School of Public Health and Social Work
Final Seminar by Melissa Carey
A Transformative Journey of Cultural Recovery: Te ao Māori
WHO: Melissa Carey, PhD candidate
Qualifications: Bachelor of Nursing
Diploma of Training and Assessment
Master of Nursing
Master of Advanced Practice (Health Care Research)
Background: Melissa is of māori-anglo-celtic descent, Tainui waka and Ngati Raukawa iwi
Email: Melissa.carey@hdr.qut.edu.au
WHEN: Tuesday, 15th September 2015 from 12.00 – 1.00 pm
WHERE: Room O-B511, Level 5, B Wing, O Block, Kelvin Grove campus
PANEL MEMBERS:
Dr Julie King (Principal Supervisor, Chair), School of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty
of Health, QUT
Associate Professor Mark Brough (Associate Supervisor), School of Public Health and
Social Work, Faculty of Health, QUT
Dr Catherine Demosthenous (External Supervisor), Research Crowd
Professor Greg Marston (Head of School representative), School of Public Health and
Social Work, Faculty of Health, QUT
Dr Chelsea Bond (External Panel member), Oodgeroo Unit, QUT
Abstract
Māori people are tangata whenua, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, New Zealand. When I discovered my
Māori ancestry, previously hidden family secrets were revealed. This caused a rupture in my known self as a
white Western woman. This PhD aimed to answer the cascade of self-questioning that arose from the rupture,
as well as the incorporation of the new knowledge of my cultural heritage. In my case, the decoding of
memories led to the discovery of deep cultural wounds, which can be theorised as cultural trauma. This notion
of cultural trauma as a determinate for the health and wellbeing for Māori people is yet to be explored leaving
many unanswered questions about how to heal cultural wounds and improve the wellbeing of Māori people.
This is my Kaupapa Māori autoethnography. Kaupapa Māori is a theory and a methodology, which provides the
building blocks for what it means to be a Māori person. Autoethnography enables a form of self-reflection and
writing that explores my self-decolonising journey from cultural trauma to recovery and wellbeing through my
experience of immersion in a newly found Māori lifeworld. Mana Wahine reminds us that the notions of being
Māori and being woman are interconnected. This Kaupapa Māori autoethnography into te ao Māori - the Māori
world - is a search for alternative, cultural forms of wellbeing which go beyond western ontologies of health and
wellbeing.
This transformative journey affirms that wellbeing for Māori people begins with an acknowledgement of
cultural connectedness, with whakapapa. Wellbeing grows with the sense of the Māori self as legitimate and
worthy. Through culturally mediated epistemological, ontological and axiological practices, this sense of
connectedness moves into responsibility; strengthening purpose in life and a desire for community, whānau
engagement. This journey also affirms that for Māori people spirituality is central to wellbeing. Concluding that
cultural recovery and the healing of cultural trauma are connected to overall health and wellbeing.