Abstract
Aotearoa, or the more widely used term, New Zealand (NZ), is a sparsely populated country of four million with a land area roughly the size of California. It is far from the world's centres of power, both geographically and ideologically. Colonisation by the British in the nineteenth century occurred relatively recently and relatively smoothly. The country's indigenous people, the Maori, endured the ordeal of colonisation but today comprise 14.7% of the population (Ministry of Social Development, 2003). Maori, however, are over-represented in prisons and in mental health facilities. Suicide rates, especially among Maori youth, are higher than for non-Maori, as are rates of substance abuse.
Health statistics generally are poorer among Maori, including lower life expectancies (Durie, 2001; Ministry of Social Development, 2003; Ministry of Youth Development, 2001). There are, of course, modern-day traumas of all sorts throughout New Zealand society but Maori children are more at risk of illness, intentional injury and sexual abuse (Ministry of Health, 1998). We contend that this social picture is a reflection of the trauma of colonisation transmitted, as trauma often is, through generations. The fundamental trauma to Maori has been cultural and, although remedies have been actively pursued, much remains to be done. Along with the indigenous people, we suggest that the broad NZ society suffers the systemic effects of trauma, many of which are dissociative in nature. Our society's challenge is first to acknowledge the prevalence of trauma-induced dissociation and then to design corrective approaches to reduce the suffering of trauma survivors and to improve the efficiency of our own institutions.
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