He Tatau Pounamu: An Indigenous Approach to

Healing and Reconciliation

The Working Paper Series, Volume 2, Issue 1, pp. 1–42
Published March 3, 2023
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The following is an abstract. For the full version, please click here.

Talia Marama Ellison
Kāi Tahu, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira

This dissertation presents an Indigenous approach to healing and reconciliation within the context of Puketapu ki Paraparaumu, a hapū from the Kapiti Coast of Aotearoa, New Zealand. One of the aims of this dissertation has been to create space within peace and conflict studies for Indigenous approaches and understandings of both peace and conflict. A further aim of this research is to introduce Kaupapa Māori methodologies as a starting point for the decolonisation of peace and conflict studies. As such, this research looks to ways in which reconciliation and healing can occur within the context of hapū and whānau intergenerational trauma that has occurred as a result of historic land loss. In this way, this research also looks to bridge literature from a range of academic disciplines building on the work of peace scholars such as Galtung and Fischer, in addition to Oswald Spring and Brauch. Finally, this dissertation introduces a model of reconciliatory justice as an Indigenous approach towards healing and reconciliation.