The Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter, ‘Aotearoa’) population is ageing and numerous studies demonstrate that with this phenomenon comes health and social challenges including chronic conditions, cancer, end-of-life issues, social isolation and limited opportunities for intergenerational connections [
2]. More relevant to this article are the significant inequities that exist between Māori and non-Māori around poor ageing and health [
3‐
5]. These inequities are due to structural discrimination such as unjust and unequal distribution of social determinants (e.g., income, education, housing) and a colonial history that resulted in cultural dissonance due to coercive and assimilatory policies that led to loss of language, culture, epistemologies and land [
6,
7].
For scholars of indigeneity, the effects of colonisation on the wellbeing of Indigenous cultures, communities and individuals are well known, researched and documented and are, unsurprisingly, consistent across colonial contexts [
8‐
17]. As a recent article bringing together practitioners and health scholars from multiple colonial contexts summarizes: “Globally, health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations are ubiquitous and pervasive, and are recognized as being unfair, avoidable, and remediable (p. 512)” [
18]. Similarly, the negative impact of colonisation on Indigenous life-course is internationally endemic. Typically, Indigenous peoples die considerably earlier than their non-Indigenous compatriots, creating a great sense of loss and source of pain for cultures that view their elders as bearers of knowledge critical to survivance [
19]. As articulated by well-known Australian Aboriginal activist and academic, Mick Dodson: “The statistics of shortened life-expectancy are our mothers and fathers, uncles, aunties and elders who live diminished lives and die before their gifts of knowledge and experience are passed on. We die silently under these statistics (p. 11)” [
20].
Although historically kaumātua (Māori elders) have faced a dominant society that has failed to realise their full potential as they age, Māori culture has remained steadfast in upholding elders as, “carriers of culture, anchors for families, models for lifestyle, bridges to the future, guardians of heritage, and role models for younger generations (p. 14)” [
21]. The present research programme, Kaumātua Mana Motuhake Pōī (KMMP), is part of the Ageing Well National Science Challenge in Aotearoa (
https://www.ageingwellchallenge.co.nz/), which looks to provide more focus on positive ageing as part of the government’s strategic approach to science investment. KMMP builds upon the significant innovations in Māori and Indigenous health knowledge [
22‐
35], including research from the recently completed Kaumātua Mana Motuhake (KMM) project [
36‐
38]. Whilst it is clear that significant disparities exist between Māori and non-Māori around poor ageing and health outcomes [
3‐
5,
39], which in turn implicate individual, economic, social and cultural costs [
39‐
43], this research identifies a knowledge gap in relation to this disparity and Māori culture’s veneration of elders.
Kaumātua Mana Motuhake and cultural dissonance
Mana motuhake is a concept that foregrounds independence and autonomy to achieve actualisation—including collective determination and independence. In this manner, kaumātua assert their independence and autonomy so they can live a life of longevity and quality for self and others [
15]. The current programme is invested in upholding tino rangatiratanga (independence and autonomy) and mana (status and prestige as viewed by self and others) and, accordingly, it values older people in all settings and views their experience and status as key tools for positive ageing. Furthermore, this research is grounded in Māori epistemologies surrounding ageing [
44] and provides insights into how Māori epistemologies and practices surrounding ageing have the potential to improve life-courses in Aotearoa generally.
Whilst the research is grounded in a strengths-based approach, it does not assume that the kaumātua tikanga (cultural practices of elders) is consistent, practiced or even understood at a basic level by all kaumātua. Indeed, although the majority of health research on Indigenous peoples simply fails to acknowledge the negative causative effects of colonization [
18], the present research programme recognizes that the majority of kaumātua of this particular generation have experienced cultural dissonance as a direct result of colonial policies. Many of today’s kaumātua, for example, were punished for speaking te reo Māori (the Māori language) through the colonial education system including in Native Schools [
45]. Moreover, during the time that this generation of kaumātua were going through State education, Māori children were generally defined as ‘retarded’ based on Western models of developmental psychology [
46,
47] with the blame being squarely located on ‘traditional’ Māori culture [
48,
49]. That is, State policy was hegemonic in that it purposefully discouraged Māori children from practicing and valuing their Indigenous language and culture, whilst actively promoting the dominant non-Indigenous culture as superior [
48].
In relation to the present research, the central point is that many of today’s kaumātua have experienced the history related above, including what has come to be referred to as ‘cultural dissonance’. It is the result of a hegemonic dominant culture subjugating an Indigenous culture, leading to generations of Indigenous peoples compelled if not forced to dissociate with their Indigenous culture. Indeed, there is a growing literature that not only foregrounds the effects of colonisation in relation to Indigenous health disparities, it also, in particular, assumes a causality between what is now increasingly referred to as colonial ‘historical trauma’ and epistemological violence [
14,
50‐
68]. Put simply, it is increasingly accepted that there is a correlation between poor Indigenous health and cultural dissonance as a by-product of colonisation.
Relevant here is a unique study [
1,
69]; Māori researcher Sir Mason Durie and colleagues carried out a health and wellbeing survey of 400 Māori kaumātua over the age of 60 years, finding that, wellbeing for older Māori was conceptualized:
… as an interaction between personal health perspectives and participation in certain key elements of Maori society e.g. land, language, marae … a proxy measure for ‘Maoriness’ has enabled correlations to be made between spirituality, cultural affinity, material wellbeing, general health status, and disability. In the study of older Maori, those participants who scored lowest on the cultural index scale were likely to have the worst health … In other words, a Maori view of wellbeing is closely linked to an ability to fulfill a cultural role (p. 1142) [
1].
The author’s research supports the concept that cultural dissonance is a significant factor in relation to kaumātua wellbeing.
It also raises the question whether research directly engaging tikanga, te reo Māori and/or mātauranga (knowledge) will have meaningful health benefits for kaumātua [
58]. Whilst not directly working with the elderly, pioneering research in Australia, the US and Canada has tested the hypothesis that Indigenous ‘cultural continuity’ and language revival can counter the losses rendered by colonisation [
30,
51,
70‐
73]. Richard Oster, a Canadian researcher, and his team, found a positive relationship between preservation of culture and protection from diabetes for First Nations people [
51]. Oster et al. made the cautious conclusion that ‘cultural continuity’ in part determined the health of Indigenous peoples.
Similarly, in the Aotearoa context, Rolleston [
74] joined a growing body of recent literature relating to the significance of Indigenous language reclamation and revival [
75‐
78]. She found that her participants learnt te reo Māori as an avenue to enhance their wellness for three reasons: (1) searching for identity, (2) searching for understanding of Māori epistemologies and, (3) the strengthening of family, children, and grandchildren. Another study demonstrates that whakawhanaungatanga (social connecting) and marae-based programmes influenced Māori participation rates and programme effectiveness for Māori in health rehabilitation [
79]. Other research conducted with kaumātua in relation to ‘cultural continuity’ and health demonstrated that kaumātua actively participate in cultural practices, tribal, kin and marae roles and responsibilities, and passing on mātauranga [
40,
80‐
82]. Such participation contributed to positive ageing, wellbeing, and engagement even when kaumātua experienced long-term or multiple health problems [
83]. In sum, the limited research in this space tends to demonstrate that ‘cultural continuity’ of kaumātua impacts on health outcomes [
84]. Although health research in this space is in its infancy, the broader thesis to be tested is that Indigenous cultural revitalisation will increase the wellbeing of Indigenous communities. The present research will directly investigate this concept by examining the association between kaumātua culture and health; in particular in relation to learning te reo Māori; mātauranga; and tuakana/teina (peer support underpinned by kinship).
Research aims and objectives
The broader objective of this research is to empirically demonstrate that Indigenous cultural revitalisation will increase the wellbeing of Indigenous communities. KMMP is comprised of two interrelated projects that foreground dimensions of wellbeing within a holistic Te Ao Māori (Māori epistemology) view of wellbeing. This view incorporates dynamics of individual perspectives, participation in Māori community, and interconnectedness among spiritual, cultural, whānau (extended family), community, and material wellbeing. Both projects will focus on identified aspects of cultural continuity including te reo, tikanga, mātauranga (cultural knowledge), Māori values, cultural and whānau roles of kaumātua, and intergenerational knowledge exchange. Project 1 involves a tuakana-teina/peer educator model approach focused on increasing service access and utilisation to support kaumātua with the greatest health and social needs through. Project 2’s approach focuses on physical activity and mātauranga exchange (including te reo Māori; Māori language) through intergenerational models of learning. In addition, the research programme involves a network of 11 Māori service providers.