In the past psychology has been criticised for its mono-cultural nature and insensitivity when dealing with Maori clients and students. As a consequence university departments of psychology have sought to address these issues by incorporating the ideology of biculturalism into its operations. The aim of the study was to evaluate the bicultural developments occurring within these departments by assessing the type and effectiveness of bicultural initiatives. A questionnaire designed to assess bicultural initiatives, attitudes and, intentions was sent to academic staff within university psychology departments in New Zealand. Northern departments displayed significantly greater commitment to bicultural progress than southern departments with northern academics performing initiatives (e.g., �established a committee of staff and students to promote bicultural perspectives and interpret and apply bicultural policy�) more often and of higher commitment than southern academics. Overall, within psychology departments very little bicultural progress has occurred except in the most northern departments. However, the effectiveness of many initiatives is debateable with tokenistic initiativeness predominant in most departments. The qualitative analysis of participant comments identified academic justification for bicultural inaction within departments. This was displayed in various themes: multiculturalism versus biculuralism, psychology being an a cultural science, Maori self-determination being separatism akin to apartheid, the relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi to psychology, and Backlash. Two main reasons for these findings are discussed; (1) lack of knowledge of Maori issues and, (2) racism.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217611 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Skipper, Rueben Ngariki, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Department of Psychology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Rueben Ngariki Skipper |
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