Mana Moana: Indigenous Methodologies from Aotearoa and Beyond

Moana Nui a Kiva: Indigenous Methodologies

Core Principles

• Anau ta te aro'a, e aro'a: Love breeds love (Cook Islands).
• Angai i te maruu i to'ou ngaakau. Eka na roto mai te aro'a i ta'au ka rave: Feed your heart with humility; love will appear in your kindness (Cook Islands Maori).
• Ulu a'e ke welina a ke aloha: Loving is the practice of an awake mind (Hawaii).
• Ahakoa he iti kete, he iti naa te aroha: Small basket but given with love (Maori).
• E leai se gaumata'u na o le gaualofa: What you do out of love endures; what you do out of fear will not (Samoa).

Introduction to Dr. Karlo Mila

• Dr. Karlo Mila is a Fulbright Scholar, researcher, author, academic, and award-winning poet.
• She is of Tongan, Palangi, and Samoan descent.
• She holds a master's in social work and a PhD in sociology, focusing on the culture, identity, and context of New Zealand-born Pacific peoples.
• Her postdoctoral fellowship involved developing the indigenous intervention Mana Moana.
• She has 15 years of experience in Pacific health, mental health, research, and policy.
• Formerly managed Pacific Health Research at the Health Research Council and worked for the Pacific NGO Le Va.
• She is a Leadership NZ alumna from 2013 and has published "Goddess Muscle."

The Interface Between Cultural Understandings

• Negotiating new spaces for Pacific mental health involves purposive re-encounter, reconstruction, and re-balancing of ideas and values.
• This aims for complementary realignments resonant with Pacific peoples living in Western-oriented societies.
• The negotiated space uses indigenous references as a foundation while drawing on useful and relevant cultural knowledge.
• It provides conceptual space between competing cultural paradigms like the bio-psycho-social and indigenous Pacific models.
• This space needs to be purposive, open, and creative, allowing tensions and conflicts to be understood and approached constructively.

Mana Moana: Power Words and Cultural Learning

• Words are represented visually via meaningful images created by Dr. Johnson Witehira (Māori / Samoan indigenous designer) to enable interactive use.
• Each power word, image, metaphor, proverb, archetype, and story offers insights into different worldviews and opens a portal into the past.
• Mana Moana has a clear intervention logic and philosophical underpinning based on the concept of Vā (relational space).
• It focuses on intentionality, reciprocity, wellbeing, and restoring breached relationships.
• Central to this approach is "arofa atu, arofa mai" (reciprocal flow of empathy and compassion), emphasizing that we are creatures of connection.
• Seventy power words in Mana Moana are found in at least fifteen contemporary Pasifika languages, including Māori, and divided into categories: atua (gods), fenua (earth), moana (sea), langi (sky), kainga (family, people, home), and va (relationships).
• Each word is researched carefully with commentary, and over 300 related proverbs from various Pacific languages have been collected and ascribed to each concept.

Core Focus of Mana Moana

• The core focus of Mana Moana is the vitalization and mobilization of indigenous Pasifika language, knowledge, values, culture, ways of knowing and viewing the world.
• Pasifika ancestral cultural resources are fundamental and essential for optimal contemporary living and leadership.
• Instead of forgoing, forgetting, sacrificing, acculturating and assimilating, to succeed in Western contexts, Pasifika cultural resources are seen to be a source of advantage, pride, competitive edge, x-factor, complexity, cognitive flexibility, neuroplasticity, polycultural capital and a way of reaping the diversity dividend.
• This is a leadership for a new era, drawing on ancient indigenous resources.
• Mana Moana is about the power, energy, vitality sourced to being from the moana and indigenous to the South Pacific region and connected to that unique cultural legacy of knowing and being.

Va-Centred Practice

• Va is an Austronesian term found in twenty-two contemporary Pacific languages, meaning space or the space between, and also relationships. (Tongan, Samoan, Tuvaluan, Maori, Rarotongan, Hawaiian)
• It differs from the Western notion of space as an expanse and is the space we feel rather than see.
• Albert Wendt describes Va as the space between that relates and holds separate entities together, providing context and meaning.
• The Va is where the reciprocal flow of relating occurs, emphasizing tending to relationships and nurturing the space between us.
• There is a strong desire to keep the va warm, achieved by pouring positive energy and affect into it through reciprocity and affection.
• The quality of interconnections is valued, with deeper, longer, and more trusting relationships being more reliable in times of need.
• Maintaining the va is an intergenerational responsibility; keeping our va balanced is considered crucial to a society premised on sacred inter-relationship.
• To think about va is to examine the quality of the spaces and relationships between us.
• Our ancestors conceptualized it as filled with emotions, energy, memories, patterns, vibrations, interactions of to and fro, reciprocal movement, connections and disconnections, boundaries and unity.
• We bring not only ourselves, but our ancestors and descendants into our va with others.

Arofa

• Arofa is a Malayo-Polynesian term (found in 43 contemporary Pacific languages) that translates to empathy, love, grace, compassion, mercy, and altruism. (Tongan, Niuean, Samoan, Tuvaluan, Maori, Rarotongan, Hawaiian)
• It expresses not only desire and affection but also sadness felt in pity and compassionate empathy.
• It is about relating in ways that manifest love, grace, and altruistic kindness, and is not considered primarily in a romantic way.
• Ulu a’e ke welina a ke aloha (Hawaiian): Loving is the practice of an awake mind.
• E leai se gaumata’u na o le gaualofa (Samoan): What you do out of love endures; what you do out of fear will not.
• Healthy relationships of equilibrium – “alofa atu, alofa mai” – are at the core and heart of Mana Moana philosophy.
• We should each be committed to taking responsibility for, and creating, the right conditions around us.
• Ideally, this is a state where the reciprocal flow of arofa flows, the inter- between all things is a function space of mutuality and good va.
• When there is something in the va that is unhealthy, there is some kind of block that involves something which is not alofa, something which can causing tension, strain, stress, anxiety or disturbance.
• We often have to operate in the context of strained relationships of conflict, tension, friction, disagreement and even dislike.
• On a feelings, thoughts, intentions level, something, somewhere is wrong and it is blocking the flow of “aroha atu, aroha mai” of reciprocal, cooperative mutuality.

Atu

• Atu is an Oceanic term (found in 32 contemporary languages) focusing on intentionality and impact. (Tongan, Samoan, Tokelauan, Maori, Rarotongan, Hawaiian)
• It refers to what flows from us, our lived intentionality from self towards others.
• It enables an opportunity to think about what goes from you, what flows from you, what others feel around you, what you put out into the world, and what kind of energy and impact you have on all of that which is around you and how other people are affected by your attitudes and your behavior.
• The ‘atu’ movement is perhaps best theorised by Durie’s (2002) construct of an “outward flow of energy” which is characterized visually by centrifugal movement.

Mai

• Mai is an Austronesian term (found in 28 contemporary languages) facilitating reflection on what comes to you and impacts/influences you. (Tongan, Samoan, Maori, Rarotongan, Hawaiian)
• It enables opportunity to reflect on what comes to you, what flows your way, what impacts and influences you.
• This “inward flow of energy” can be understood as characterized by centripetal movement, represented again visually as a spiral yet with the energy flowing in the other direction.
• Mai provides a language for what you are taking on board, what you are open to and what you are actively engaging with; this is considered to be on multiple levels, spiritually, ecologically and personally.
• To acknowledge mai, as well as atu, is to recognize that energy flows between people in the va/wa, that we impact upon each other in multidirectional ways.

‘Atamai

• ‘Atamai is classified as Eastern Oceanic in origin (found in 22 contemporary languages). (Tongan, Samoan, Tokelauan, Tuvaluan, Maori, Hawaiian)
• Defined as “mind, meaning, knowing, wisdom, clever, intelligence”.
• “Ata” stands for “image” and “mai” in the direction of, in this case, the knower. Thus atamai is presented as a “mental activity of self-imaging” and “how one knows the images” out there, that one is on the receiving end of (Mahina, 2002, p. 303).
• ‘Atamai is a cognitive process of how we make sense of what we are on the receiving end of, and this influences what comes from us out into the va.
• Thus ‘atamai might be usefully conceptualized as the double spiral, as we process what comes in and receive ‘mai’ and it then what flows from us as a result ‘atu’.
• When we focus on the quality of the ‘va’ then we are shifting the emphasis away from ourselves as individuals, towards what is co-created by us and by all that we are engaged with and relating to.

Pō

• Pō is a Malayo-Polynesian term (found in 44 contemporary languages) means night or darkness. (Tongan, Niuean, Samoan, Tuvaluan, Tokelauan, Maori, Rarotongan, Hawaiian)
• The state of Pō recognizes that barely anything is seen or known, giving us permission to acknowledge that this is the case.
• We begin in Pō, knowing how little we know or understand.
• Pasifika indigenous reference always incorporates the seen and the unseen, the living and the dead, the ancestors and the mokopuna, the human and the spirits.
• Pō speaks to the unknown, the zones and places beyond the known.
• The realm of pō is the realm of the spiritual, far beyond human mastery and control.
• It is the mystical, the magical realm, and in some languages, it refers specifically to the underworld or afterlife.
• As a concept, it also has celestial and cosmological weight, referencing “the Cosmic Darkness out of which all forms of life and light were afterwards evolved or procreated” (Tregear, 1891, p. 343).
• Pō both figuratively and metaphorically represent a state of darkness where barely anything is seen or known.
• However, the state of Pō – as indicated in many of our cosmogonies - is full of potentiality.
• Even though it is dark, empty, and full of the unknown, it is pregnant with ‘what could be’.
• Pō also has negative connotations because it is perhaps frightening, potentially dangerous, maybe even disheartening.
• Pōuli / pōuri references not only an intensely dark night, but is also interchangeable in many of our languages with the word for depression, deep grief and despair; the darkness of crisis, pain and sadness.

Kainga

• Kainga is an Austronesian term (found in 25 contemporary languages). (Tongan, Niuean, Samoan, Maori, Rarotongan, Hawaiian)
• Kainga, kaina, aiga, or ‘āina, is one of those concepts that changes in meaning as it moves across the Pacific.
• It can mean family, extended family group, and a family clan that is associated with a particular piece of land or dwelling, until finally as it stretches towards the Eastern islands, it means home itself.
• It tends to refer to people across Western Polynesia, that is, usually a blood-related family and collective of people who live together, and who are associated with a particular place, village or piece of land.
• Across Eastern Polynesia, this concept shifts in meaning and tends to reference the family home or piece of land itself, rather than the people.
• Kainga, however, is always more than just a dwelling.
• Kainga is about who and where we are intrinsically connected to, that place and those people we associate with ourselves.
• Kainga is about our homes, our families and where we belong.
• Kainga is about the places and people who nourish and feed us.
• Kainga is where are safe.
• Kainga is about family, home, security, sustenance and support.

Creating Space: Worldview Considerations

• Questions to consider:
  • Which worldview or paradigm is operating here?
  • What aren’t we seeing because of it?
  • Will it work for all?
  • Who is not in the room, that should be?
  • Who in the room has direct lived experiences of the issues we are facing?
  • What strengths are we relying on?
  • Are we over-using any of our strengths?
  • What help do we need?
  • Who benefits from the approach that we are taking?
  • Who doesn’t?
  • How do we support each other to bring our unique contributions into the room, even if they might not agree with each other?
  • Can we make space so that everyone can bring unique contributions to the table?
• Where are you coming from specifically and what experiences you are basing your perspective on?
• What are we not seeing?
• What are the judgements / assumptions that are being made here?
• What values are we operating under?
• What are our potential blind spots?
• How can we work through this so that our judgements / assumptions don’t guide us?
• What attitudes limit our growth here?

Mana Moana Manifesto

• AWAKENING the power of the who we are and where we are from.
• ACTIVATING the ancestral in service of the contemporary.
• HEALING our relationships with ocean, land, sky, spirit, self and other people, so we can bring things back into balance.
• CONNECTING with ourselves, each other, and all the co-created for transformative change.

Principles of Mana Moana

• The arofa principle: (arofa mai, arofa atu) the essential principle of love, deep mutuality, empathy, reciprocity, respect, acknowledgement of interdependence, balance in giving and receiving with a non-negotiable commitment to collective good and community benefit.
• The Mana principle: prioritization of indigeneity over other worldviews, values, models, methods. Decolonising and elevating the mana of our people, our purpose, our power.
• Kaitiaki: protection of cultural integrity in the best interests of Pacific peoples. We are all kaitiaki of Mana Moana. Kaitiakitanga always extend beyond us, to the natural world, and to mokopuna to come.
• Tupu: Recognition of the creative, generative, explorative, innovative, integrative nature of Mana Moana and Motutapu and the according flexibility to enable multiple manifestations and progressions.

Core Activities of Mana Moana

• Curate and hold space for an experience that brings exceptional people together:
  • To explore, remember, and reclaim ancestral and indigenous genius from the largest ocean in the world.
  • To activate the wisdom of this knowledge in service of the world we live in.
  • To prototype practical change for the benefit of all.
• All leadership happens in the context of relationship (va):
  • Know ourselves and free ourselves from entanglements that prevent us from finding leadership within.
  • Heal and tend to the quality of our interdependent relationships with each other, earth, ocean, sky, climate, spirituality, ancestors and generations to come.
  • Restore systems and ecosystems with relationships that flow with mutuality, respect, empathy, reciprocity, sustainability and love.
• Curate and facilitate a journey of encounters, interactions, activities, creativity, and experiences that:
  • Holds space for inner work and self-reflection so that we can know ourselves, and lead from our deepest wisdom and essential selves.
  • Creates circles of trust and safety, so that we can be transformed by our own vulnerability and be truly seen, known, supported and accepted by others.

Opportunities Provided by Mana Moana

• Reclaim and consciously operationalise ancestral knowledge in their lives, so that they can live a legacy of their own determining.
• Understand and integrate the past - collective and personal - so we can lead from a place of healing.
• Increase resilience - and our capacity for ambitious service - through self-love, self-reflection, self-knowledge and sustainable self-care.
• Interrogate the quality of our own relationships and tend to, and attend to, what prevents us from leading in our own relational lives.
• Consciously negotiate conflicting value systems, knowledge paradigms, and competing expectations to emerge with a sense of wholeness that adds value to all contexts.
• Reconnect to self, place, earth, ocean, skies, spirit, ancestors and mokopuna, with a growing sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of all.
• Emerge with an understanding of how valuable our unique contribution to collective and intergenerational wellbeing is, if we accept our full power and purpose.

Wisdom from the Ancestors: Mana Moana for Pasifika Parenting

• The driving force behind Mana Moana is that there is power, wisdom and love found in our ancestral cultures of the Moana. If we listen to our ancestors what do they have to say to guide us?

Protective Factors for Pasifika Youth

• Positive Factors:
  • Being relatively wealthy (having a working car, telephone, never worrying about not enough money for food, at least one parent employed).
  • Speaking a Pasifika language.
  • Feeling proud of their Pasifika identity and the values of these cultures.
  • Achieving around the middle / above the middle at school.
  • Having plans for further study / finding work after school.
  • Feeling accepted by other people of their own Pasifika ethnicity and others.
• Negative Factors:
  • Suicidal thoughts in the previous year
  • Suicide attempt in the previous year
  • Smoking daily.
  • Binge drinking in the previous month.
  • Ever tried marijuana.

Comparisons Between Palangi and Pasifika Students

• Differences exist in suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, trying hard at school, achievement levels, future plans, smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use.

Statistical Relationships for Pasifika Students

• Pasifika youth who are churchgoing and have spiritual beliefs:
  • 65\% less likely to smoke daily
  • 76\% less likely to have been binge drinking in the previous month
  • 74\% less likely to have ever smoked marijuana
• Pasifika youth who speak a Pasifika language:
  • 77\% more likely to try hard at school
  • 37\% less likely to have been binge drinking in the previous month
  • 42\% less likely to have ever tried marijuana
• Pasifika youth who feel accepted by their own ethnic group and others:
  • 51\% more likely to try hard at school
  • 2.47 times more likely to be achieving around the middle or above the middle at school
  • Half as likely to have suicidal thoughts in the previous year ($$48\%$)
  • Seventy percent less likely to have made a suicide attempt in the previous year

Radical Acceptance and Resiliency

• Protective factors contribute towards resiliency among Pasifika young people.
  • Being proud of Pasifika identity and Pasifika values counts and contributes towards wellbeing.
  • Feeling accepted by your own ethnic group and by others has the largest statistical relationship with less suicidal thoughts and attempts, when compared with everything else.