Family Futures

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Whānau development and resilience
Kahukore Baker, Principal Māori Policy and Knowledge Analyst, Families Commission, New Zealand
A dvancing S ocial I ntegration and I ntergenerational Solidarity
The Families Commission recently conducted
research on an indigenous Mā ori approach to
building and maintaining wh ānau (extended
family) resilience in times of adversity and hardship. The
research aimed to improve our understanding of the ways
in which whānau respond to challenging circumstances
and the strategies they draw on to deal with them.
The term Māori is a collective term for the indigenous people
of Aotearoa New Zealand. Typically, Māori people will identify
themselves as belonging to a particular iwi (tribe) or a number
of different iwi. The place of Māori in Aotearoa is underpinned
by Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi), the found-
ing document of Aotearoa New Zealand. It outlines the terms
under which iwi Māori and the people of the British Crown live
side by side in Aotearoa. Currently, the treaty helps to shape
the country’s democratic system, including political representa-
tion, social structures and education, health, welfare and justice
services. The Crown and Māori have a partnership relation-
ship1 which creates opportunities for government social and
economic policy to strengthen the lives of wh ānau.
There are a number of partnership initiatives in place that
recognize the importance of whānau being central to M āori
economic growth and development. Understanding whānau
as partners and enablers of the future creates more opportuni-
ties for government social and economic policy to strengthen
the lives of whānau.
There are two key differences between resilience for whānau
and that for family. The first is that whānau are larger and
usually more complex than family as understood by Western
culture. The second is that the ‘glue’ that holds whā nau
processes and relationships together is distinctive, emerging
from the Māori world view and its related cultural constructs.
According to leading Māori academic Professor Sir Mason
Durie: “A wealthy whānau is one whose members obtain
full benefit from their resources; they will be able to enjoy
the heritage of language and custom; reap profits from land,
fisheries and investments in the wider economy; and enjoy
the gains from their own work, the efforts of the collective
whānau, and the work of their forbears.”2
Te Puni K ōkiri (the Ministry of Māori Affairs) further notes
that, while some risk and protective factors for Māori may be
similar to those in Western culture, additional factors arise
from unique aspects of history, culture and social structure.
The resources Māori themselves draw on are many and
varied. They are often steeped in traditional cultural values
and customary practices that enable whānau to access cultural,
economic, social and environmental resourcs. For example, the
hunters in the photo would demonstrate manaakitanga (caring
for others) by taking food from the hunt to vulnerable family
members and others in the community, distributing the choic-
est cuts of meat to older whānau members. The custom of koha
(gift giving) is often used to demonstrate reciprocity. In this
example the hunters might give some of the meat to reciprocate
for advice and/or support provided by kaumatua (tribal elders)
or other wh ānau members. Their tribal land serves as an envi-
ronmental resource that enables hunting for food.
As part of the research to better understand these cultural
resources and how they are employed by whānau on an
everyday basis, the Families Commission undertook a series
of interviews with eight wh ānau living in South Auckland
(an urban setting) and eight wh ānau who were living rurally
within the traditional tribal homelands of Tū hoe. These two
groups provided a comparison between rural and urban-based
whānau and the resilience and strategies employed.
Most of the whānau in the urban-based case study originated
from a number of different tribes other than Tūhoe. Most of these
whānaumembers were the third generation of their whānau to live
in the city. Various support organizations were also interviewed.
The rural-based whānau collectively represented approxi-
mately 150 people affiliated to the Tūhoe iwi an approximately
100 for the urban wh ānau. As part of the research, the
commission also interviewed organizations working with
T ūhoe communities. The study resulted in the report, Te
Pūmautanga o te whānau: Tūhoe and South Auckland whānau.3
The origins of the Ngāi Tūhoe people lie deep within the mists
of Te Urewera National Park in the central North Island. The Ngāi
T ūhoe people originate from the union of Hinepukohurangi, the
Mist Maid, and Maungapohatu, the Maunga (mountain). The
descendants of Hinepukohurangi and Maungapohatu were the
earliest Peoples of the Mists. The first inhabitants of Te Urewera
intermarried with those who came later. Together they formed
the people who became known as Ng āi Tūhoe. One-third of the
35,000-strong iwi still reside in or near their traditional tribal
homelands. The area has poor infrastructure, roads, housing,
energy options, and limited health services, and is divided and
bounded by nine territorial local authorities.4
The Tuhoe whānau, and their organizations involved in the
study, jointly identified real hardship for themselves as being
the loss of connections to whānau, hapū, iwi, whenua (land)
and tikanga (culture), loss of te reo Māori (Māori language), and
loss of knowledge of whānau life and Māori society. The Tūhoe
whānau identified financial pressures including: running out of
money; transport costs; food prices; cost of tangihana (funerals
that usually involve costs associated with hosting and catering for
large numbers of people for two to three days); job loss; electric-