Five Māori women from one tribal community in Aotearoa/New Zealand narrated their stories of multi-generational legacies of historical trauma. Although psychological/spiritual trauma effects remain for these women, consciousness of trauma in these narratives was seen in a positive light as opportunities for healing. Three connected trauma acts were narrated. The process of narrating trauma histories in this study was ultimately construed as an exercise in self-determination through the re-empowerment of their voices and visions. The trauma and pain of their histories has not departed. However, the power of telling their stories creates access to healing through the achievement of consciousness of the impacts of history on shaping current realities, testimony about the resilience of previous generations and knowledge of the strategies previous generations employed to survive the brutalising effects of colonisation. The potential for healing through reclaiming new and more hopeful narratives was identified as a powerful tool to finally lay the pain of the past to rest. The healing value and potential of revisiting, re-examining and re-envisioning trauma histories under colonisation is being woven into the landscape of historical trauma theory-development, itself a healing endeavour. This study was part of a larger study on the relationship between healing from historical trauma, tribal self-determination and suicide prevention in one hapū/sub-tribe. This article focuses on the process of narrating historical trauma as a starting point for healing.
AlfredT. (2005). Wasase: Indigenous pathways of action and freedom. Ontario: Broadview Press.
2.
AlfredT.PitawankwatB.PriceJ. (2007). The Meaning of political participation for indigenous youth. CPRN Research Report. Ottawa.
3.
AngelN. (2012). Before truth: The labors of testimony and the Canadian truth and reconciliation commission. Culture, Theory and Critique, 53(2), 199–214. Special Issue: The Crossroads of Memory.
4.
AnzaldúaG. (2002). Now let us shift… the path of conocimiento… inner works, public acts. In AnzaldúaG.KeatingA. (Eds), This bridge we call home: Radical visions for transformation (pp. 540–578). New York: Routledge.
5.
BarlowC. (1991). Tikanga Whakaaro: Key concepts in Maori culture. Auckland: Oxford University Press.
6.
BattisteM. (2000). Maintaining Aboriginal identity, language, culture in modern society. In BattisteM. (Ed.), Reclaiming indigenous voice and vision (pp. 192–209). Toronto: UBC Press.
BinneyJ. (2009). Encircled lands: Te Urewera, 1820–1921. Wellington: Bridget Williams Books.
9.
BraunV.ClarkeV. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
10.
Brave HeartM.Y.H. (2000). Wakiksuyapi: Carring the historical trauma of the Lakota. Tulane Studies in Social Welfare (pp. 245–255). Tulane University, School of Social Work.
11.
Brave HeartM.Y.H. (2005). Best practices for co-occurring disorders: Best practices for American Indian/Alaska Native Communities. In HawkinsElizabeth H.WalkerR. Dale (Eds), Best practices in behavioral health services for American Indians and Alaska Natives (pp. 165–190). Portland Oregan, U.S.: One Sky National Resource Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Services.
12.
Brave HeartM. (2002). The historical trauma response amongst natives and its relationship with substance abuse: A Lakota illustration. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 35(1), 7–13.
13.
Brave HeartM.Y.H.DeBruynM. (1999). The American Indian Holocaust: Healing historical unresolved grief. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research: The Journal of the National Center American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Centre, 8(2), 60–82.
14.
ChurchillW. (2002). Struggle for the land: Native North American resistance to genocide, Ecocide and colonisation. San Francisco: City Lights Books.
15.
DenboroughDavid. (2012). A storyline of collective narrative practice: A history of ideas, social projects and partnerships [online]. International Journal of Narrative Therapy & Community Work, 1, 40–65.
16.
DionS. D. (2004). (Re) telling to disrupt aboriginal people and stories of Canadian journal of the canadian history. Association for Curriculum Studies, 2(1), Spring.
17.
DuranE. (2006). Healing the soul wound: Counselling with American Indians and other native peoples. New York: Columbia University Teachers College Press.
18.
DuranE.DuranB. (1995). Native American post colonial psychology. Albany: State University of New York Press.
19.
DurieM.H. (1994). Kaupapa Hauora Māori: Policies for Māori health in Te Ara Ahu Whakamua. Proceedings of the Māori Health Decade Hui, March 1994, TePuniKōkiri, Wellington.
20.
DurieM.H. (1995). Ngā Matatini: Diverse Māori realities. Paper Prepared for the Ministry of Health, Wellington.
21.
DurieM.H. (1998). Te Mana Te Kawantanga: The politics of Māori self-determination. Auckland: Oxford University Press.
22.
EdwardsS.McManusV.McCreanorT. (2005). Collaborative research with Māori on sensitive issues: The application of Tikanga and Kaupapa in research around sudden infant death syndrome. Report to the Health Research Council of New Zealand.
23.
Evans-CampbellT. (2008). Historical trauma in American Indian/Alaska Native communities: A multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families and communities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(3), 316–338.
24.
EvisonH.C. (1997). The long dispute: Māori land rights and European colonisation in southern New Zealand. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press.
25.
FanonF. (1957). The wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.
26.
FanonF. (1965). Studies in a dying colonialism. New York: Grove Press.
27.
FarmerP. (2004). An anthropology of structural violence. Current Anthropology, 45(3), 305–325.
28.
FoxenP. (2010). Local narratives of distress and resilience: Lessons in psychosocial well-being among the K’iche’ Maya in post war Guatemala. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 15(1), 66–89.
29.
FriereP. (1992). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Continuum.
30.
GoneP. (2007). ‘We never was happy living like a Whiteman’: Mental health disparities and the postcolonial predicament in American Indian communities. American Journal of Community Psychology, 40(3–4), 290–300.
GudgeonW. E. (1909). On Matakite. The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 18,3(71), 143–153.
33.
HalbwachsM. (1950). On collective memory. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
34.
Hawkeye-RobertsonL. H. (2006). The residential school experience: Syndrome or historic trauma. Pimatisiwin. A Journal of Indigenous and Aboriginal Community Health, 4(1), 1–28.
35.
HigginsR.RewiP. (2014). ZePA—Right-shifting: Reorientation towards Normalisation. InHigginsRawiniaRewiPoiaOlsen-ReederVincent (Es), The value of the Māori language: Te Hua o te Reo Māori. Wellington: Huia Publishers
36.
Hernandez-Avila. (2002). An open letter to Chicanas: On the power and politics of origin. In HarjoJoyBirdGloria (Eds), Reinventing the enemy’s language: Contemporary native women’s writings of North America, (p. 534). New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
37.
JacksonM. (1988). Māori and the criminal justice system: He Whaipaangahou: A new perspective (Pt. 2). Wellington: Department of Justice.
38.
JacksonM. (2008). The constancy of terror. In.KeenanD. (Ed.), Terror in our midst? (pp. 1–10) Wellington: Huia Publishers.
39.
KeenanD. (2002). Bound to the land: Māori Retention and assertion of land and identity. In Environmental histories of New Zealand (pp. 247–260). Wellington: Victoria University Press.
40.
KeenanD. (2008). Searching for terror. In KeenanD. (Ed.). Terror in our midst? Searching for terror in Aotearoa: New Zealand. Wellington: Huia Publications.
KirmayerL.SimpsonC.CargoM. (2003). Healing traditions: Culture, community and mental health promotion with Canadian Aboriginal peoples. Australasian Psychiatry, 11(Suppl.), AP15–AP22.
43.
KrugerT.PitmanM.McDonaldT.MariuD.PomareA.MitaT.. (2004). Transforming Whānau violence: A conceptual framework. Wellington: Ministry of Māori Development.
44.
Lawson-Te AhoK. (1993). The socially constructed nature of psychology and the abnormalisation of Māori. New Zealand Psychological Society Bulletin, 76, 25–30.
45.
Lawson-Te AhoK. (1998). Māori youth suicide—Colonisation, identity and Māori development. In HauoraTe Pūmanawa (Ed.), Te Oru Rangahau Māori Research and Development Conference 7–9 July 1998 Proceedings (pp. 45–51). Palmerston North: Massey University School of Māori Studies.
46.
Lawson-Te AhoK. (2008). Cultural issues in sexual abuse counselling with Māori clients. Unpublished Report to ACC and Massey University for the Sexual Abuse Treatment Guidelines, ACC, Wellington.
47.
Lawson-Te AhoK. (2013). WhaiateMauriora: In pursuit of healing: Theorising connections between soul healing, tribal self-determination and Māori suicide prevention in Aotearoa: New Zealand. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
48.
Lawson-Te AhoK. (2014). Whaia te Mauriora: In pursuit of healing: Theorising connections between soul healing, tribal self-determination and Māori suicide prevention in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation Victoria. Wellington, New Zealand: University of Wellington.
49.
Lawson-Te AhoK.LiuJ. (2010). Indigenous suicide and colonisation: The legacy of violence and the necessity of self-determination. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 4(1), 124–133.
50.
LeyvaY.C. (2003). There is great good in returning. A Testimonio from the borderlands frontiers. A Journal of Women Studies, 24(2–3), 1–9.
51.
MarsdenM. (1975). God, man and universe. In KingM. (Ed.), Te Ao Hurihuri: The world moves on (pp. 54–72). Auckland: Octopus Publishing.
52.
McCoskerHeatherBarnardAlanGerberRod. (2001). Undertaking sensitive research: Issues and strategies for meeting the safety needs of all participants [41 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 2(1), Art. 22. Retrieved 25 September 2014, from http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0101220
53.
MeierhenrichJ. (2006). A question of guilt. Ratio Juris, 19(3), 314–342.
54.
MeierhenrichJ. (2007). The trauma of genocide. Journal of Genocide Research, 9(4), 549–573.
55.
MemmiA. (1965). The colonizer and the colonized. London: Orion press.
56.
Moeke-PickeringT. (2010). Decolonisation as a social change framework and its impact on the development of indigenous-based curricula for helping professionals in mainstream tertiary education organisations. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
57.
OpotowS. (2011). How this was possible: Interpreting the Holocaust. Journal of Social Issues, 67(1), 205–224.
58.
PerezE. (1999). The decolonial imaginary: Writing Chicanas into history. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
59.
PihamaL.SmithK.TakiM.LeeJ. (2004). A literature review of Kaupapa Māori and Māori education pedagogy. The International Institute for Māori and Indigenous Education, Auckland University.
60.
RangihauJ. (1975). Being Māori. In KingM. (Ed.), Te Ao Hurihuri: The world moves on. Wellington: Hicks Smith and Sons.
61.
ReidP.RobsonB. (2007). Understanding health inequalities. In RobsonB.HarrisR. (Eds), Hauora: Māori standards of health IV: A study of the years 2000–2005 (pp. 3–10). Wellington: Te Roopu Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pomare.
62.
RewiP. (2010). Culture: Compromise or perish. In HokowhituBrendanKermoalNathalieAndersenChrisPetersenAnnaReillyMichaelAltamirano-JimenezIsabelRewiPoia (Eds), Indigenous identity and resistance (pp. 55–73). Dunedin: Otago University Press.
ShirresM.P. (1997). Te Tangata: The human person. Auckland: Accent Publications.
65.
SmithG.H. (1997). Kaupapa Māori theory and praxis. PhD thesis, Education Department, The University of Auckland.
66.
SmithL. (2012). Decolonising methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Dunedin: Otago University Press.
67.
Sotero, (2006). A conceptual model of historical trauma: Implications for public health practice and research. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 1(Fall), 93–108.
68.
SuarezE. B. (2013, 6December). Trauma in global contexts: Integrating local practices and socio-cultural meaning into new explanatory frameworks of trauma. International Social Work. DOI: 10.1177/0020872813503859
69.
TauR.T. (2003). NgāPikituroa o Ngāi Tahu: The oral traditions of Ngāi Tahu. Dunedin: University of Otago Press.
70.
TawhirirangiI. (201 4). Karanga: KuaTūTāngata E: Moving a critical mass. InHigginsRawiniaRewiPoiaOlsen-ReederVincent (Eds), The value of the Māori language: Te Hua o te Reo Māori (pp. 33–53). Wellington: Huia Publishers.
71.
WakefieldB. (2008). HaumanuTaiaoIhumanea. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Lincoln University.
72.
WalkerR. (1990). KaWhawhaiTonuMātou: Struggle without end. Auckland: Penguin Books.
73.
WalkerR. (1996). Nga Pepa a Ranginui: The Walker papers. Auckland: Penguin Books.
74.
WaltersK.MohammedS.Evans-CampbellT.BeltranR.E.ChaeD.H.DuranB. (2011). Bodies don’t just tell stories, they tell histories: Embodiment of historical trauma among American Indians and Alaska natives. Du Bois Review, 8(1), 179–189.
Yellow Horse Brave HeartM.De BruynL. (1995). The American Indian holocaust: Healing historical trauma and unresolved grief. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research: The Journal of the National Centre American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, 8(2), 60–82.
77.
Youngblood-HendersonS. (2000). The context of the state of nature. In BattisteM. (Ed.), Reclaiming Indigenous voice and vision (pp. 11–38). Vancouver: UBC Press.
