SECTION II

HE HUARAHI HOU
A NEW PATHWAY

He Huarahi Hou
A New Pathway

Section II of the thesis addresses the development and evolution of Cultural Safety, building on the personal and professional story established in Section I. This section traces the transition process and movement forward of the Cultural Safety concept more fully into the public arena.

This initial movement is set primarily within the nursing and midwifery professions. However, I begin by focusing on national issues surrounding Maori identity and ethnicity, formal and informal, in order to explore the historical relationship between the status of Maori health, the Treaty of Waitangi and health services in New Zealand at the time of Cultural Safety’s development. The clarification of these issues was necessary to enable me to work effectively in the teaching environment and introduce what was essentially new and revolutionary material to nursing and midwifery students.

A chronological overview to the evolution of Cultural Safety following the immediate period after my initial teaching experiences in 1988 through to 2001 is presented in Chapter Seven and refers to the supplementary material contained in Volume Two. There are two main reasons why I have chosen to present this section of the work as a separate volume. Firstly, my purpose was to convey to the reader some essence of the sheer speed, over this thirteen year period, at which Cultural Safety development has taken place within New Zealand nursing and midwifery professions. Secondly, I have identified four eras in the evolution process of Cultural Safety which build on the private and public narratives which are features in this work showing the increasing movement from the personal to the public, and eventually, political domains.

Each of the eras reflect something of the level of leadership and influence that was necessary in order to move the concept forward, whether that was consulting with Maori, building relationships with the Nursing Council of New Zealand, publishing in nursing and midwifery journals, informing government committees or taking part in public debate. While some of this work is well known in some circles and to some groups, particularly those I have presented papers to or those who have read the published articles, a lot of the work has not been easily accessible to everyone who might have a use for it. This is a key reason for bringing together a number of papers in a separate volume.

This section concludes with an international perspective, that is a consideration and comparative overview of Cultural Safety and Transcultural Nursing viewed as theories, one arising from an indigenous reality, the other based within a traditional western anthropological approach. This chapter is important in providing a background and perspective on much of the misunderstanding and public reaction to Cultural Safety education in New Zealand which is detailed in the final section of the thesis.

Some excerpts from the interviews have been included in this section as a number of relevant issues concerning concepts of bi-culturalism, multiculturalism and power relationships were part of the interview schedule. Where quotes directly arising from the interviews are inserted, this will be made clear in the text. The speaker will be identified in brackets as an 'interviewee’.