Te Māoritanga WELLBEING AND IDENTITY Kapa Haka as a Vehicle

fact, Māori health promotion is stated by Ratima as being conceptualised as the
meeting point between Māori development and generic health promotion. She
states that Māori health promotion has a dual focus; on ‘health’ and on ‘Māori’,
with ‘being Māori at the centre’. She concludes that it is “the health focus that is
the key distinction between Māori health promotion and Māori development,
and it is the Māori focus that distinguishes Māori health promotion from generic
health promotion” (p. 230).
At the core of the debate on what sets Māori health promotion apart from
generic health promotion is the recognition that promotion of a secure Māori
identity is essential to Māori health promotion. This is seen to be achieved by
the positive affirmation of Māori values, beliefs, preferences and needs. What
hasn’t been discussed as much is why the identity process or construction of a
secure identify is so important for Māori in the health promotion setting, and
how this might be implemented from a macro through to a micro level.
Ratima (2001) states that;
“..as a very minimum, Māori health promotion interventions will be
consistent with Māori health worldviews, embrace a holistic concept of
health, incorporate a focus on Māori identity, facilitate increased control
by Māori over the determinants of health, and lead to gains in health,
whichever way it is defined” (p 235).
3.2. Health promotion in Aotearoa, New Zealand
“Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control
over, and to improve, their health”. (World Health Organisation, 1986,
p.5).
‘Generic health promotion’ is a formula for health promotion (see table 5)
that is intended to be relevant to all peoples (Ratima, 2001), and both Te Tiriti o
Waitangi 19 and the Ottawa Charter (World Health Organisation, 1986) form the
basis of health promotion practice in Aotearoa, New Zealand. So although
health promotion has its origins in Western Public health (Carmichael, 1993), it
is influenced by the World health Organisation’s ecological, positive and holistic
19 Te Tiriti o Waitangi = The Treaty of Waitangi
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