Ā Mātou Taonga Pīhoretanga: Halting Intergenerational Familial Childhood Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Whanaungatanga can halt familial childhood sexual abuse (FCSA) in whānau. There is global agreement that the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is unacceptable (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990). There is global acknowledgement that Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007). Yet CSA continues, despite research that traces intergenerational abuse in Indigenous families to the disruption of Indigenous protective systems (Cavino, 2016; Deer, 2015; Kuokkanen, 2015; Pihama et al., 2016; Rameka, 2018; A. Smith, 2015; D. Wilson, 2016; D. Wilson, Mikahere-Hall, Jackson, et al., 2019). This study reinforces existing research by demonstrating that FCSA-conducive contexts find space to grow as the mechanisms of colonialism disconnect Māori from their bases of power. It extends existing research by demonstrating that resisting the influences of colonialism can heal and halt intergenerational FCSA in whānau. Informed by Kaupapa Māori methodology, this study gathers narratives from 17 survivors of FCSA. The research design and methods are grounded in principles of manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, and wairuatanga. A pūrākau method is used in analysis to center kaiāwhina lived experience. Modifiers to the term whanaungatanga are proposed. Practices that are infused with colonial attitudes (whanaungatanga hē) can then be distinguished from those that reflect ancestral tikanga9 (whanaungatanga iho). The method of distinction is demonstrated by examining the social products of whanaungatanga enactments as described by kaiāwhina. This project demonstrates that by discerning a distinction between enactments of whanaungatanga and leaning into those that reflect ancestral protocols, FCSA can be healed in whānau and halted across generations.