THINK PIECE: Reflecting on Medical Anthropology in Aotearoa New Zealand

C. Trundle

Abstract


In considering what makes New Zealand unique for medical anthropological focus, this think piece sets out four themes. These reflect New Zealand’s particular historical, political, social and cultural landscape, and reveal the relevance of local scholarship for wider global debates about health. By tracing the neoliberal reform of state healthcare, indigenous approaches to wellbeing, local cultural practices of health, and the complex ethics involved in health and illness, this paper spotlights the opportunities that New Zealand medical anthropology affords us for addressing the important health and wellbeing challenges that we face today.

Keywords


Medical Anthropology; New Zealand; Neoliberal Reform; Healthcare; Ethics; Indigenous Health; Culture and Illness

Full Text:

PDF

References


Blumberg, Linda J. (2006). The Effect of Private Health Insurance Coverage on Health Services Utilisation in New Zealand. Ian Axford (New Zealand) Fellowships in Public Policy Programme Report. Wellington: Fulbright New Zealand: Accessed at: https://www.fulbright.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/axford2006_blumberg.pdf

Boulton A., J. Tamehana and T. Brannelly (2013). Whanau-centred health and social service delivery in New Zealand. MAI Journal. 2: 18–32.

Bryers-Brown, Tarapuhi. (2015). “He reached across the river and healed the generations of hara”: Structural violence, historical trauma, and healing among contemporary Whanganui Māori. Masters Thesis. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington.

Durie, M. H. (2001). Mauri Ora: The dynamics of Māori health. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press.

Durie, M. H. (2003). Whaiora: Māori health development. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.

Fitzgerald, Ruth, Michael Legge and Nicholas Frank. (2013). When Biological Scientists Become Health-Careworkers: Emotional Labour in Embryology. Human Reproduction. 28(5): 1289-1296.

Fitzgerald, Ruth and Julie Park (2003). Introduction: issues in the practice of medical anthropology in the Antipodes. Sites. 1(1): 1-29.

Fitzgerald, Ruth P. (2004). The New Zealand Health Reforms: Dividing the Labour of Care. Social Science and Medicine. 58(2): 331-341.

Frykberg, Eric (2017). ‘Awful’ suicide rate hits NZ’s child welfare rating. Radio New Zealand. 15 June.

Accessed at: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/333097/awful-suicide-rate-hits-nz-s-child-welfare-rating

George, L., E. Ngamu, M. Sidwell, M. Hauraki, N. Martin-Fletcher, L. Ripia, R. Davis, P. Ratima and H. Wihongi (2014). Narratives of suffering and hope: Historical trauma and contemporary rebuilding for Māori women with experiences of incarceration. MAI Journal. 3(3): 183-196.

Harris R., M. Tobias, M. Jeffreys, K. Waldegrave, S. Karlsen and J. Nazroo (2006). Racism and health: The relationship between experience of racial discrimination and health in New Zealand. Social Science & Medicine. 63: 1428–1441

Jatrana, Santosh and Peter Crampton (2009). Primary health care in New Zealand: Who has access? Health Policy. 93: 1–10.

Jansen P., K. Bacal and S. Crengle (2009). He Ritenga Whakaaro: Māori experiences of health services. Auckland, New Zealand: Mauri Ora Associates.

Kelsey, Jane (1997). The New Zealand Experiment: A World Model for Structural Adjustment? 2nd edition. Auckland: Bridget Williams Books/Auckland University Press.

Park, J. (2000). The worst hassle is you can’t play rugby: hemophilia and masculinity in New Zealand. Current Anthropology. 41(3):443- 453.

Park, J.(2013). Painful Exclusion: Hepatitis C in the New Zealand hemophilia community. In Sense and Citizenships: embodying political life. Edited by S. Trnka, C. Dureau and J. Park. New York and London: Routledge.

Park, J., J. Littleton, A. Chambers and K. Changers. (2011). Whakapapa in anthropolgoical research on tuberculosis in the Pacific. Sites. 8(2): 6-31.

Park, Julie, Ruth Fitzgerald, and Michael Legge (2015). The Predicament of d/Deaf: Towards an Anthropology of Not-Disability. Human Organization. 74(2): 154-163.

Penehira, Mera (2011). Mouri Tü, Mouri Moko, Mouri Ora! Moko as a wellbeing strategy. Waikato: University of Waikato Press. PhD Thesis.

Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books.

Trnka, Susanna (2017). One Blue Child. Asthma, Responsibility, and the Politics of Global Health. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Trnka, Susanna and Catherine Trundle (2014). Competing Responsibilities: beyond neoliberal responsibilisation. Anthropological Forum. 24: 136–153.

Trundle, Catherine, Hannah Gibson and Lara Bell (forthcoming 2017) Articualted Vulnerabilities: The Opportunities and Challenges of Illness and Recovery. Anthropology and Medicine.

Wagstaff, Richard (2010). Private health sector thrives as public hospitals struggle. Dominion Post. 23rd November. Accessed at:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/4374723/Private-health-sector-thrives-as-public-hospitals-struggle

Wardell, S. (2013). Doctors and All Blacks: How depression and its treatment is framed in New Zealand GP-targeted advertising. Sites. 10(2): 52-81.

Wirihana R. and C. Smith (2014). Historical trauma, healing and well-being in Māori communities. MAI Journal. 3: 197–210.

Radio New Zealand (2017). Trauma becomes catalyst for care model. 21 February. Accessed at:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201834001/trauma-becomes-catalyst-for-care-model.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/hcs.2017.241

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share