The concept of cultural safety arose in Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu/New Zealand in the late 1980�s in response to the differential health experience and negative health outcomes of the first nation people of Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu/New Zealand, the New Zealand Maori. It was introduced and developed by Maori nurses initially, as they recognised the effect culture had on health and understood safety as a common nursing concept. The concept of cultural safety has developed into a disipline which is taught as part of all nursing and midwifery curricula in Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu/New Zealand. As cultural safety has developed the concept of culture has been extended to include people who differ from the nurse by reason of: age, migrant status, sexual preference, socioeconomic status, religious persuasion, gender, ethnicity, and in Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu/New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi status of the nurse and recipient/s of her/his care. Nationally and internationally, health experience and health outcomes are poorer for people of minority group status than for people who are part of the dominant group. Public-health research is therefore generally conducted on, or with, people with minority group status. Public-health researchers, by education, are members of the dominant culture and may be unaware that their own and their clients; responses may relate to one/other or both cultures being diminished do not always ensure the safety of their own culture or the culture being researched. This study�s objective was to develop a flexible, culturally safe public health research framework for researches to use when researching people who are culturally different from themselves. The study will argue that the use of such a framework will contribute significantly to improved health outcomes for people with minority status and will assist the movement towards emancipatory social change. The methods undertaken included: gaining permission from Irihapeti Ramsden, the architect of cultural safety to undertake the research, conducting a literature review, consideration of primary sources and their key concepts, consulting widely with people in the field of public health and cultural safety, self reflecting on the writers own personal and professional experience and finally designing the culturally safe public health research framework.

The world�s indigenous peoples have been subjected to exploitation, discrimination, dispossession, relocation, assimilation and in some cases genocide since contact with the Western world. They have been the victims of an invasion which has since secured their position among the lowest social qualifiers. For centuries, they have been ignored by nation-states throughout the world. However, a new dawn has risen for the first peoples of the world, and for the past two decades thaey have experienced a cultural, political and social revival which has been gaining in popularity, intensity and effectiveness since it�s inception. The politicisation of indigenous movements and their fundamentally local characteristics has occurred at the same time that the world is experiencing a sense of accelerated globalisation. Economic integration through trade agreements has diminished boundaries and has allowed multinational corporations to travel, sell and trade at will. The sense that the world is �one place� has fast become a reality through "the increasing volume and rapidity of the flows of money, goods, people, information, technology and images." (Featherstone, 1995:81) The simultaneous globalisation and localisation of the world seems to be two contradictory phenomenon acting in opposition to one another. However, as several theorists have pointed out, the two are actually related and each to some degree attributes to the existence of the other (Eriksen, 1993:9; Featherstone, 1990:10; Friedman, 1990:327). In fact, indigenous movements themselves, while asserting local issues and rights, have undergone a recent transformation and now attempt to achieve their goals through global strategies. They have expanded their methods and now not only at the community and national levels, but also within the international arena. The Maori and the Native Hawaiians are two groups of indigenous peoples who have been fighting for their rights and land for over a century. Both groups represent small percentages of their nation-states� population. This has forced them to pursue their struggle with creative strategies and persistent, patient pressure. Thus, their struggles have undergone continouos transformations in attempts to discover the most effective formula which would eventually cause their respective nation-states to recognise and address their grievances. Recently, the Maori and the Native Hawaiians, have broadened their movement to incorporate an international tier. Activity on the international level includes international conferences, international visits/exchanges, ratification of indigenous declarations, indigenous networking, and international indigenous solidarity organisations. These activities have increased over the past twenty years as the effectiveness of such activity has also increased. New Zealand, the United States and other nation-states are being held more accountable for past injustices and are being driven to answer to the world�s indigenous community.

The Treaty of Waitangi specifically recognises the rights of Maori to control and manage their fisheries resources. However, since the imposition of fisheries legislation in New Zealand, this right has been consistently eroded. It is only recently that Maori customary fisheries rights have been given a degree of recognition in New Zealand�s fisheries management regime. The taiapure provisions of the Fisheries Act 1996 are one of the few policy initiatives available for Maori to manage their fisheries resources in accordance with their customary tikanga. This study examines the effectiveness of the taiapure legislation in providing for Maori customary fisheries management. The Maketu taiapure in the Bay of Plenty is studied to analyse the implementation of the initiative at the local level. The study has found that there are limitations inherent in the legislation and that these are further complicated by inadequacies in its implementation. Recommendations regarding the size, management and establishment process, are made at the conclusion of the study to highlight the amendments needed for the taiapure provisions to properly recognise and provide for the role of Maori, as Treaty partners, in the management of their local fisheries.

The bureaucratic measure of health service, health performance indicators, suggest that we are not effective in our legislative responsibility to deliver suitable health care to some of the populations we are meant to serve. Debate has raged over the years as to the reasons for this, with no credible explanation accepted by those considered stakeholders. One thing is clear though, we have gone from being a culture believing that the needs of the many far outweigh those of the few, to one where we are barely serving the needs of the 'any'. This is most evident in the care delivered to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia.

Resilience (positive adaptation despite exposure to risk or adversity) is a widely researched construct, yet it has not been examined systematically with Australian Indigenous adolescents despite their high level of risk. Indigenous adolescents experience disproportionate disadvantage and associated poorer health and well-being compared with their non-Indigenous peers. Thus the protective factors or predictors of resilience that ameliorate the negative effects of risk in this subgroup are important to explore. Adolescence is a critical period for examining resilience given the increased vulnerability to mental health problems during this time. Of interest to this thesis are the psychosocial predictors of resilience (protective factors), which act to ameliorate the negative effects of stress. Three widely established protective factors were examined: Coping skills, social support, and multidimensional self-concept. These protective factors were compared in a sample of 304 Australian non-Indigenous (n = 245) and Indigenous (n = 59) adolescents, aged 12-18 years. Using a methodological framework developed for this study resilience was assessed by examining stress (negative stressful life events and daily hassles) and adaptation (internalising, externalising and other mental health symptoms). Participants were classified into four resilience groups based on their stress (high or low) and adaptation (positive or negative): resilient (high stress, positive adaptation), negative expected (high stress, negative adaptation), positive expected (low stress, positive adaptation), or poor copers (low stress, negative adaptation). Results were examined separately for non-Indigenous and Indigenous participants. The two cultural groups were then compared. Results revealed that higher stress was strongly associated with more internalising, externalising and other mental health problems. The impact of daily hassles was a strong predictor of adaptation, particularly for Indigenous participants. Indigenous participants reported higher levels of stress and more negative adaptation than non-Indigenous participants. Three coping methods were examined: Solving the Problem, Reference to Others and Non-Productive coping. Solving the Problem coping was a strong predictor of positive adaptation and resilience for non-Indigenous adolescents but not for Indigenous adolescents. No cultural differences in Solving the Problem coping were revealed. Reference to Others was found to be a maladaptive coping method in relation to resilience. Non-Productive coping (e.g., avoidance and substance use) was also found to be maladaptive, and used more by Indigenous than non-Indigenous participants. Social support only predicted resilience for non-Indigenous participants in conditions of very high stress. Contrary to expectations, social support did not discriminate among the Indigenous resilience groups and no significant cultural differences were revealed. Self-concept was strongly related to resilience and positive adaptation for non-Indigenous participants, although not for Indigenous participants. Cultural comparisons, however, revealed that positive self-concept was associated with positive adaptation for both groups. While differences between non-Indigenous and Indigenous participants on several self-concept domains were revealed, the total self-concept of non-Indigenous and Indigenous participants did not differ. The results of this study revealed both similarities and differences in the relationships between the three predictors investigated and the resilience of non-Indigenous and Indigenous adolescents. The findings make some progress toward informing culturally appropriate interventions to promote and strengthen the resilience of Indigenous young people.

Since Papua became part of Indonesia in 1963, hundreds of thousands of people have migrated there from other parts of the nation. By 2000, over a third of the province??s residents were non-indigenous people, with the great majority of these immigrants living in the more developed urban areas along the coast. This mass movement has transformed the territory??s society, altering the social, cultural and economic position and opportunities of the indigenous inhabitants. This thesis uses statistical data from Indonesian government publications to describe the development of these changes to the province??s population from 1963 to the early part of the 21st century. While it is acknowledged that the military presence and actions in the territory have played a crucial role in creating distrust of the Indonesian government among the indigenous people, this material supports the thesis that the mass movement of people to the region has developed an identification among the indigenous peoples of the territory of being part of a single Papuan community, a Papuan nationalism. This migration has also limited the educational and employment opportunities of indigenous people, creating hostility towards the newcomers among indigenous people and resulting in an alienation from the Indonesian nation. It will be argued that the patterns of settlement, employment and perceptions of ethnic difference between indigenous and migrant groups reflect a form of internal colonialism that has resulted from this immigration. While independence is a popular aspiration among indigenous Papuans, an evaluation of the national political situation suggests that this event is unlikely in the foreseeable future. If Papuans are to be incorporated fully into the nation of Indonesia, an understanding of the impact of migration on the province??s people is vital. This material also suggests that while there have been negative consequences of the Indonesian rule of the territory, claims that the indigenous population has suffered from genocide perpetrated by Indonesian forces are not supported by the statistical data.

Two primary, interdependent goals of the NSW Higher School Certificate Aboriginal Studies course are enhancing Indigenous students’ self-concepts and educational outcome. It was considered that these would lead to increased Indigenous student participation and retention to Year 12. Yet recently there has been a decline in enrolments. Despite the introduction of Aboriginal Studies over a decade ago, no rigorous research has been undertaken to determine the impact of the course or the extent to which the aims of the course have been achieved. Research in Aboriginal Education has identified that Indigenous students are still not achieving at the same level as their non-Indigenous counterparts. However, the majority of studies to date have been theoretical and descriptive in nature. The primary purpose of the present investigation was to address some of the above issues by elucidating the (a) factors that influence Indigenous students’ decisions to participate in the HSC Aboriginal Studies course; (b) impact of the course on Indigenous students’ self-concepts and educational outcomes; and (c) strengths and limitations of the course. The research was undertaken in three NSW Department of Education and Training secondary schools, located in rural, north coast, and south coast areas. Results indicated that Indigenous students choose Aboriginal Studies based on their need to understand more about their own culture. There were also clear educational benefits in that Aboriginal Studies was considered to be a motivational factor that encouraged attendance at school and enhanced their academic self concept. Both staff and students suggested that the academic rigour of the Aboriginal Studies course contributed to declining enrolments. Overall the findings suggest that whilst the current course has some limitations, there are also many strengths; this implies there is a need to continue to refine the course to meet the needs of Indigenous students. / Master of Education (Hons)

The nineteenth century discourse of extinction – a consensus of thought primarily based upon the assumption that ‘savage’ races would be displaced by the arrival of European civilisation – provided the intellectual foundation for policies which resulted in Aboriginal dispossession, internment, and death in Tasmania. For a long time, the Aboriginal Tasmanians were thought to have been annihilated. However, this claim is now understood to be fanciful. Aboriginality is no longer defined as a racial category but rather as an identity that has its basis in community. Nevertheless, extinction discourse continues to shape the features of modern literature about Tasmania. The first chapter of this dissertation will examine how extinction discourse was imagined in the nineteenth century and will trace the parallels that contemporary fiction about contact history shares with it. The novels examined include Doctor Wooreddy’s Prescription for Enduring the Ending of the World by Mudrooroo, The Savage Crows by Robert Drewe, Manganinnie by Beth Roberts, and Wanting by Richard Flanagan. The extinctionist elements in these novels include a tendency to euglogise about the ‘lost race’ and a reliance on the trope of the last man or woman. The second chapter of the dissertation will examine novels that attempt to construct a representation of Aboriginality without reference to extinction. These texts subvert and ironise extinction discourse as a way of breaking the discursive continuities with colonialism and establishing a more nuanced view of Aboriginal identity in a post-colonial context. Novels analysed here include Drift by Brian Castro, Elysium by Robert Edric, and English Passengers by Matthew Kneale. / However, in attempting to arrive at new understandings about Aboriginality, non-Aboriginal authors are hindered by the epistemological difficulties of knowing and representing the Other. In particular, they seem unable to extricate themselves from the binaries of colonialism.

Although there is a vast body of literature on family resilience, very little represents research from an explicitly Indigenous paradigm. This research process included an Indigenous research path and a case study informed by Indigenous worldview. The data collected in both informed the findings presented here and contributed to the creation of the final model for building resilience in Indigenous families. The results demonstrate how self-determination in research, service delivery, organizational leadership, spiritual connection and individual, every-day practice can be a powerful expression of freedom, liberty and humanity. The case study maps how the self-determination of an Aboriginal organization, resulted in the creation of a program that assists violent Aboriginal men reconcile their traumatic histories, reconnect to an interconnected worldview and repatriate their responsibilities as men within a strong, healthy Aboriginal society.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-275).