December 05, 2012
Research designed to study indigenous well being
The head of Waikato University's Te Kotahi research unit wants to find the way indigenous people measure well being.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith has been awarded $424,000 from Ngā Pae ō te Maramatanga, the centre for Māori research excellence, for a two year study of the conditions and strategies that indigenous people use to realise their aspirations for well-being.
She will work with Te Whakatohea Māori Trust Board to research the way the eastern Bay of Plenty iwi handles education, health, language revitalisation and economic development, and compare that with international models.
Professor Smith says different indigenous communities have their own ideas on what it means to be well.
"Humans can't be well if the earth is not well. People can't be well if our environment is not well. Individuals can't be well if the whole extended family can't be well. That's very evident in most indigenous models of wellness, it's very connected, very holistic, whereas some of the more standard mainstream frameworks of wellness are about individualism," she says.
Professor Smith says other iwi may become involved in the later stages of the project.
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