Ora: Healing Ourselves – Indigenous Knowledge, Healing and Wellbeing

Book Authors Leonie Pihama and Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Rights Available World excl. NZ

This collection brings together Indigenous thinkers and practitioners from Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally to discuss the effects of trauma on Indigenous peoples across social, economic, political and cultural environments.

The authors explore understandings and practices of Indigenous people, grounded in the knowledge of ancestors and based on research, that facilitate healing and wellbeing. The first part of the book focuses on research findings from He Oranga Ngākau: Māori Approaches to Trauma Informed Care, which supports health providers working with whānau experiencing trauma. It discusses tikanga Māori concepts, decolonising approaches and navigating mauri ora.

The subsequent chapters explore Indigenous models of healing, focusing on connections to land and the environment, whakapapa connections and Indigenous approaches such as walking, hunting, and growing and accessing traditional foods for wellbeing.

About the Authors

Dr Leonie Pihama (Te Ātiawa, Ngā Māhanga ā Tairi, Waikato) is Professor of Māori and Indigenous Research at Ngā Wai ā Te Tūī, Māori and Indigenous Research Centre, Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka, Unitec, and Director of Māori and Indigenous Analysis Limited, and is a leading kaupapa Māori educator and researcher. In 2015, she was awarded Te Tohu Pae Tāwhiti Award (NZARE) for excellence in Māori educational research and as Director of Te Kotahi Research Institute accepted Te Tohu Rapuora Award (HRC) for significant contribution to Māori health excellence and leadership.

Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou, Tūhourangi) is Distinguished Professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. She was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013 for her services to Māori and education and received a Prime Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Education in 2017. She was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Puawaitanga Award for Research Excellence in Te Ao Māori and Indigenous Knowledge in 2018, and she received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg Canada in the same year.