Māori Realities, Intimacies, and Sexual Expressions: Reconceptualising Consent To Uphold Kaumātua Mana in Aged Residential Care
Date
Authors
McDonald, Sandra
Henrickson, Mark
Cook, Catherine
Schouten, Vanessa
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Abstract
Increasingly, kaumātua (Māori elders) in Aotearoa (New Zealand) live apart from whānau (Māori extended family) in residential care, where policies are shaped by post-colonial legislation and ethical principles that privilege individual rights over Indigenous priorities and rights. The communal context of residential care has created late-life opportunity for intimacy and sexual expression with new partners. These issues are addressed in the international literature, highlighting the benefits and complexities. Literature report there may be clashes between resident and family members’ wishes, and tensions around privacy and consent. This article considers survey data and semi-structured interviews with kaimahi (Māori care workers) and a kaumātua who were part of a larger study of staff, residents, and family in the residential aged care context. Post-colonial individualistic rights-based approaches do not necessarily fit with a Māori worldview. A Māori-led articulation of consent is essential to uphold the mana (authority, influence, power) of kaumātua and whānau.Description
Keywords
2002 Cultural Studies, 4702 Cultural studies, dementia; indigenous ethics; intimacy; Māori; sexuality; whānau
Source
AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, ISSN: 1177-1801 (Print); 1174-1740 (Online), SAGE Publications, 117718012311676-117718012311676. doi: 10.1177/11771801231167647
Publisher's version
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© The Author(s) 2023. Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Lficense (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).