Effect of Colonisation

Maori world views were encapsulated in Whakapapa, which provided them with their identity, in Whanau, Hapu, Iwi and Whenua, the land. Their world views also included believing in wairuatanga (spiritual connection to the natural environment), kaitiakitanga, which is that people are linked to all living and non – living things and it is the responsibility of the mankind to safeguard the ecosystem. In addition, they believed in oneness (kotahitanga) and manaakitanga - the ability to care for others (Hikuroa, 2010). According to Durie (as cited in Dew & Davis, 2006) Maori people were able to manage health by sound public health principles. They were able to preserve and store food, maintain clean water supply, have proper sanitation and waste disposal as well as isolating sick from the rest. They also had vast knowledge on medicines and remedies available locally. With these systems in place the Maori population was thriving and supporting population growth. To understand the health disparity and the lower socioeconomic status of the Maori people, the understanding of the process of colonisation becomes necessary. The effect of past trauma to its present effect than becomes quite evident. Colonisation refers to loss of sovereignty from the indigenous people to colonisers. They dominate the indigenous in economic, social, spiritual, political, and psychological ways. The succession of processes involved with colonisation which is universal to all colonised people is, violence, depopulation,dislocation, poverty and cultural repression (Durie, 2001). In other words more succinctly voiced by Churchill (as cited in Reid & Robson, 2007), a process based on dehumanising indigenous people. An erroneous belief of the colonisers that they are superior to the indigenous therefore has superior rights to their territory and resources. This results in loss of land, loss of power, loss of status, loss of language, and loss of culture. A similar pattern of colonisation was