emotional scars of being othered by the colonial culture and some still feel that they cannot reclaim their language or cultural customs. As a result, some kaumātua and their whānau lack trust of the health system and health and social care professionals today.

Understanding colonisation and the impact these processes have had on Māori whānau will strengthen health and social care professionals to work more compassionately with kaumātua; education and training will mean they will have a greater appreciation of the lives and struggles kaumātua face. Diversity means we need to consider individuals on an individual-by-individual basis and on a whānau-by-whānau basis as each person has their own background and story and each families’ circumstances is unique to them - each whānau is different. Sexual identity adds another layer to complex and often competing subjectivities (identities). There are many things that contribute to a person’s identity and these need to be taken into consideration during the end of life. Our goal is to educate and increase health and social care professionals’ cultural knowledge and understanding as this will help to ensure kaumātua are respected and importantly, their cultural needs are not compromised in any way. Accessing health services can be very challenging for whānau and finding ways to engage with whānau and support them is essential.