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29 /8 /2000
Hon Tariana Turia
Speech to New Zealand Psychological Society Conference, Waikato
University
Tena tatau e hui nei i
tenei ra. Tena koutou nga rangatira o Waikato. Nga mihi ki a koutou a ki
Te Ata-i- rangikaahu hoki. Tena tatau katoa.
Thank you for inviting
me to speak at this conference. Over the last week or so, such has been
the activity over what I have been purported to have said or done, I have
at times questioned the nature of truth.
I also questioned hearing,
listening and memory.
Indeed I was tempted to seek wise counsel and
I did think of this gathering this week and the thought did enter my head,
that a psychologist just might come in handy.
I dismissed the
thought very quickly!
I realised that the best counsellors for me
are the very supportive whanau I am fortunate to have.
A whanau,
who in times when my spirit needs nurturing I can always turn to. I am
also always able to tap the resource of the memories and guidance of those
who have passed on, to give me solace and to uplift me.
It is this
whanau of whom I am a member which nurtures and sustains me.
It is
this whanau which is also a part of the iwi of Whanganui, Ngati Apa, Nga
Rauru and Tuwharetoa who are responsible for my identity, responsible for
the security that I have in knowing who I am.
What my whanau are
not able to provide I will seek in the hapu and iwi. I have numerous
choices.
We all know the social structures of whanau, hapu and iwi
are responsible for both cultural reproduction and identity.
All
of you here know these same social structures have demonstrated amazing
resilience as sites of resistance to colonisation, but, which as you also
know, have been seriously weakened.
Given what I have just said you
just might have realised that what I wish to address with you today is the
phenomenon of colonisation and some thoughts on what the implications may
be for psychology.
I know Tariana Turia and "colonisation" always
attracts attention.
I seek not personal attention. I just want us
to consider our history as a country and consider how this history has
affected the indigenous people, how this history has impacted on Maori
whanau, hapu and iwi.
I really do believe that mature, intelligent
New Zealanders of all races are capable of the analysis of the trauma of
one group of people suffering from the behaviour of another.
I can
see the connections between 'home invasions' which concern many of us, to
the invasion of the 'home lands' of indigenous people by a people from
another land.
What I have difficulty in reconciling is how 'home
invasions' emits such outpourings of concern for the victims and an
intense despising of the invaders while the invasion of the 'home lands'
of Maori does not engender the same level of emotion and concern for the
Maori victims.
I wonder why that is?
A double standard
seems to be working here, you as psychologists I am confident will be able
to identify and label the double standard.
With personal identity
inextricably tied to whanau, hapu and iwi identity, indigenous people
still have to counter the problems of the conspiracy of alienation,
assimilation and deculturation launched against them well over a century
ago.
I have been accused in Parliament in the past week of
indulging in "sociological clap trap" when linking colonisation to family
violence.
I can now imagine after this speech that I will be
accused of indulging in 'psychological clap trap'.
I may look to
you to defend me against such scurrilous attacks. I suppose I should be
grateful the house is not sitting.
What I need to say however that
as psychologists you frequently have as your clients, Maori people.
The challenge I put to you is - Do you seriously believe that you,
with the training that you get, are able to nurture the Maori psyche, are
you able to see in to the soul of the people and attend to the wounded
spirit?
Do you consider for example the effects of the trauma of
colonisation? I know that psychology has accepted the relevance of PTSD
(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
I understand that much of the
research done in this area has focussed on the trauma suffered by the
Jewish survivors of the holocaust of World War Two. I also understand the
same has been done with the Vietnam veterans.
What seems to not
have received similar attention is the holocaust suffered by indigenous
people including Maori as a result of colonial contact and
behaviour.
The Waitangi Tribunal made such a reference in its
Taranaki Report of 1996 and I recollect what appeared to be a "but our
holocaust was worse than your holocaust" debate. A debate I must add, I do
not wish to enter.
Psychologists, Emeritus Professor James and
Professor Jane Ritchie likewise link colonisation with violence.
Native American Psychologist Eduardo Duran suggests in referring
to Native Americans that the colonial oppression suffered by indigenous
people inevitably wounds the soul.
He also says that for any
effective therapy to take place the historical context of generations of
oppression since colonial contact needs to be articulated, acknowledged
and understood.
Professor Mason Durie identifies the onset of
colonisation and the subsequent alienation and theft of the land as the
beginning of Maori health issues that manifest themselves today. Issues,
that have as a result of inter-generational systemic abuse, become
culturally endemic.
Since first colonial contact, much effort has
been invested in attempts at individualising Maori with the introduction
of numerous assimilationist policies and laws to alienate Maori from their
social structures which were linked to the guardianship and occupation of
land.
A consequence of colonial oppression has been the
internalisation by Maori of the images the oppressor has of them. It is
for that reason that I found the negative portrayal of Maori whanau last
week to be both spiritually and psychologically damaging.
I know
the psychological consequences of the internalisation of negative images
is for people to take for themselves the illusion of the oppressors' power
while they are in a situation of helplessness and despair, a despair
leading to self-hatred and for many, suicide.
The externalisation
of the self-hatred on the other hand, is seen with the number of Maori who
are convicted of crimes of violence and the very high number of Maori
women and children who are the victims of violence.
The film 'Once
Were Warriors' and the Keri Hulme novel, 'The Bone People' bring home all
too graphically the extreme levels of violence which for many, is seen as
culturally endemic behaviour, behaviour which they and the wider society
in which they live, see as 'normal'.
The phenomenon of Post
Colonial Traumatic Stress Disorder and its effects it appears are now
culturally integrated in to the psyche and soul of Maori. It never used to
be there. Indeed as Professor Anne Salmond has found, children were
indulged and records of early contact show that violence towards children
was uncommon. More uncommon than it was in Europe at the same period. A
golden age for Maori children it would seem.
Maori tribal
commentators and Treaty negotiators like Dr Hirini Mead of Te Runanga O
Ngati Awa have alluded to the cumulative generational effects of trauma or
as he put it 'damage' which has been passed down from the period of the
Land Wars to current generations.
A question Dr Mead has posed was
related to the amount of compensation required to repair the
intergenerational damage to the people. Damage, the genesis of which
resides in the nineteenth century.
The holocaust suffered by many
Maori tribes during the Land Wars needs to be acknowledged. Only then will
the healing for Maori occur.
Indeed some of the events surrounding
Treaty of Waitangi land settlements have resulted in healing for the
whanau of ancestors murdered by the State in State institutions.
The bones of these ancestors have been taken from the gaols and
returned to their tribal homes. The return of these physical and spiritual
ancestral remains have resulted in the descendants, who generations
before, left their tribal lands in shame, also returning 'home'. For these
families, the healing can now begin.
For Maori, indeed for all
indigenous people the issue is the identification of the trauma, as Post
Colonial Traumatic Stress Disorder in order to site the issue in its
proper historical, political and economic context.
This would also
encourage considering the continuing oppressive effects of colonisation
and the various forms it has taken as Native American academic Ward
Churchill says, "since predator came".
The signs and symptoms of
Post Colonial Traumatic Stress Disorder (PCTSD) with Maori, needs analysis
and examination.
My challenge would be for the few Maori
psychologists amongst you, to lead the discourse on that
analysis.
Following are some indicators of the results of post
colonial trauma.
· Have a poor self-image.
· Have a tendency to
self belittle.
· Tribe deprived of land by government dishonesty and
theft.
· Parents/grandparents beaten for speaking their mother
tongue.
· Members unable to identify with tribe.
· Identity now
based on where they live (urban) and not on genealogy and ancestry.
·
Fearful of imprisonment unless cousins are also incarcerated.
·
Subjected to personal, institutional and cultural racism.
· Beat up
spouse, children and siblings.
While much of my address to you
today has focussed on the effects of colonisation and has considered that
macro position, at a local and personal level I would like you to also
consider the following.
Does your training and education address
issues like the nature of the Maori kai tiaki, the spiritual guardian all
Maori have? What if I told you I have been visited a number of times by my
kai tiaki and had carried out a conversation? What if I said to you that
my kai tiaki had cautioned me about a particular action?
What for
example is mate Maori? (Maori sickness)
What is makutu?
What is the
nature of the rau kotahi; the multiple self?
Finally in terms of
our world-views, what is the difference between you saying "I think,
therefore I am" and us saying "We are".
Kia ora
tatau.
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