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Persistent health inequities between rangatahi Māori (Indigenous young people) and other young people within Aotearoa New Zealand are incurred by a colonial machinery of institutions, service systems and sociocultural contexts that facilitates the marginalisation of Māori. Despite a skilled and dedicated Māori workforce, current service contexts severely limit the innovation of Māori practitioners working from a basis of mātauranga Māori (Māori ways of knowing and being), and curtail their ability to support rangatahi Māori and their whānau (community of related families). We report on an interview study with 13 Māori practitioners in youth development, exploring their struggles, strengths and strategies, as part of a larger project exploring rangatahi wellbeing and whanaungatanga (connectedness and relationality). Utilising reflexive thematic analysis, we describe three conceptual domains that participant accounts spoke into: mitigating system failures to embrace rangatahi and their whānau, sustainability and longevity of services for rangatahi Māori, and fostering rangatahi tino rangatiratanga. Participant accounts illustrate the need for bold reform within youth services, towards sustainable models premised upon tino rangatiratanga – services led by Māori, designed by Māori, and intended to cater for the unique needs and aspirations of rangatahi Māori.
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If wilderness is dead, do wild rivers exist and if so, in what form and in whose construction? This reflective article reviews perspectives on rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand as wild or tamed entities. A historical overview of the socio-cultural and institutional relationships with rivers examines the meanings of rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand through multiple lenses. This includes indigenous Māori knowledge, command-and-control mentalities of a settler society that assert human authority over rivers, the emergence of the environmental movement and associated legislation with a sustainability focus (the Resource Management Act), and recent movement towards co-governance arrangements that incorporate the original intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840). It is contended that management practices have disconnected society from rivers, and vice versa, creating a sense of environmental loss (solastalgia), especially for Māori. Using rivers in the Greater Wellington Region as examples, prospects to accommodate wild river behaviour in Aotearoa New Zealand are explored. Recognising that re-wilding is no longer a feasible option in most instances, further attempts to tame rivers are also considered to be unrealistic, especially in light of climate change and accentuated flood risk. Reconnecting with indigenous knowledge offers prospects to re-imagine wild rivers in Aotearoa, living generatively with rivers as dynamic and emergent entities.
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In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted academic educational programmes in universities across the world, including Aotearoa New Zealand. For Māori academics who implement mātauranga Māori as a pedagogy, it became theoretically and practically challenging teaching virtually and online. The Te Taha Tinana, of Te Whare Tapa Wha model, created by aDurie in 1984 (Health Navigator, 2022) regarding the four dimensions of well-being, focuses on the physical presence, physical embodiment, and physical behaviour. This could not be easily taught virtuality through a computer screen during COVID-19 lockdown. For Māori academics transitioning from teaching Mātauranga Māori in person to an online environment brought forth these challenges. The challenges re-emerged in August 2021 when New Zealand went into Level 4 lockdown overnight because of the new COVID-19 Delta Virus variant. In 2022, the Omicron variant caused many universities in Aotearoa New Zealand to continue their first semester teaching online.
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Contemporary management practices have artificially confined (strangled) river systems in Aotearoa New Zealand to support intensified land use in riparian areas. These practices work against nature, diminishing the functionality and biodiversity values of living rivers, and associated socio-cultural relations with rivers. River confinement can accentuate flood risk by promoting development in vulnerable locations and limiting the flexibility to adapt to changing climate, prospectively accentuating future disasters. To date, uptake of space-to-move management interventions that seek to address such shortcomings is yet to happen in Aotearoa New Zealand. This is despite the fact that such practices directly align with Māori (indigenous) conceptualizations of rivers as indivisible, living entities. Treaty of Waitangi obligations that assert Māori rights alongside colonial rights of a settler society provide an additional driver for uptake of space-to-move initiatives. This article outlines a biophysical prioritization framework to support the development and roll out of space-to-move interventions in ways that work with the character, behavior, condition, and evolutionary trajectory (recovery potential) of each river system in Aotearoa. This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change
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Topic
- mātauranga māori
- colonisation (1)
- covid-19 (1)
- crown policy (1)
- decolonisation (1)
- education (2)
- environment (1)
- environmental management (1)
- environmental protection (1)
- mana moana (1)
- mana tupuna (1)
- mana whenua (1)
- political development (1)
- rangatahi (1)
- rangatiratanga (1)
- river management (1)
- social development (1)
- tikanga | indigenous law (2)
- tino rangatiratanga (1)
- water management (1)
- whanaungatanga (2)
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- Journal Article (5)