3163 - MĀORI APPROACHES TO RESHAPING PSYCHOLOGY CURRICULA

Session: 3158 - WALKING IN THE STEPS OF OUR ANCESTORS: REIMAGINING INDIGENOUS PSYCHOLOGY ACROSS THE GLOBE
AUTHORS:
Masters-Awatere Bridgette (University of Waikato ~ Hamilton ~ New Zealand) , Valentine Hukarere (Massey University ~ Palmerston North ~ New Zealand) , Rowe Luke (Te Whare Wananga o Raukawa ~ Otaki ~ New Zealand) , Waitoki Moana ( ~ Hamilton ~ New Zealand)
Abstract text:
Across Aotearoa New Zealand Māori psychologists affirm the strength of their knowledge traditions and call for psychology to be reshaped through Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. The persistence of settler-colonial paradigms has limited the meaningful integration of Indigenous cultural knowledge, languages, and traditions within the discipline. The dominance of a monocultural framework continues to overlook the lived realities and specific needs of Indigenous communities, contributing to persistent inequities in health and wellbeing outcomes despite the global reach of Western psychological models. Central to Indigenous approaches to healing and wellbeing is a principle often overlooked in psychology—aroha, or love—as an interconnected and transformative force. Recognising this, there is an urgent need to design curricula that actively challenge the settler-colonial and racist foundations embedded within psychological practice. Our panel brings together senior Māori academics and practitioners who have long championed Indigenous content in psychology. We will describe the development of Kaupapa (Māori centered) Māori minor and major programmes and explore how curriculum design, informed by Indigenous ways of knowing, can serve as a powerful tool for decolonisation. This approach equips future psychologists to serve their communities while sustaining cultural identities, knowledge systems, and relational responsibilities. We draw on experiences of developing pedagogies that recenter Indigenous knowledge to reshape teaching and curriculum at the University of Waikato and Massey University. Both Universities offer training pathways to registration as a psychologist and are the only Universities with a dedicated Indigenous psychology unit or centre. We finish with a discussion of the implications for community-based practice.