Homeless Māori Men: Re-connection, Re-joining, and Re-membering Ways of Being

Abstract

There are a range of interventions and programmes to address the on-going issue of Māori homelessness. This thesis explores a gardening project hosted by a Ngāti Whātua marae (communal complex used for everyday Māori life) in Auckland for homeless Māori men. The garden project facilitates a sense of belonging, dignity, purpose, meaning and connectedness with other Māori people. It provides insights into how culturally-patterned relationships are centrally important to resolving the overrepresentation of indigenous peoples’ in homelessness populations. I employ the use of semi-structured interviews, reflective journaling, and photography as techniques to record and document the daily interactions in the marae gardens. Participants came from three distinct groups, which include: homeless Māori men, the Auckland City Mission, and Ngāti Whātua o Orakei. A total of eight participants were formally interviewed, along with another six who engaged in casual conversations, in this research, with ages ranged from 30 to 70 years of age. Key findings from this research relate to the construction and preservation of Māori identity while in a state of homelessness, the functioning of marae as spaces of care that foster the wellbeing of Māori, and the role of food in the reproduction of Māori cultural values in everyday life. The broader significance of my work is to use indigenous concepts to build an understanding of the activities, needs and relationships of homeless Māori men that they can recognise themselves from.