Dr Amohia Bouton
Gill Potaka-Osborne
Dr Tanya Allport
Independent research team members:
Donna Kerridge (Rongoā practitioner)
Dr Glenis Mark
This research project, exploring the deeper meaning of Rongoā Maori (traditional Māori healing), is a three-year, HRC-funded study hosted by Whakauae Research. Building on previous work undertaken by members of the research team, the research will identify and articulate the contribution that Rongoā makes to the health and wellbeing of the Aotearoa New Zealand population and to our environments; reinstate wider understandings of the nature of Rongoā; and restore a Māori philosophy of wellbeing to our communities.
The project will collect data from both Rongoā practitioners and their patients. The data will be analysed and synthesised to create a map of the Rongoā biosphere as a graphic representation of the principles and practices of Māori healing.
As Phase 2 of the study draws to a close, we are now finishing the last of our healer and patient interviews. Based on the findings from this phase of the study, the team have written their first article, for submission to an international journal, regarding the importance of land to healing and of healing to the land. Additionally, the themes explored in that article have been translated into a second infographic poster which describes the relationship and connections that we, as Māori, have with the whenua.
