MANA TAMARIKI: CULTURAL ALIENATION

Mäori child homicide and abuse

Rawiri Taonui*

Abstract

Mäoridom has been rocked by a number of high profi le child homicides in New Zealand. Many Päkehä (New Zealanders of European descent) commentators attribute this to defi cits in Mäori culture. Mäori, on the other hand, tend generally to hold that the high level of Mäori child homi- cide and abuse is a recent phenomena related to colonization. This paper examines pre-European Mäori parenting and fi nds that violence towards children was not common practice. It examines the origins of violence towards children in cultural alienation and looks at the role of the Mäori renaissance and re-enculturalization as solutions.

Introduction audience that perceives cultural icons such as the haka (Mäori war dances) as evidence Over the past decade, New Zealand has been of a people preoccupied with violence (TV3, rocked by several horrifi c Mäori child hom- 2005). This in turn has been linked to recent icides. Debate has raged around both their arguments regarding sensationalized but now causes and solutions. Led by columnist and discredited genetic research from 2007, which Mayor of Whanganui, Michael Laws, several claimed that Mäori possess a “warrior gene” non-Mäori commentators assert that the vio- that pre-determines a propensity for violence. lence derives from inadequate Mäori parenting, Most Mäori commentators believe that the and the warlike and backward nature of Mäori origins of the violence stem from colonization society and culture (Laws, 2009a, 2009b, 2010). and argue that the media exaggerate percep- This view has sympathy in a wider non-Mäori tions about Mäori violence against children.

*Dr Rawiri Taonui is an independent researcher and writer Email: [email protected] 188 R. TAONUI

While that view has substance, the rates of subalterns or Western auxiliaries. A main thrust abuse are high: Mäoridom has been rocked by of my writing is concerned with countering each new case. Mäori are in the middle of a dominant ideologies in both the public and aca- cultural renaissance that began in the 1970s, demic spheres about the way Western writers and each new incident raises the question of portray indigenous peoples. In that regard, my whether the current flowering is making a writing is centred in kaupapa Mäori, mätau- difference. ranga Mäori and indigenous emancipatory This paper asks the following questions: writing. This paper aims to engage with and How bad is Mäori child homicide and abuse counter dominant beliefs about indigenous relative to the non-Mäori population? Do the Mäori child homicide and abuse. media over-emphasize Mäori child abuse? Was Mäori parenting violent before contact with Europeans? Did violence against children come Colonization about as a result of contact with European settlement? Have economic, political, social Mäori are the indigenous people of New Zealand and cultural processes such as land loss, disem- whose origins extend back 6,000 years to a powerment, language deprivation, assimilation, series of Austronesian migrations through Near alienation and urbanization contributed to and/ and Far Oceania, Micronesia, Melanesia and or exacerbated violence? Is the current Mäori Polynesia, arriving in New Zealand between renaissance making a difference? What are the 1,000 and 2,000 years ago (Howe, 2006). systemic impediments to making progress? Britain colonized New Zealand for its resources, What will help? What is the place of Mäori signing the Treaty of Waitangi with Mäori in culture in addressing the problem? 1840 after which Mäori were subjected to war, confi scation and forced sale of land. Between 1840 and 2000, Mäori lost 96% or 63.4 mil- Theoretical background lion acres of their land (New Zealand History Online, 2009). During the worst of the land My theoretical background is based in postco- struggles colonial cavalry charged and sabred to lonial theory including F. Fanon’s Black Skin, death naked Mäori boys aged 8 to 10 years old White Masks (1952), and The Wretched of the at Handleys Shed; in Taranaki, bounties were Earth (1961); Kwame Nkrumah’s Consciencism paid for the heads of Mäori, apartheid-type pass (1970); Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978), and laws were invoked and detention without trial Culture and Imperialism (1993); Homi Bhabha’s applied (Simpson, 1979); in the Urewera Forest, The Location of Culture (1994); and Gayatri scorched earth campaigns, summary killings of Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988). I prisoners and non-combatants including men, am also infl uenced by whiteness theory, includ- women and children at Köpani, Onepoto and ing Ruth Frankenberg’s White Women, Race Ngätapa (Waitangi Tribunal, 2009, 2010); Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness Auckland Mäori were expelled, interned or (1993); Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark: forced to wear coloured armbands reminiscent Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (1992); of 1930s Germany during land wars (Sorrenson, and David Roediger’s The Wages of Whiteness 1959). Demographic decline, driven by disease, (1999). I have particular interests in decoloniza- destruction, dispossession, disenfranchisement, tion, subaltern studies and counter-hegemony, disempowerment, dismemberment of culture especially how indigenous scholars are sub- and despair caused the Mäori population to jugated within Western institutions and how drop 70%, from about 150,000 in 1769 to just indigenous scholars respond as liberationists, 44,000 in 1901 (see Poole, 1991 for a summary MANA TAMARIKI: CULTURAL ALIENATION 189 of demographics).1 Mäori were expected to executive than ever before. There has been a become extinct (Belich, 2001); in the words huge effort to address young people’s issues, of politician Issac Featherston, government including health, education, unemployment, policy should “smooth . . . their dying pillow” justice, violence, suicide, alcohol and substance (Foster, 1966). abuse, street gangs, and cultural alienation, Mäori faced systematic economic, political, amongst others. The flagship of this move- social and cultural marginalization, cultural ment has been the establishing of Mäori-led alienation, forced assimilation, demonization, initiatives in education under the maxim that racism, structural prejudice and intergenera- “Mäori do not fail in education; education fails tional impoverishment. Mäori language was Mäori.” The phenomenon of brown people banned, their culture, heritage and identity deci- failing in white education is changing under mated. The number of speakers of the Mäori Mäori advocacy. There are 491 köhanga reo language declined from 95% in 1900 to just and köhungahunga (immersion preschools 5% in 1980 (Waitangi Tribunal, 1986). After for children up to 5 years old) (Ministry of massive land loss, Mäori were urbanized mov- Education, 2009), over 150 kura kaupapa, kura ing from 83% rural in 1936 to 83% urban in teina and whare kura (primary and secondary 1986. Housing was advertised as “Europeans immersion schools for children up to 17 years only”, hotels refused reservations from Mäori; old) (Ministry of Education, 2008), over 91 Mäori could not tour with the All Blacks to tikanga rua reo (bilingual units in mainstream South Africa. Mäori were discriminated against primary and intermediate schools for children in movie theatres, swimming pools and bar- up to 12 years old), 90 schools with immer- ber shops in Pukekohe. A separate school was sion classes (Maxim Institute, 2006), and three established when Päkehä (New Zealanders of whare wänanga (Mäori universities). Most European descent) parents protested about other state tertiary institutions teach Mäori lan- Mäori children mixing with their own (Belich, guage. A key point of relevance for the debate 2001). on Mäori child abuse is that the initiatives are successful because they are led by Mäori at all levels. They were not propagated by the system, Renaissance a system that had created the problem; they involve devolution of resources to Mäori. Mäori have recovered, today numbering There has been progress at all levels of educa- 565,000 (14.6% of the population) (Statistics tion. Mäori school entrants in preschool have New Zealand, 2006). Initially led by radical increased to 91.4% (Ministry of Education, Mäori youth protest in the 1970s (Walker, 2009). The number of Mäori leaving school 1991), Mäori language became an offi cial lan- with a university entrance qualifi cation dou- guage of New Zealand in 1986. Twenty-four bled between 2001 and 2006 (Ministry of percent of Mäori now speak their language Education, 2007). The proportion of Mäori (Statistics New Zealand, 2006). Mäori have adults with at least one high school qualifi ca- 25 radio stations and two TV channels. Many tion has risen from 39% to 54%, and those tribes are powerful economic units. There with post-school qualifi cations from 18% to are 22 Mäori in New Zealand’s 120-mem- 25%. Mäori numbers in tertiary education rose ber Parliament, 7 from dedicated Mäori seats. from 38,000 to 91,000 between 1994 and 2003 Mäori hold more portfolios in the government (Ministry of Education, 2005a). Although these students are mainly concentrated at lower cer- tifi cate and diploma levels, Mäori are now the 1 Estimates of the Mäori population at contact range between 100,000 and 175,000. highest percentage participating ethnic group 190 R. TAONUI

in tertiary education (Ministry of Education, acquitted. Some evidence suggested that he was 2005b). The number of Mäori with PhDs and “profi led” into the charges. Serious questions other doctoral level qualifi cations has grown were raised about the mother, who among from about 30 in 1993 to over 500 in 2007 other things, stopped for a meal at McDonald’s (Walker, 2010).2 Huge gaps still exist in all while transporting the twins to hospital then areas of education between Mäori and non- left them in the emergency ward for staff to Mäori but, under Mäori leadership, Mäori are look after, asking them to “ring her” about the going forward. outcome. James Whakaruru was 4 when he died at the hands of Benny Haerewa, his mother’s boy- High-profi le cases of Mäori child friend in April 1999. Little James Whakaruru abuse told his great-aunt Kathleen how much he loved his mother and that he knew his mother Despite the huge progress of recent years, loved him. Haerewa was jailed for 12 years for Mäoridom has been stunned by a number of manslaughter. high-profi le child abuse cases. The torture to The dreadful roll call includes the abuse of death of 3-year-old Nia Glassie evokes a litany Delcelia Witika, Lillybing Karaitihana Mätiaha, of such incidents. Nia was subjected to exten- Pirimai Simmonds, Jonelle Tarawa, Mereana sive abuse for weeks before being admitted to Edmonds, Tamati Pökaia and others. Every new hospital and dying of brain injuries on 3 August report brings dread for Mäori that it is one of 2007. The court concluded she had been kicked, our own. This raises several questions. beaten, slapped, jumped on, held over a fi re, had wrestling moves practised on her, placed in a clothes dryer and spun at top heat for up to 30 How bad is Mäori child abuse? minutes, folded into a sofa and sat on, shoved into piles of rubbish, dragged through a sandpit The Mäori child homicide rate is double that half-naked, fl ung against a wall, dropped from for non-Mäori in New Zealand (Ministry of a height onto the fl oor, and whirled rapidly on Social Development, 2004), which contributes a rotary clothes line until thrown off. disproportionately to New Zealand rank as Another example is the gang-related drive- third highest for child abuse deaths in 27 OECD by shooting of innocent 2-year-old Jhia Te countries (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Tua, for which Hayden Wallace, 27, and Karl 2003). This report detailed child maltreatment Check, 26, received life imprisonment with a deaths in 27 OECD countries averaged over a non-parole period of 15 years for the shoot- 5-year period during the 1990s, and placed New ing in May 2007. The two ethnic Mäori gangs Zealand 25th out of 27 countries, with a rate involved were the Mongrel Mob and Black of 1.2 deaths per 100,000 children under the Power, gangs formed in the late 1960s and early age of 15 years. This was high compared with 1970s as a result of cultural alienation when an OECD median of 0.6 deaths per 100,000. Mäori were urbanized. Only Mexico and the United States (both 2.2 The beating to death of the twin brothers per 100,000) had higher child maltreatment Christopher and Cru Kahui, aged 3 months, death rates than New Zealand. Fifty percent of who died on 18 June 2006 in hospital after babies under 1 year old taken into State care being admitted with serious head injuries. Their are Mäori. Mäori constitute 40% of 2,000 father was charged with the killings but later critical and 25,000 of general child abuse cases reported annually (Ministry of Social 2 The estimate of 30 PhDs in 1993 is mine. MANA TAMARIKI: CULTURAL ALIENATION 191

Development, 2007).3 At 55 per 100,000, the emphasize that the media portrays Mäori on Mäori rate of abuse-related head injuries to one hand as privileged through treaty settle- children under 2 is amongst the highest in the ment processes and affi rmative action policies world (Taonui, 2007). Mäori child admissions unfairly denied to Päkehä (a theme dismissed to hospital relating to intentional harm were as unfounded by the UN Special Rapporteur on over double the rate of all other ethnic groups Indigenous Peoples) while on the other char- between 1994 and 2004 (Department of Child, acterizing Mäori as a source of problems or Youth and Family Services, 2006). Those most confl ict, poor, sick and a drain on “the tax- at risk of homicide between 1991 and 2000 payer”. The drivers of these characterizations were Mäori boys aged 0–1 years old (Doolan, are racism and prejudice. 2004; Morris, Reilly, Berry, & Ransom, 2003). These perceptions were exacerbated by the Violence in Mäori homes not only occurs at fi lm Once Were Warriors (Scholes & Tamahori, a higher rate but is more likely to be serious; 1994), which, although it portrayed a vivid Mäori women experience considerably more reality of the domestic violence of the cultur- serious and much greater levels of domestic ally alienated and impoverished Mäori urban violence than non-Mäori (Newbold, 2000). underclass, also reinforced negative stereotypes Fifty percent of those sentenced for the offence about Mäori. Moreover, these notions have of “male assaults female” in 2004 to 2005 been reinforced by the now discredited “war- were Mäori, and 42% of Mäori women said a rior gene” research of 2007, which purported partner had abused them physically, compared that Mäori had a genetic tendency to negative with only 20% of white women (Ministry of behaviour but was later discredited for using Justice, 2007). too small a sample and for sensationalizing the fi ndings, probably in order to obtain more funding; and, more recently by historian Paul Do the media over-emphasize Mäori Moon’s 2008 book, This Horrid Practice, on cases of child abuse? Mäori cannibalism, which made unfortunate insinuations about Mäori infanticide. Professor Although the rate of Mäori violence against Moon used the example of Mäori practising children is high, there is strong evidence that infanticide as evidence that Mäori were a vio- the media over-emphasizes negative stories and lent culture relative to others and therefore statistics about Mäori. The work of Hirsch and cannibals. Interestingly, he missed that the Spoonley (1990), McCreanor (no date; 1989), highest rate of infanticide during the 1800s Nairn and McCreanor (1990, 1991), and more was in the UK, where changes in law remov- recently Rankine et al. (2008), underline that ing support for single mums gave rise to the the Päkehä-dominated media represents Mäori almost systematic starving to death of infants as inferior to Päkehä culture, depicts Mäori as on “baby farms”, which, using this thesis prof- negative, extreme or threatening and promotes fered, would mean that the British, rather than that Mäori (men especially) seek and enjoy Mäori, were the “savages”. violence. Rankine et al. (2008) in particular Mäori are over-represented in child homi- cide. However, the problem is not just confi ned to Mäori; it is a New Zealand problem. For 3 Figures released in June 2007 show in the year to 30 instance, although Mäori, who are 14.6% of June 2007, a total of 4,672 (46%) of cases of child abuse came from Mäori households, compared the population, accounted for 28 (31%) of the with 27.8% (2,828 cases) from Päkehä families. In 88 children killed between 1993 and 2003; 2006, the percentage for Mäori was 45.1%, and for 48 (54%) of all child homicides were Päkehä Päkehä 30.7%. Only 2.8% were Asian and 16.4% Pacifi c Island. children (Pacific Island or Asian comprised 192 R. TAONUI

12 deaths or 13.6%).4 Between 2001 and supporters of New Zealand’s recently intro- 2005, Mäori children under 15 years old were duced anti-smacking legislation. 28% or 17 of 61 child homicides—44 were non-Mäori (Ministry of Social Development, 2008). The majority of children killed were Was pre-European Mäori parenting European; the question therefore arises as to violent towards children? why it is that the photos of Mäori child victims are more likely to be named and publicized. Many Mäori today are quite convinced that And, while the names of Mäori victims are pre-European society was not as violent as well known, the names of Päkehä children some Päkehä might suggest. Appeals to tikanga are not. (customary beliefs and practices) such as aroha However horrifying the fi gures, it is simplis- (compassion and love), whanaungatanga tic to blame Mäori. Do we condemn all white (family), whakapapa (genealogy) and so on men because they have the highest incidence of support this. Traditional whakataukï (apho- child pornography and paedophilia, vilify all risms expressing values and codes of conduct) Christians because of sexual and physical abuse speak of the importance of children. The bond by Catholic nuns and priests, judge all mental between mother and child was valued: “he health workers for 30 years of institutional- aroha whäereere, he pötiki piri poho” (a moth- ized torture of young patients, such as in the er’s love, a breast-clinging child). “Täku hei psychiatric hospitals Lake Alice and Porirua, or piripiri, täku hei mokimoki, täku hei täwhiri, reject the work of all social workers working täku kati taramea” referred to children cher- with indigenous communities because of the ished as “my pendant of scented fern, fragrant horrors of the residential schools in Canada, the fern, scented gum, sweet-scented speargrass”. stolen generations in Australia and residential Children were called “te tau o te ate” literally homes in New Zealand? Racist stereotyping the “string of the heart”. “He kai poutaka me and scapegoating never solve the issues they kinikini atu, he kai poutaka me horehore atu, do not seek to understand. The abusive “Once mä te tamaiti te iho” (pinch off a bit of the pot- Were Warriors Syndrome” we have today did ted bird, peel off a bit of the potted bird, but not exist in pre-European times; it is part of a leave the substantial part for the child) iterated colonial legacy that affl icts impoverished and that the welfare of the children ensured the alienated indigenous minorities the world over. future of the tribe. Further, it is ignorant and arrogant to blame Grieving parents were called “me he rau i the Mäori leaders of decimated communities peke i te haupapa” (leaves shrivelled by frost). who put themselves on the line for their com- A mother’s grief was expressed as “ka whati rä munities on a regular basis on all issues for little ia täku mähuri tötara” (my tötara [a species of or no recompense. The Mäori Party, Mäori tree] sapling has been broken). When parents Council and Mäori Women’s Welfare League might be lost children would be cared for “matua have shown regular commitment to this issue. pou whare rokohia ana; matua tangata e kore Mäori leaders were amongst the staunchest e rokohia” (the carved fi gures of the ancestral house is also found, the human parent may not 4 Interview by Steve Braunias of Dr Cindy Kiro, New be), meaning the tribe as symbolized by the Zealand Commissioner for Children, published in carved fi gures of ancestors will always look after the Sunday Star Times (5 Aug 2007, p. A18). Dr Kiro said 88 children died between 2003 and 2006 of the child. Children were cared for by the whole which 48 were Päkehä and 28 were Mäori, and 12 tribe “te parahako o te koekoeä” (like the egg Pasfi ka or Asian. More precisely, it was 50 between of the long-tailed cuckoo which is placed in the 1993 and 1997, and 38 between 1998 and 2003 (Ministry of Social Development, 2006, p. v). nest of other birds to be raised). Parents were to MANA TAMARIKI: CULTURAL ALIENATION 193 provide initial welfare and the other members before contact. The records are doubly useful the refi ning skills for life “näu i whatu te kahu, because observations are made at different he täniko täku” (you the parents wove the cloak; times and places, independently of each other. I/we provide the fi ne border). “He tamaiti i aitia On other subjects, many of the commentators ki te takapau wharanui” (children are conceived appear Eurocentric, which adds weight to the upon the broad laid out mat), and “ka mahi koe, comments about childrearing. e te tamariki moe pori” (well done, children who Samuel Marsden was the fi rst missionary in sleep near their relatives) reinforced that they New Zealand arriving in 1814, just 45 years were to be cared for by all. after fi rst contact. Critically, given that Mäori Other sayings warned against maltreat- men commit most Mäori child homicides, ment. Children were to be protected from Marsden made the following comments that harm “mäku e kapu i te toiora o ä täua tama- Mäori men engaged in little violence against riki” (by my hand will our children be kept women and children: unharmed). “Ko te rätä te räkau i takahia e te moa” refers to the rätä tree that when trodden I saw no quarrelling while I was there. They on when young cannot grow straight. “Ngä are kind to their women and children. I never huka kokoti kömata”: just as frosts (huka) observed either with a mark of violence upon will cut down young shoots (kömata) so too them, nor did I ever see a child struck. (Elder, will the ill-treatment of children disrupt their 1932, p. 128) upbringing. Parents were to instruct children well and children to take their guidance: “kia The New Zealanders do not correct their mau ki te kupu a töu matua” (children listen children lest they should abate their courage to the words of your parents). However, the or subdue their violent passions. Hence the young were encouraged to speak their minds children are in no subjection to their parents. “ka mahi te tamariki wäwähi tahä” (well done (p. 479) children who break calabashes, meaning those who challenge the status quo). This exuberance Marsden believed children were treated was celebrated: “he ahi tawa ki uta, he kumu respectfully: tarakihi ki te moana” (children are like the noisy popping of roasting tawa berries, and the The chiefs . . . are accustomed to public discus- noisy feeding of large shoals of the tarakihi fi sh). sions from their infancy. The chiefs take their (Whakataukï from Mead & Grove, 2007.)5 children from their mother’s breast to all their While whakataukï are insightful, Mäori left public assemblies, where they hear all that is no extant written accounts about parenting said upon politics, religion, war etc. by the old- from the early contact period. The records of est men. Children will frequently ask questions early European explorers, traders, missionar- in public conversation and are answered by the ies, settlers and administrators dating between chiefs. I have often been surprised to see the sons 1814 and 1868 are useful here. Given that there of the chiefs at the age of four or fi ve years sitting were very few Europeans in New Zealand in amongst the chiefs and paying close attention 1814 and no more than 2,000 in 1840, we can to what was said. The children never appear assume for the most part that the parenting they under any embarrassment when they address a observed is a fair indication of usual practice stranger whom they never saw. (p. 193)

His observations of the nature of children sup- 5 See pp. 64, 66, 81, 119, 164, 167, 198, 258, 287, port this: 288, 297, 319, 322, 379, 384, 391—index available by fi rst word. 194 R. TAONUI

The children are generally very easy, open sense that children belonged to the tribe: and familiar at the fi rst interview, and show an anxiety to pay every little attention in their The wife almost invariably opposes the hus- power to the strangers. There can be no fi ner band in favour of her children, and the former children than those of the New Zealanders in dares not assume any superiority, as the rela- any part of the world. Their parents are very tives of his wife are ever ready to avenge, even indulgent, and they appear always happy and with his blood, any unkindness shown to her playful and very active. (p. 283) or the children, the latter being regarded as less belonging to the parents than to the tribe Joel Polack’s (1838 edition) published views in general. (Vol. 1, pp. 32–33) support Marsden’s comments concerning Mäori fathers, which he contrasts with European views George Angas’ observations in 1847 emphasize of punishment: the care of both mothers and fathers:

The New Zealand father is devotedly fond of Both parents are almost idolatrously fond of his children, they are his pride, his boast, and their children; and the father frequently spends peculiar delight; he generally bears the burden a considerable portion of his time in nursing of carrying them continually within his mat his infant, who nestles in his blanket, and is . . . The children are seldom or never punished; lulled to rest by some native song . . . (p. 91) which consequently, causes them to commit so many annoying tricks, that continually The children are cheerful and lively little crea- renders them deserving of a sound, wholesome tures, full of vivacity and intelligence. They castigation. The father performs the duty of pass their early years almost without restraint, a nurse; and any foul action the embryo war- amusing themselves with the various games of rior may be guilty of, causes a smile rather the country. (p. 92) than a tear from the devoted parent. (p. 374) Richard Taylor traversed much of New Zealand, The obstinacy of the children exceeds belief; and in 1855 published what he had observed. the son of a chief is never chastised by his His account supports those of earlier observers, parent. The boys are brought up entirely by although he does recount one instance of corpo- the men; and it is not uncommon to see young ral punishment, but says this was the exception children of tender years, sitting next to their rather than the rule: parents in the war councils, apparently listen- ing with the greatest attention to the words of . . . in general they show great affection for their war uttered by the chiefs . . . (p. 378) offspring; indeed the children are suffered to do as they like. They sit in all their councils; they They also ask questions in the most numer- are never checked; once, and once only, I saw a ously attended assemblies of chiefs, who man, whose child (an infant, one or two years answer them with an air of respect, as if they old) was very troublesome, take him up and run were a corresponding age to themselves. I do out with him to a river close by, in which he kept not remember a request of an infant being ducking him until he ceased crying. (p. 165) treated with neglect, or a demand from one of them being slighted. (p. 379) Edward Shortland published his observations about Mäori parenting in 1856. His account Polack (1840 edition) also adds insight on the is useful in that it explains the motivations role of women in protecting children and the for not punishing children and that the close MANA TAMARIKI: CULTURAL ALIENATION 195 relationships with other family members acted his infant on his back for hours at a time, and as a check against over-chastisement: might often be seen quietly at work with the little one there snugly ensconced. (p. 30) Curbing the will of the child by harsh means was thought to tame his spirit, and to check These observations accord with others in the the free development of his natural bravery. Pacifi c. Malinowski (1929) provides a dated but The chief aim, therefore, in the education of seminal description of the social organization children being to make them bold, brave, and of the Trobriand Islanders in Melanesia that independent in thought and act, a parent is included their social organization, sexuality and seldom seen to chastise his child, especially in child-raising practices: families of rank. Were he to do so, one of the uncles would probably interfere to protect his Children . . . enjoy considerable freedom and nephew, and seek satisfaction for the injury independence . . . there is no idea of a regular infl icted on the child by seizing some of the discipline, no system of domestic coercion pigs or other property of the father. (p. 156) . . .. The parents would either coax or scold or ask as from one equal to another . . . the This is reinforced by Swainson (1859): idea of a defi nite retribution, or of coercive punishment, is not only foreign, but distinctly Considering how little the Mäori children are repugnant . . . several times when I suggested, subject to restraint, their quiet and orderly after some flagrant infantile misdeed, that conduct is especially remarkable. In bringing it would mend matters for the future if the them up, the parents seldom have recourse to child were beaten or otherwise punished in personal chastisement, believing that it has the cold blood, the idea appeared unnatural and effect of damaging the spirit of the child. At immoral to my friends, and was rejected with an early age, the Mäori children acquire great some resentment. (pp. 52–53) self-respect; and at the public discussions of their elders, they may be seen seated around In summary, violence toward children in the outer circle, attentive, grave, and thought- pre-European times was an exceptional cir- ful listeners. (p. 10) cumstance rather than a rule. Both parents, including fathers, were attached to their chil- William Colenso’s account from 1868 also dren. Shared parenting by the extended family wrote about parenting by the extended family acted as a check against violence. These points while again implying that this acted to discour- suggest that today’s incidence of child abuse age against abuse of children: and the current high levels of male Mäori vio- lence towards women and children has genesis Their love and attachment to children was very in the post-contact period with Europeans that great, and that not merely to their own imme- impoverished, broke down and isolated fami- diate offspring. They very commonly adopted lies, dislocating them from traditional contexts children; indeed no man having a large family and the extended networks that previously was ever allowed to bring them all up himself— protected children. uncles, aunts and cousins claimed and took them, often whether the parents were willing or not. They certainly took every physical care of them; and as they rarely chastised (for many reasons) of course, petted and spoiled them. The father, or uncle, often carried or nursed 196 R. TAONUI

Is there a link between the race than by these land courts. The natives intergenerational impacts of come from the villages in the interior, and have colonization and Mäori child abuse? to hang about for months in our centres of pop- ulation . . . They are brought into contact with Several facts support a connection between the lowest classes of society, and are exposed Mäori child abuse and cultural alienation, sys- to temptation, the result is that a great number temic marginalization and intergenerational contract our diseases and die. (Bruce, 1885) impoverishment. The key ingredients can be traced to the period from 1840 to 1980. Mäori The domestic abuse and child violence we see alcohol abuse and impoverished despair can be today begins during the period of urbanization traced to the period after the colonial wars of between 1950 and 1980, when 60% of Mäori the 1860s when confi scation, land courts and were urbanized into poor housing areas as the impact of landlessness took hold as articles cheap unskilled labour in areas vulnerable to in the New Zealand Herald observed: economic change (Belich, 2001). This brought forth new generations of doubly alienated . . . men and women have abandoned all work Mäori: rejected by the dominant culture and and all industrious occupation. They can at distance from their ancestral culture, concen- scarcely be said to have had a home . . . for the trated in poor housing, working for low wages most part they have for years past lived in tents or on welfare, and subject to across-the-board or slept on the ground with the shelter merely of racism. A generation of urban Mäori parents a wind break. They have been made to do this who had been born in the 1970s, 1980s and by having to run from one part of the country 1990s entered an intergenerational cycle of pov- to the other end after land courts. They have erty, alcohol, drugs, gang culture, single-parent had to live on wretched watery foods and the families, domestic violence, hopelessness and only relief from the utter misery of their sur- frustration. By 2001, 20% or 120,000 of Mäori roundings is in getting drunk. What wonder is people did not know their tribe (Statistics New it that they should die like rotten sheep and the Zealand, 2001). Many families disintegrated. children born to them should linger out a short Mäori have the highest rate of solo parent fami- life. (New Zealand Herald, 1 August 1885) lies; 41% of Mäori children compared with 17% of European children live in single parent In these districts where the natives have not families, mainly headed by women (Families sold most of their surplus lands or at all events Commission, 2008). where they have not during the last 5 years Their experience turned inward, manifesting been subject to immoral and destructive infl u- in violence, crime and abuse. Thirty-year fi gures ences of land selling, they have kept up their show, for instance, that after the 1984 to 1990 numbers. In former years it has been noticed economic restructuring, which impacted more that the great decrease took place in these dis- on poor Mäori than poor non-Mäori (Minto, tricts in which the natives had been detained 2007) the Mäori child homicide rate, which had from their settlements and their usual occupa- been only 10% higher than that for non-Mäori, tion. (New Zealand Herald, 26 May 1891) more than doubled, from 1.05 (1978–1987) to 2.4 per 100,000 between 1991 and 2000 And, as the Member of Parliament Robert (Table 1). Bruce said: The connection between abuse and cultural alienation via economic restructuring leading to I believe we could not devise a more ingenious greater cultural alienation and that leading to method of destroying the whole of the Maori more violence is further supported by the fact MANA TAMARIKI: CULTURAL ALIENATION 197

TABLE 1 Changes in rates of Mäori and non- TABLE 2 Changes in rates of Mäori and non- Mäori child homicide: 1978–1987 and Mäori child homicide: 1991–2005 1991–2000. Mäori Non-Mäori Mäori Non-Mäori i. 1991–2000 2.40 0.67 1978–1987 1.05 0.92 ii. 1996–2000 1.90 0.90 1991–2000 2.40 0.67 iii. 1999–2003 1.5 0.70 Rate per 100,000 for children aged 0–14 iv. 2001–2005 1.5 0.60 Source: Doolan, 2004. Rate per 100,000 for children aged 0–14 Comparing: i. (Doolan, 2004, p. 10); ii. and iv. (Ministry of Social Development, 2008, p. 7); iii. (Ministry of Social that in most cases prima facie reports suggest Development, 2006, p. 5) Mäori child homicide occurs in culturally less robust or culturally alienated families. This Is the Mäori renaissance making a reinforces that it is not the inherent nature of contribution? indigenous culture that causes cyclic intergen- erational child bashing, but rather the proximal Thirty-year fi gures show that the renaissance removal or distortion of that culture. The high- period is having a positive impact. In fact, the est rate of cyclic poverty and of alcohol, drug rate of Mäori child homicide is decreasing at and child abuse in western Europe is in the more than twice the rate of that for non-Mäori Glaswegian south-west of Scotland: amongst (Table 2). the descendants of white Highlanders urban- When compared another way, the rate of ized after Culloden, who had lost their lands, Mäori child homicide has been improving stead- language and culture.6 This cultural alienation ily, both in terms of the reduction in the number is also why, in New Zealand, Mäori child abuse killed (Figure 1) and, as in Figure 2, a percentage rates currently outstrip those for Pasifi ka, at of all child homicides. The percentage of child least for the moment. Samoan and Tongan homicides for non-Mäori (including Päkehä populations remained a majority in their own European, Pasifi ka and Asian) is increasing as countries during colonization; they retained a proportion of all homicides as Mäori child more land, their languages stayed intact. homicide decreases. Meanwhile, the rate of Culturally stronger Pasifi ka communities were reported Mäori child abuse, although still twice more successful at transferring their communi- that for non-Mäori (11.9 compared with 5.9 per ties from Apia and Tongatapu to Auckland, 1,000 children, 1998–2003) is also decreasing. than Mäori were at transporting them from Taken together they suggest that the Mäori Ahipara and Te Tai. However, Pasifi ka now renaissance is working. The rapid decline in living as minorities within a dominant culture Mäori child homicide also suggests that, in the are a time bomb ticking away in places such as long term, Mäori child homicide fi gures may south Auckland, as gradually, three or more become better than those for Päkehä, although generations of re-settlement have begun to the current economic downturn is a concern erode the cultural integrity of those communi- with as many as four new Mäori child homicides ties (see Taonui & Newbold, in press). in 2010. Many good people sit at decision- and policy- making levels. However, many of the measures currently in place address the symptoms of child

6 I use the term white here to demonstrate that abuse rather than the underlying causes. Many cultural alienation not only occurs to brown indig- of the structures and organizations that address enous peoples such as Mäori but also to other the issue derive from the structures that cre- colonized or otherwise dominated and subjugated groups. ated the problem; we have already noted the 198 R. TAONUI

30

25

20

15

10

5

0 1991–1995 1996–2000 2001–2005

FIGURE 1 Number of Mäori child homicides. Source: Connolly & Doolan, 2007

100%

80%

60% Non-Mäori

40% Mäori

20%

0% 1991–1995 1996–2000 2001–2005

FIGURE 2 Mäori child homicides as a percentage of all child homicides. Source: Connolly & Doolan, 2007

residential schools in Canada, stolen genera- qualifications and the ability to make deci- tions in Australia and residential homes in New sions; and, more importantly, they need to be Zealand. properly resourced. A steady devolution of resources will allow Mäori-led programmes to succeed. It is evident in other health areas that What will help? Mäori-designed and -led initiatives provide much higher success with Mäori communities A tenet of this paper has been that the Mäori rev- (Durie, 2005). The new suite of Whänau Ora olution in education came about because Mäori policies promoted by the Mäori Party and the have presence across the board: in teaching, Mäori-led Paiheretia Whänau (family) restora- administration, policy, leadership and decision tion programmes need resourcing. making. The same needs to happen in the area There is a need for anti-silence campaigns, of child welfare. There are many Mäori work- mandatory reporting of suspected abuse, and ing in social work and support services, but intervention programmes. However, these mainly at the lower end. We need more Mäori have the very real prospect of racial profil- with strong cultural skills, requisite professional ing if solely left to an already monocultural MANA TAMARIKI: CULTURAL ALIENATION 199 health system: not all brown people are child of traditional whakapapa and the dishonour abusers; not all Mäori are child abusers; the of colonization to fi nd meaning and place in majority patently are not. Päkehä health work- terms of honouring their ancestors and working ers, administrators and decision makers need for the good of current and future generations. cultural re-training similar to the successful Mäori culture is not a problem; it is a solution. Kotahitanga Programme in education; not only to understand Mäori, but more importantly to understand the assumptions Päkehä make when Conclusions governing them. Child violence in pre-European Mäori society was much less than today. Currently Mäori The place of culture child murder, although still higher than that for non-Mäori, is decreasing at twice the rate as that We rarely recognize that colonization and its for non-Mäori. The current crisis derives from concomitant intergenerational impacts consti- cumulative intergenerational experiences of tute violence: colonization is the application of colonization, alienation and poverty. Culturally anger upon vulnerable peoples. This violence has strong families are less violent. Culturally based a reciprocal reaction within the societies upon programmes for Mäori are likely to be highly which it is infl icted: cultural alienation, forced successful, but because of stereotyping and assimilation and cumulative marginalization other issues, the programmes need devolvement create anger in indigenous societies. Where this from centralized systems that are dominated anger is not understood, it becomes internalized by non-Mäori: the systems we have in place to within the colonized society and inverts upon solve these problems derive from systems that itself. The indigenous oppressed attack each created them. other. Angry men fi ght each other, sometimes E ngä taonga iti, moe mai i waenganui i in gangs, the red fi ghts the blue. Anger seeks ngä mätua tüpuna, ma rätou koutou e aroha the weak and vulnerable in the form of mothers e tiaki. Moe marie. Kei runga i a matou katoa and children, violence expresses itself by seeking te whakamä o to mamae, kia kaua tërä mahi. innocence. Re-enculturalization can emanci- Rest with the ancestors, those who will love and pate individuals, families and tribal groups. care for you. Find peace. The shame of your Case histories about perpetrator or victims suffering is on all of us, may there be no more. need not only to trace the circumstances of the individual concerned, but also their parents and wider family because the journey of the many in Glossary the past shapes the life of the one in the present. Promoting the rebuilding of culture within the Te reo Mäori English perpetrator not only includes the beliefs and val- aroha compassion and love ues of the ancestors, but also the history of the haka Mäori war dances people, including colonization. At an individual huka frost level, this knowledge has the ability to dissi- köhanga reo immersion preschools for pate anger by raising consciousness. Positive children up to 5 years enculturation enhances a sense of belonging, old rebuilds identity and promotes self-worth. This köhungahunga immersion preschools for facilitates the healing of relationships within children up to 5 years families. At its best expression this allows per- old petrators to reconnect both with the honour 200 R. TAONUI

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