Professor examines ‘difficult’ topic
A new book examining the Māori literature on Māori living with violence and sexual violation has just been released, with the hope it will inform systemic change in the future.
The ‘Violence Within Whānau and Mahi Tūkino – A Litany of Sound Revisited’ review was authored by AUT Professor Denise Wilson, Associate Dean of Māori Research and commissioned by independent Ministerial advisory group, Te Pūkotahitanga.
It examines what services are provided, how the overall Government response system operates and where healing and prevention solutions can be found within te ao Māori frameworks, says Professor Wilson.
“We’ve looked at what works, why it works, how we got here, what the state of play is now and where to from here,” she says.
According to the book, wāhine Māori are the biggest cohort impacted by intimate partner violence and thus solutions “must be a collective effort led by Māori”.
Professor Wilson spent a year reading thousands of pages to ensure the book, believed to be the first of its kind, was comprehensive.
“It starts with pre-Colonisation because I really wanted to begin from the point that violence didn't occur back then in our whānau and hapū – we had systems, processes and tikanga in place that our tupuna lived by that kept everybody safe.”
However, despite the difficult topic, Wilson says the book is about the hope that things will change, with aspirations for what Māori can achieve over time.
“I hope that it will underpin and help inform people planning kaupapa Māori services and support funding proposals to meet the needs of our communities.”
“My moemoeā is that my mokopuna and those mokopuna yet unborn have a very different world that they’re growing up in than the current one.”
Six key questions formed the framework for Professor Wilson’s review. These were:
- How were whānau and hapū kept violence-free in traditional Māori society pre-settlement and pre-Colonisation?
- What is violence within whānau and mahi tūkino?
- What is the contemporary landscape of violence impacting whānau Māori?
- What is known about how to achieve well-being?
- What is known about kaupapa Māori and Te Ao Māori approaches?
- What are the evidential gaps?
A copy of ‘Violence Within Whānau and Mahi Tūkino – A Litany of Sound Revisited’ can be downloaded from the Te Pūkotahitanga website.
News of the book’s release has been shared on media websites such as NZ Herald and Te Ao Māori News.