Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Placing Well-Being: A Maori Case Study of Cultural and Environmental Specificity

  • Original Contribution
  • Published:
EcoHealth Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Studies of well-being have been dominated by perspectives that stem from Western, health-science notions of individual’s health and psychological development. In recent times, however, there has been a developing sensitivity to the cultural and place-specific contexts affecting the health and well-being of contrasting populations in different environments. Drawing on these advances, this article explores the potential in conceptualizing a place-based notion of well-being that recognizes the cultural and environmental specificity of well-being for specific populations in a given setting. We argue that a geographical approach to well-being enables the linking of culture and environment for future indigenous research into both ecosystems and human health. Taking the case of an indigenous population, we identify the contexts that affect Maori well-being and we argue that key sociocultural and environmental dimensions need to be integrated for a culturally appropriate approach to Maori well-being.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adelson N (2000) “Being Alive Well”: Health and the Politics of Cree Well-being, Toronto: University of Toronto Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Airey L (2003) ‘Nae as nice a scheme as it used to be’: lay accounts of neighbourhood incivilities and well-being. Health and Place 9:129–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baskett J (2000) The four cornerstones of well-being in a multicultural society. Age and Ageing 29:465–466

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bassett T (1988) The political ecology of Peasant-Herder conflicts in the northern Ivory Coast. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 78:453–472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes F (1999) Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management, Philadelphia and London: Taylor & Francis

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs J, Sharp J (2004) Indigenous knowledges and development: a postcolonial caution. Third World Quarterly 25:661–676

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter JL, Hill GJE (2007) Critiquing environmental management in indigenous Australia: two case studies, Area 39:43–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christopher JC (1999) Situating psychological well-being: exploring the cultural roots of its theory and research. Journal of Counseling and Development 77:141–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Coombes B (2006) Defending community? Indigeneity, self-determination and institutional ambivalence in the restoration of Lake Whakaki. Geoforum 38:60–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cram F, Smith L, Johnstone W (2003) Mapping the themes of Maori talk about health. New Zealand Medical Journal. Available at http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/116–1170/357 [accessed 15 March 2007]

  • Crengle H (2002) The Legal Basis for a Consideration of Cultural Values of Kai Tahu. In Tipa G, Crengle H, Davis K, Allingham B, Symon A (editors) Cultural Impact Assessment: Project Aqua, , City: Publisher, pp 52–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Crighton EJ, Elliott SJ, van der Meer J, Small I, Upshur R (2003) Impacts of an environmental disaster on psychosocial health and well-being in Karakalpakstan. Social Science & Medicine 56:551–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curtis S (2004) Health and Inequality: Geographic Perspectives, London: Sage

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutchin MC (2007) The need for the ‘new health geography' in epidemiologic studies of environment and health. Health and Place (in press)

  • Daaleman TP, Kuckelman Cobb A, Frey BB (2001) Spirituality and well-being: an exploratory study of the patient perspective. Social Science & Medicine 53:1503–1511

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Durie M (1994) Whaiora: Māori Health Development, Auckland: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Durie M (1998) Te mana te kawanatanga, Auckland: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Durie M (2001) Mauri Ora: The Dynamics of Māori Health, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Durie M (2004) Te Pae Mohutonga, Implementation Planning Guide. Available at http://www.maorihealth.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesma/196 [accessed 16 March 2007]

  • Dyall L, Bridgman G, Bidois A, Gurney H, Hawira J, Tangitu P, Huata (1999) Maori Outcomes: Expectations of Mental Health Services. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand Issues 12:71–90

  • Eckersley R (2006) Is modern Western culture a health hazard? International Journal of Epidemiology 35:252–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evison HC (1993) Te Waipounamo: The Greenstone Island, Wellington: Aoraki Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Fone DL, Dunstan F (2006) Mental health, places and people: a multilevel analysis of economic inactivity and social deprivation. Health and Place 12:332–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gesler W (1992) Therapeutic landscapes: medical geographic research in light of the new cultural geography. Social Science and Medicine 34:735–746

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gesler W, Kearns RA (2002) Culture/Place/Health, London: Routledge

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass T (2006) Commentary: culture in epidemiology—the 800 pound gorilla? International Journal of Epidemiology 35:259–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray Rev. MM (1991) “Kaitiakitanga o te Taiao. Maori Philosophical Approaches to Sustainable Development.” Address to the International Conference on Sustainable Land Management, Napier, New Zealand

  • Greiner R, Larson S, Herr A, Bligh V (2005) Wellbeing of Nywaigi Traditional Owners: The contribution of country to wellbeing and the role of natural resource management. Report for the Burdekin Dry Tropics Board, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Davies Laboratory, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

  • Hay R (1998) A rooted sense of place in cross-cultural perspective. Canadian Geographer 42:245–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henare M (1997) The koro of ethics. Presented at Globalisation: a step towards tea o marama or towards te po? Department of Development Studies, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

  • Holmes W, Stewart P, Garrow A, Anderson I, Thorpe L (2002) Researching Aboriginal health: experience from a study of urban young people’s health and well-being. Social Science and Medicine 54:1267–1279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingersoll-Dayton B, Saengtienchai C, Kespichayawattana J, Aungsuroch Y (2004) Measuring psychological well-being: insights from Thai elders. Gerontologist 44:596–604

    Google Scholar 

  • Izquierdo C (2005) When 'health' is not enough: societal, individual and biomedical assessments of well-being among the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon. Social Science and Medicine 61:767–783

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan S, Kaplan R (eds) (1978) Humanscape: Environments for People, Belmont, CA: Duxbury (republished by Ann Arbor, MI: Ulrich’s, 1982)

  • Kaplan R, Kaplan S (1989) The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press (republished by Ann Arbor, MI: Ulrich’s, 1995)

  • Kearns RA (1993) Place and health: towards a reformed medical geography. The Professional Geographer 45:139–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kearns RA, Moon G (2002) From medical to health geography: novelty, place and theory after a decade of change. Progress in Human Geography 26:605–625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King M (1997) 10000 Years of Maori History, Auckland: Nga Iwi O Te Motu

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleinman A (1978) Clinical relevance of anthropological and cross-cultural research: concepts and strategies. The American Journal of Psychiatry 135:427–431

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Korpela KM, Ylén M (2007) Perceived health is associated with visiting natural favourite places in the vicinity. Health and Place 13:138–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koschade B, Peters E (2006) Algonquin notions of jurisdiction: inserting indigenous voices into legal spaces. Geografiska Annaler 88B:299–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunitz SJ (1994) Disease and Social Diversity, New York: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsen SC (2006) The future’s past: politics of time and territory among Dakelh First Nations in British Columbia. Geografiska Annaler 88B:311–321

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson J (1993) The measurement of social well-being. Social Indicators Research 28:285–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Law M, Wilson K, Eyles J, Elliott, Jerrett M, Moffat T, Luginaah I (2005) Meeting health need, accessing health care: the role of neighbourhood. Health and Place 11:367–377

  • Loomis T (2000) Indigenous populations and sustainable development: building on indigenous approaches to holistic, self-determined development. World Development 28:898–910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackenbach JP, Howden-Chapman P (2003) New perspectives on socioeconomic inequalities in health. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 46:428–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markus HR, Kitayama S (1991) Culture and self: implications for cognition, emotion and motivation. Psychological Review 98:224–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marmot M (2005) Social determinants of health inequalities. Lancet 365:1099–1104

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslow A (1968) Toward a psychology of being, 2nd ed., New York: Van Nostrand

    Google Scholar 

  • McCreanor T, Nairn R (2002) Tauiwi general practitioners’ talk about Maori health: interpretive repertoires. New Zealand Medical Journal. Available at http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/115-1167/272/ [accessed 16 March 2007]

  • McGregor DP, Morelli TP, Matuoka JK, Minerbi L (2003) An ecological model of wellbeing. In Becker HA, Vanclay F (editors), The International Handbook of Social Impact Assessment: Conceptual and Methodological Advances, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenrick J, Cutter T, MacKenzie A, Chiu E (1992) The pattern of psychiatric morbidity in a Victorian urban Aboriginal general practice population. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 26:40–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLennan V (2003a) Australian indigenous health: reconnecting spirituality and well-being. Presented at the National Conference of The Australian Society of Rehabilitation Counsellors, Sydney, 16–17 October 2003

  • McLennan V (2003b) If my spirit isn’t well then I can’t be well: indigenous spirituality and well-ebing in the Yaegl community. Unpublished honours thesis, University of Sydney

  • McLennan V, Khavarpour F (2004) Culturally appropriate health promotion: its meaning and application in Aboriginal communities. Health Promotion Journal of Australia 15:237–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Health (2000) Social Inequalities in Health - New Zealand 1999. Available at www.maorihealth.govt.nz/2004/0,204,1767c60,4001.php# [accessed 18 November 2005]

  • Ministry of Health (2002) He Korowai Oranga – Māori Health Strategy, Wellington: Ministry of Health

  • Moore DS (1996) Marxism, culture and political ecology: environmental struggles in Zimbabwe’s eastern highlands. In Peet R, Watts M (editors), Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements, London: Routledge, pp 125–147

    Google Scholar 

  • Murchie E (1984) Rapuora: health and Maori women, Wellington: Maori Women’s Welfare League Inc

  • Murton B (2006) ‘Toheroa Wars’: cultural politics and everyday resistance on a northern New Zealand Beach. New Zealand Geographer 62:25–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nesbitt JT, Weiner D (2001) Conflicting environmental imaginaries and the politics of nature in Central Appalachia. Geoforum 32:333–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ngai Tahu (2005) Who are Ngai Tahu? Available at http://www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz [accessed 1 June 2005]

  • Notzke C (1994) Aboriginal Peoples and Natural Resources in Canada, Toronto: Captus University Publications

    Google Scholar 

  • Oishi S, Diener EF, Lucas RE, Suh EM (1999) Cross-cultural variations in predictors of life satisfaction: perspectives from needs and values. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 25:980–990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Regan, T. (1984) In Waiora, Waimaori, Waikino, Waimate, Waitai: Maori Perceptions of Water and Environment, Douglas EMK (editor), Waikato: Waikato University

  • Oyserman D, Coon HM, Kemmelmeier M (2002) Rethinking individualism and collectivism: evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin 128:3–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer L (2004) Fishing lifestyles: ‘Territorians’, traditional owners and the management of recreational fishing in Kakadu National Park. Australian Geographical Studies 42:60–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia (PCA) (1977) Indicators of community well-being, Canberra: Department of Social Security

    Google Scholar 

  • Parr H (2004) Medical geography, critical medical and health geography? Progress in Human Geography 28:246–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawson E (1992) Two New Zealands: Māori and European. In Anderson K, Gayle F (editors), Inventing Places Studies in Cultural Geography, London: Longman Cheshire, pp 15–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Pere R (1997) Te Wheke: A Celebration of Infinite Wisdom, 2nd ed., Gisborne: Ao Ako Global Learning New Zealand

    Google Scholar 

  • Philo C (1987) Fit localities for asylum: the historical geography of the nineteenth-century mad business in England viewed through the pages of the Asylum Journal. Journal of Historical Geography 13:398–415

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pinkerton EW (1989) Cooperative Management of Local Fisheries: New Directions for improved management and Community Development, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinkerton EW (1992) Translating legal rights into management practice: overcoming barriers to the exercise of co-management. Human Organization 51(4):330–341

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinkerton EW (1998) Integrated management of temperate rainforest ecosystem through holistic forestry: a British Columbia experience. In Berkes F, Folke C (editors), Linking Social and Ecological Systems. Management Practices and Social Mechanisms for Building Resilience, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomare E, Keefe-Ormsby V, Ormsby C, et al. (1995) Hauora: Maori standards of health III. A study of the years 1970–1991, Wellington: Te Ropu Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pomare

  • Poole I (1977) The Maori Population of New Zealand 1769–1971, Auckland: Auckland University Press and Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Public Health Commission (1993) Tamariki Ora, Wellington: Public Health Commission

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsey D, Smit B (2002) Rural community well-being: models and application to changes in the tobacco-belt in Ontario, Canada. Geoforum 33:367–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice TW Steele BJ (2004) Subjective well-being and culture across time and space. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology 35:633–647

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richmond C, Elliott SJ, Matthews R, Elliott B (2005) The political ecology of health: perceptions of environment, economy, health and well-being among ‘Namgis First Nation. Health and Place 11:349–365

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers C (1961) On becoming a person, Boston: Houghton Mifflin

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryff CD (1989) Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57:1069–1081

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw WS, Herman RDK, Dobbs GR (2006) Encountering indigeneity: re-imagining and decolonizing geography. Geografiska Annaler 88B:267–276

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith A (2004) A Maori sense of place? Taranaki waiata tangi and feelings for place. New Zealand Geographer 60:12–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith LT (1999) Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, Dunedin: University of Otago Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Snowden LR (2005) Racial, cultural and ethnic disparities in health and mental health: toward theory and research at community levels. American Journal of Community Psychology 35:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sparke M (1998) A map that roared and an original atlas: Canada, cartography, and the narration of nation. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 88:463–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens S (1998) Conservation through Cultural Survival, Covelo, CA: Island Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart AL, Greenfield S, Hays RD, Wells K, Rogers WH, Berry SD, McGlynn EA, Ware JE (1989) Functional status and well-being of patients with chronic conditions, results from the medical outcomes study. Journal of the American Medical Association 262:907–913

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suchet S (2002) ‘Totally wild’? Colonising discourses, indigenous knowledges and managing wildlife. Australian Geographer 33:141–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suhail K, Chaudhry HR (2004) Predictors of subjective well-being in an Eastern Muslim culture. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 23:359–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tipa G (1999) Taieri River Case Study, Technical Paper No. 58, Ministry for Environment, Wellington

  • Tipa G (2002) Indigenous communities and the co-management of natural resources: the case of New Zealand freshwater management. Ph.D. thesis, University of Otago

  • Tipa G, Teirney L (2003) A Cultural Health Index for streams and waterways: indicators for recognizing and expressing Maori values, Ministry for the Environment, Wellington

  • Tipa G, Welch RV (2006) Co-management of natural resources: issues of definition from an indigenous community perspective. Journal of Applied Behavioural Science 42(3):373-391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triandis HC (1989) The self and social behaviour in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review 96:506–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuan Y-F (1977) Space and Place: the perspective of experience, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Voyle JA, Simmons D (1999) Community development through partnership: promoting health in an urban indigenous community in New Zealand. Social Science and Medicine 49:1035–1050

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1983) Motonui Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1984) Kaituna Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1987) Orakei Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1988) Muriwhenua Fishing Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1989) Motonui Waitara Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1991) Ngai Tahu Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1992) Mohaka River Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1995) Te Whanganui a Orotu Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Waitangi Tribunal (1998) Te Ika Whenua River Report, Wellington: Brooker & Friend

  • Wan T, Gill-Odell B, Lewis D (1982) Promoting well-being of the elderly: a community diagnosis, New York: Haworth Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead M, Dahlgren G (1991) What can be done about inequalities in health. Lancet 338:1059–1063

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson K (2003) Therapeutic landscapes and First Nations peoples: an exploration of culture, health and place. Health and Place 9:83–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams A (1999) Therapeutic Landscapes: the Dynamic between Place and Wellness, Lanham, MD: University Press of America

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman K (1991) Wetland production and smallholder persistence: agricultural change in a highland Peruvian region. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 81:443–463

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The Authors appreciate the support of the University of Otago and the Health Research Council NZ which has enabled us to develop our work. We also thank the editors and referees for advice and assistance in preparing our manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Ruth Panelli

  2. Tipa and Associates, P.O. Box 279, Mosgiel, Otago, New Zealand

    Gail Tipa

Authors
  1. Ruth Panelli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gail Tipa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruth Panelli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Panelli, R., Tipa, G. Placing Well-Being: A Maori Case Study of Cultural and Environmental Specificity. EcoHealth 4, 445–460 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-007-0133-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-007-0133-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation