Te Manu Kai I Te Maatauranga: Indigenous Psychology in Aotearoa/New Zealand

by Waikaremoana Waitoki (Editor), Michelle Levy (Editor)

Maori psychology

Genres: Psychology

300 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Good Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She's not going back next time. With her head bowed low, she peers through the fringe of her un-kept mind. She's desperate to fix her eyes to the safe place reserved for her on the floor. Not finding it they make their way to the door and back, the door and back, eventually perching themselves on the skinny ledge of a small but open window poised for escape. The light-might desiring indigene woman meekly suggests to the colonial "...for our children's sake...
For Ripeka..."

(Virgina Tamanui, from her chapter "A Ripple of Intimacy with Creation: A Stone Bird of Sorrow")

Is there a more beautiful and visceral metaphor for the impact of colonialism on the indigenous? The desperation to find some place to fit within the worldview of the oppressor, but ultimately recognising that you must exit the building to create your own? And also the terror at leaving into the unknown, the whakamā (shame) felt when having to explain to the colonial why you must leave? This book is such an important text to understand the importance of mātauranga Māori (Māori indigenous knowledge) in making psychology work for Māori.