Standing at the Waharoa

Abstract

In this paper the author suggests that, when standing at the waharoa (gate) waiting for the karanga which calls us on to the marae, many of us, and particularly those whose ancestral histories originate in countries other than Aotearoa New Zealand, feel the apprehensive anticipation, if not disturbing terror, that comes with stepping into a cultural context so imbued with the painful colonial histories of this country. The paper explores how this history impacts upon us in cross-cultural encounters in Aotearoa New Zealand, and in particular in encounters between Māori and non-Māori, and the challenges and opportunities such encounters offer for the psychotherapeutic clinical encounter.