Honour Project Aotearoa Te Whāriki Takapou Leonie Pihama, Alison Green, Carl Mika, Matthew Roskrudge, Shirley Simmonds, Tawhanga Nopera, Herearoha Skipper & Rebekah Laurence Community Partner Te Whāriki Takapou Te Whāriki Email [email protected] Takapou Website https://tewhariki.org.nz/ Funder Health Research Council of New Zealand 110 Stanley Street Grafton, Auckland 1010 Web www.hrc.govt.nz Email [email protected] Phone +64 9 303 5200 Te Mata Punenga o Te Kotahi Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato Private Bag 3105 Kirikiriroa 3240 Web www.waikato.ac.nz/rangahau Email [email protected] Phone +64 7 838 4426 First published in 2020 by Te Kotahi Research Institute, Hamilton, Aotearoa Health Research Monograph 3 ISBN 978-0-9951290-2-3 02 Contents Chapter One: Introduction 06 Aims 07 Tikanga Rangahau: Methodology 07 Mahi Rangahau: Methods 09 Literature Reviews and Discussion Paper 09 Collaborations 09 Takatāpui Community Collaborations 09 International Indigenous Collaborations 09 Participant Interviews 10 Pūrākau - Digital Storytelling 10 Survey 11 Summary 13 Chapter Two: Contexting the Honour Project Aotearoa 15 Introduction 15 Kaupapa Māori Speculation 15 Issues of Access to Health Care 16 Chapter Three: Being Takatāpui 23 Introduction: Defining Ourselves 23 Gender & Sexual Identities 28 Defining Wellbeing 30 Chapter Four: Whānau & Takatāpui Wellbeing 34 Visibility & Role Models 40 Normalisation 41 Homophobia, Racism & Negative Experiences 42 Self-harm and Suicide 44 Engaging with Health Services 46 Summary 54 Chapter Five: Pūrākau 56 He Pūrākau: Being Māori, Being Takatāpui 57 He Pūrākau: Growing Up 58 He Pūrākau: Being Well 59 He Pūrākau: I am camp, a lesbian 60 He Pūrākau: He sissy kē ia 61 03 He Pūrākau: I battled it for a long time 62 He Pūrākau: Taku taha Māori, koirā te pou tokomanawa o tōku kaha 63 He Pūrākau: It was like a ton of bricks lifted off my shoulders 64 He Pūrākau: Discovering who I am 65 He Pūrākau: My first crush 66 He Pūrākau: It’s so normalised 67 He Pūrākau: It was just the way we did things 68 He Pūrākau: Surround yourself with support 69 He Pūrākau: In those days it was a crime 70 He Pūrākau: My Nan-nan has a Nan-nan 71 Chapter Six: Honour Project Aotearoa Survey Report 73 Who Were Our Participants? 73 Mauri Ora – The Health of Individuals 75 Whānau Ora – The Health of Whānau 80 Wai Ora – The Contribution of Lived Environments to Health and Wellbeing 84 Survey Summary 88 References 91 04 Chapter 1 Introduction Introduction The ‘Honour Project Aotearoa’ investigated Kaupapa Māori strengths-based understandings of health and wellbeing in relation to takatāpui/Māori LGBTQI-plus communities. The study and its findings (insights) are important because little research has been conducted by takatāpui researchers and community collaborators about takatāpui experiences, wellness and wellbeing. The first Kaupapa Māori in-depth piece of qualitative research was undertaken by takatāpui researcher Dr Elizabeth Kerekere (2017) in her doctoral work entitled Part of the whānau. The emergence of takatāpui identity - He whāriki takatāpui. The Honour Project Aotearoa study is the first Kaupapa Māori mixed method study of takatāpui health and wellbeing. The study was led by Principal Investigators who are takatāpui, supported by a team of eight Māori researchers, six of whom identify as takatāpui, and a group of five advisors, all of whom identify as takatāpui or Two-Spirit. The Honour Project Aotearoa was influenced by the work of the Native American ‘Honor Project’, a ground-breaking study led by Professor Karina Walters of the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute at the University of Washington, which explored wellbeing in American Indian and Alaskan Native two-spirit communities (Walters et al., 2011). The Honor Project was the first ever community-based study of two-spirit American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and involved a nationwide survey that examined the impact of historical trauma, discrimination and other stressors on the health and wellness of Native American men and women who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and two-spirit (LGBTT-S), specifically those living in urban settings. The study was conceived as a direct response to the lack of research addressing health and mental health concerns of urban LGBTT-S. The term ‘two-spirit’, a contemporary rendering of the Northern Algonquin term - niizh manitoag (two spirits) - signifies the embodiment of both the feminine and masculine spirits within one person (Anguksuar, 1997, cited in Balsam et al., 2004). The term provides a means for American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) sexual and gender minorities to accentuate and validate a culturally distinct embodiment of their sexual and gender identity (Lehavot, Walters, & Simoni, 2009) (http://socialwork.uw.edu/research-projects/health- survey-of-two-spirited-native-americans). The ‘Honour Project Aotearoa’ investigates understandings of health and wellbeing in relation to the Takatāpui community. Positive gender identity, sexual identity and sexuality are fundamental to our sense of self, self-esteem and ability to lead a fulfilling life. Wellbeing is increasingly understood as being culturally and environmentally specific. However, health and wellbeing issues in Aotearoa New Zealand are predominantly discussed in a Western heterosexual frame of reference. Health and wellbeing outcomes vary widely across different population groups, including Māori, Pacific peoples, refugees, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTQI-plus). In addition, there are major gaps in service provision to LGBTQI-plus populations. This research provides an opportunity to address the invisibility of LGBTQI-plus populations within policy and service provision in primary health care and other settings. The aim is to support organisations by developing knowledge that supports the provision of effective health and wellbeing programmes. ‘Honour Project Aotearoa’ is the first national multi-methods project to investigate understandings of wellbeing within the Takatāpui community. It will explore the health and wellbeing of Takatāpui, and provide insights into processes by which health services can better serve this particular community. Significant gaps in service provision to LGBTQI-plus populations have been noted in Aotearoa and internationally (Pega & MacEwan, 2010; Walters, 1997). In terms of primary health care needs, other than in relation to issues associated with HIV and AIDS, people who identify as LGBTQI-plus have largely been ignored, with very few organisations providing specific services and programmes to all LGBTQI-plus populations (Neville & Henrickson, 2006; Adams, Dickinson & Asiasiga, 2013), including Takatāpui. 06 Aims The overall aim of ‘Honour Project Aotearoa’ was to investigate and identify life experiences of Takatāpui and gains insights into how those experiences affect health and wellbeing, including access to, and provision of, health care for this specific Māori community. Additionally, the project gives voice to Takatāpui expressions, experiences and aspirations for health and wellbeing, thereby reinforcing and perpetuating Takatāpui belonging - in the whānau, hapū, iwi, and for future generations. These aims have been achieved through the following objectives: Objectives 1 Completion of a survey questionnaire through a Kaupapa Māori research process, to elicit in-depth information pertaining to takatāpui life experiences and their impact on meeting health and wellbeing needs Review of literature related to takatāpui understandings, life experiences, and related health and 2 wellbeing issues Completion of a series of qualitative interviews with participants using pūrākau and digital storytelling 3 approaches Facilitation of Thought Space Wānanga to provide key stakeholders in the area with information based 4 on the findings of the research to support policies, practices and development of appropriate services for takatāpui Dissemination of research findings using multiple methods including online publications, journal 5 articles, pūrākau and digital storytelling resources, community and conference presentations and Hui Takatāpui, and the final research report ‘Honour Project Aotearoa’ was driven by a need to address the almost total lack of responsiveness to the health and wellbeing of the Takatāpui community in terms of equitable provision of quality, sensitive and respectful health services and programmes, and critical research that empowers Takatāpui communities, enhances their experience of tino rangatiratanga and achieves positive transformation for these communities. The distinctiveness of ‘Honour Project Aotearoa’ is its explicit focus on giving voice to Takatāpui expressions, experiences and aspirations for health and wellbeing, thereby reinforcing Takatāpui belonging – in the whānau, iwi, and in ancestral and future generations (Walters, 2007). ‘Honour Project Aotearoa’ focuses on Māori strength-based understandings of health and wellbeing within takatāpui communities. This focus is grounded upon tikanga and mātauranga Māori, which informed the Kaupapa Māori methodological approach taken within the project. Tikanga Rangahau: Methodology Kaupapa Māori provided the methodological approach to this study. As Linda Tuhiwai Smith (1996) noted, “The concept of kaupapa implies a way of framing and structuring how we think about those ideas and practices” (p18). As insights gained from the study indicate, terms used to describe the kaupapa also have the effect of framing