COMMUNICATING MĀORI HEALTH AND WELLBEING Platforms for voice and (re)connecting with whenua through māra kai practices

This manuscript presents a communication framework embedded in whakapapa. It highlights the experiences of whānau Māori as they discuss the factors that impact their health and wellbeing. It also explores how they deal with socioeconomic challenges, which are contextualised in relation to the whenua, associated ancestral place names and kinship ties. The opening of discursive spaces provides platforms for voice, and led to the establishment of māra kai on ancestral whenua and the (re) clamation of Indigenous knowledge and place names in Feilding, Manawatū. Māra kai are positioned here as a site for decolonising health and wellbeing meanings, generating conversations in the Feilding community to disrupt colonial narratives that threaten Māori health and wellbeing. Reclaiming māra kai practices through connecting with ancestral land and nurturing whanaungatanga constitutes an intergenerational approach to Māori health and wellbeing, expressed through a whakapapa-based communication framework.