Sixth report | Te Pūrongo tuaono Men who use violence |
Ngā tāne ka whakamahi i te whakarekereke
The report looks at 97 men, from between 2009 and 2017, whose family violence resulted in death (not theirs).
I hoped for some real insight and recommendations. But my anticipation was short-lived.
The report very quickly draws attention to, " ... the historical and ongoing impact of colonisation, which includes unchecked privilege, and how colonisation contributes to chronic and complex trauma for both individuals and communities. We believe these factors are central reasons why Māori and non-Māori experience violence across generations. Addressing these issues requires an honest partnership between the Crown and Māori, leading to decolonised services and measures that address structural racism."
More specifically,
Colonisation and Aotearoa New Zealand society
Different groups in a population will always vary in their behaviour and episodes of violence. However, here we raise questions about cultural norms and how society responds to them. Indigenous researchers both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally see a patriarchal social structure as removing the natural supports and caring that people had for each other before this structure was imposed. Mikaere, for example, describes how Māori before colonial times understood the roles of men and women as part of the interrelationship or whakawhanaungatanga of all living things.
Both men and women were essential parts in the collective whole, both formed part of the whakapapa that linked Maori people back to the beginning of the world, and women in particular played a key role in linking the past with the present and the future.
Yes there was tension between the Maori and Pakeha cultural beliefs and behaviours but some of us have moved on. For instance, women fought to be free as individuals, to be educated and independent. New Zealand has evolved and this whole backward-looking narrative about the superiority or otherwise of anthropological worldviews of 200 years ago is pointless.
But the academic authors do not think so. Thus their recommendation to stop the violence is decolonising institutions and services, which means infusing those institutions and services with Maori tikanga and Maori worldviews (already rife in the public service). Ending institutional racism and properly honouring the treaty.
This will stop men murdering, including the 64 who are European, Asian, African, Pacific and other ethnicity.
Right.
In my humble opinion the only offenders who truly reform are those who look in the mirror, see themselves for what they are and resolve to change. If they can't achieve this, they need to be locked up to keep innocent people safe.
But there I go with my patriarchal unchecked-privileged point of view...
6 comments:
This revisionist view of history is so far from the truth that it is laughable. How a system of government (colonial rule) that ended in 1852 is responsible for someone beating their wife in 2020 is beyond me. You should read John Robinson's When Two Cultures Meet, which describes the Maori society that early Europeans encountered - widespread endemic slavery particularly of women, female infanticide that was so common it distorted Maori demographics until late in the 19th Century, cannibalism, constant inter-tribal warfare, and the commonplace settling of disputes by violence and utu. The European missionaries brought a belief in the sanctity of human life and respect for individual rights that had never existed in Maori culture before then. To their credit, many Maori soon realised that these universal values were superior to their own, and the rest is history.
My (white) ex-wife was violent towards me (a white man). Sometimes seriously violent. Which will be my fault according to studies like this...
Probably James, because the report's premise is, "A society that is inequitable for women limits a victim’s options for safety." Society victimises women. Her violence cannot have been her fault in a "patriarchal social structure."
I have not a clue what decolonisation means.
It sounds to be, Jim, like removal of white people.
Hi Lindsay
This 'colonialism is responsible for everything' drivel makes painful reading. What nation has not experienced colonisation at some point during its history? Wouldn't that make us all victims? At what point does one cease to become a victim?
My grandparents were Irish. Respectfully, the experience of Maori pales when compared to the genocide the English afflicted upon my ancestors.
We cease to be victims when we forsake blame and embrace our unique human agency. If anyone is looking for examples, just look at how immigrants from poor war torn Asian nations have established themselves economically in NZ within the space of one generation.
But if you have been through any Western university in recent decades, you will be skilled in the art of deconstructing western civilisation, and opposing those institutions that nurtured you.
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