NATIVE MINDS – Disconnection and Discovery: Aaron Smale & Kim McBreen
March 31, 2022 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm NZDT
NATIVE Minds are interactive discussions examining how Indigenous thinking shapes our existence and our view of the world.
During the last half of the 20th century, the New Zealand government determined the lives of scores of thousands of Māori children, who they deemed to be at risk. Many of them were put into State Care where habitual abuse was a normal part of an oppressive culture. Many others were adopted to strangers who loved them and cared for their physical needs, but who couldn’t provide them with connections to their roots. The physical and emotional costs of such sanctioned torment are being revealed through the Abuse In Care Royal Commission of Inquiry. The survivors of State and Church-based care are now telling their stories.
What happened in New Zealand was little different in intent to the Residential Schools of Canada and the Stolen Generations of Australia. Wherever Colonisation has sought to deny the humanity of indigenous people, the native mind has worked to reveal the injustice, and insist we do something about it.
Investigative journalist Aaron Smale and researcher Kim McBreen join Tainui Stephens for our next session of Native Minds. This kōrero is one of a series that considers issues of indigenous health and ways to heal ourselves.
He mea hora nā mātou nā Māoriland – Brought to you by Māoriland with support from Manatū Taonga – Ministry of Culture and Heritage
Aaron Smale
Aaron Smale is a freelance journalist and photographer. Over the past six years, Aaron has worked to uncover the horrific details of abuse suffered by children in state care.
Kim McBreen
Kim Mcbreen is Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu and Pākehā. She was adopted and grew up in her Pākehā family. At 20 she met her birth mother, but didn’t meet her birth father and learn of her whakapapa Ngāi Tahu until her mid-30s. Kim is a kaimahi at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, and part of a project team to understand whāngai and the adoption of Māori. She lives with her partner and two children in Ōtaki.
During the last half of the 20th century, the New Zealand government determined the lives of scores of thousands of Māori children, who they deemed to be at risk. Many of them were put into State Care where habitual abuse was a normal part of an oppressive culture. Many others were adopted to strangers who loved them and cared for their physical needs, but who couldn’t provide them with connections to their roots. The physical and emotional costs of such sanctioned torment are being revealed through the Abuse In Care Royal Commission of Inquiry. The survivors of State and Church-based care are now telling their stories.
What happened in New Zealand was little different in intent to the Residential Schools of Canada and the Stolen Generations of Australia. Wherever Colonisation has sought to deny the humanity of indigenous people, the native mind has worked to reveal the injustice, and insist we do something about it.
Investigative journalist Aaron Smale and researcher Kim McBreen join Tainui Stephens for our next session of Native Minds. This kōrero is one of a series that considers issues of indigenous health and ways to heal ourselves.
He mea hora nā mātou nā Māoriland – Brought to you by Māoriland with support from Manatū Taonga – Ministry of Culture and Heritage
Aaron Smale
Aaron Smale is a freelance journalist and photographer. Over the past six years, Aaron has worked to uncover the horrific details of abuse suffered by children in state care.
Kim McBreen
Kim Mcbreen is Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu and Pākehā. She was adopted and grew up in her Pākehā family. At 20 she met her birth mother, but didn’t meet her birth father and learn of her whakapapa Ngāi Tahu until her mid-30s. Kim is a kaimahi at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, and part of a project team to understand whāngai and the adoption of Māori. She lives with her partner and two children in Ōtaki.
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