Te Pūtake - Whakauae Raro Occasional Paper, no. 2, November 2021

This paper examines the issue of wellbeing for tāne Māori
(Māori men) in the rohe (area) of Whanganui within the
context of Te Awa Tupua - the Whanganui Awa (river) –
as a pou that frames the experience of wellbeing. The
starting point of “wellness” here is the connection to Te
Awa Tupua as a metaphysical (and physical) ancestral
source of wellbeing which supports the descendants
of Whanganui in an intrinsic and holistic way. From this
position of the relevance of Te Awa Tupua, the paper
goes on to investigate the literature around colonisation
as a driving factor of the genderisation of tāne Māori
highlighting its impact on contemporary experiences
of wellbeing for tāne Māori. The paper concludes
by highlighting existing gaps in research around
tāne Māori wellness, and suggests the utilisation of
Iwi-specific methodologies, such as Te Awa Tupua, to re-
contextualize and capture the experiences of Māori wellness.
The paper thereby builds a picture of the current reality, and the opportunities for change, in utilising Mātauranga Māori to investigate gaps in the literature of improving tāne Māori wellbeing. (From the Introduction). Record #7875