Browsing by Author "Roestenburg, Michelle Waireti Maria"

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    Ahakoa he kiri mā : a fire in our blood : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Arts, Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Roestenburg, Michelle Waireti Maria
    This study approaches the nexus of whakapapa, Māori ethnic identity and non-conventional presentations of Māoriness. The factors and forces that enable or disable positive Māori identity development are examined through the experiences and meanings of six Māori women who are strongly and positively identified as Māori yet unidentifiable as Māori in appearance. By privileging kaupapa Māori research methodology, Māori participants and researcher, within mātauranga and tikanga Māori, a research paradigm capable of congruent cultural interpretation of Māori identity was developed. After the conversations were transcribed, close reading of the transcript identified and critiqued factors and forces that indicated either ‘tangibly sheltering’ identity development environments of mana Māori that were incongruent with wider societal positioning of Māori, or ‘tangibly traumatising’ environments that denigrated Māori and mirrored societal attitudes to Māori. Contemporary and historical socio-political colonial influences articulated with Māori-centric forces. Whānaungātanga or collectivity as an outcome of tikanga or the tipuna inspired desire to seek what is right and good at the intra-personal and inter-subjective levels was revealed as the indomitable heart force of Māori identity. A felt and embodied connection to ancestors led the participants deeper into who they were as Māori women, this presence and pulse was either enhanced by, or continued in spite of socio-political forces. A comparative focus on ‘Māori dignity’ revealed a rigid incapacity in New Zealand society generally and the ‘helping professions’ particularly, to move beyond an artificially entrenched ‘Māori deficit’ position. What is powerful and distinct about Māori is ignored when history and holisim are disallowed. Holistic and historical reconnection are indicated for Māori and Non-Māori to make existential sense of current day Māori and Non-Māori realities and to move out of a fixation on the outcomes of colonisation without attention to cause. Implications for the re-emergence of collaboratively intelligent ways to critique the existing and imminent flows of power within and without Te Ao Māori are discussed for the restoration of dignity to Māori and Non-Māori identities.
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    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
    (Massey University, 2023) Roestenburg, Michelle Waireti Maria
    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.