This paper presents the findings of the Perceptions of Papakāinga project, a 12‐month, Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga funded project which explores comparative views of ‘home’ for Māori. The findings highlight the emerging themes around the meaning of ‘home’ for three different generations of Māori living in different geographical locations and how these meanings shape or influence the perception of how to ‘be well at home’. By investigating the views and attitudes of Māori community members in two distinct communities regarding what ‘home’ means to them, the research has been able to identify that ‘home’ is more than a spatial or physical notion, and that there are a range of holistically connected aspects that need to be considered if we are to deliver effective and sustainable solutions around Māori being ‘at home’. As Māori meanings of ‘home’ are adapting, developing and changing, especially in the current Coronavirus Covid‐19 context, the findings from this research contribute to the significant thinking that needs to influence future policy direction and also highlights areas that require further investigation.

In Rongoā Māori (traditional Māori healing), the connection with the land stems from seeing Papatūānuku/Mother Earth as a part of our identity/whakapapa (genealogy), our culture, and our wellbeing. This qualitative study aimed to explore the holistic nature and meaning of Rongoā Māori. There were 49 practitioner and patient participants who participated in semi-structured interviews and focus groups across Aotearoa/New Zealand. The findings showed four themes: land as an intrinsic part of identity; land as a site and source of healing; reciprocity of the healing relationship; and the importance of kaitiakitanga/conservation to Rongoā Māori. Participants shared narratives of connections between the people and the land that showed that when the land is well, the people are well. Implications of these themes for Indigenous wellbeing and the conservation and protection of our natural environments led to three recommendations to reconnect with the land, support Rongoā Māori healing, and to participate in the conservation and preservation of local land and waterways. It is hoped that in learning more about the connection between the land and Rongoā Māori healing, we begin to place greater value on the need to conserve and preserve both the land and our connections to her through traditional healing practices.

This paper presents the findings of the Perceptions of Papakāinga project, which explores the connection between place, genealogy, and identity for two Māori (New Zealand’s Indigenous people) communities: one living within an iwi (tribal) context, and one living within an urban context. The research explores how Māori-specific concepts which define home and identity are perceived and enacted across all participants, and how participants define ‘home’ in relation to fluid understandings of genealogy, community, and identity. Across the diverse experiences of participants, the concept of ‘whakapapa’ (genealogy), can be seen to act as a way to understand the connections between identity, people and place.

Indigenous cultures have long-held perspectives that emphasise the interdependence of all living things as holistic systems. Our worldview is thus shaped by deeply embedded relationality, which is in constant response to our interconnected experiences and knowledges. Systems thinking is a way of looking at the world that recognises the interconnectedness of both natural and human-made systems. The systems change approach, which takes into account the interconnected nature of the world's economic, social, and ecological systems, finds common ground with an inclusive, connected Indigenous holistic world view. This article explores the congruence and compatibility between systems change thinking and Indigenous frameworks, emphasizing their common ground. The article introduces an example from Aotearoa New Zealand, which has integrated the tenets of systems change methodology within tribally based principles and aspirations to create ‘Te Ruru”. Te Ruru, an Indigenous framework of systems change, has been designed by a tribally owned Māori (Indigenous peoples of New Zealand) health research centre to investigate the overarching system(s) that perpetuate inequity of Māori health outcomes. Te Ruru is depicted in three parts: the first part, or micro lens; the second part, the macro lens; and part three, the meso lens. The first part of the framework prioritizes Indigenous identities and values. In part two, Te Ruru's beak, eyes, and wings symbolize the translation of research findings, strategic oversight, and the ability to navigate systems change. The third part of the framework illustrates the goal of new mātauranga and the need to address internal barriers and traumas, emphasizing the necessity for healing and restoration to sustain long-term systems change. A case study of how Te Ruru has been used in conjunction with a research methodology (TUI) is also included. Te Ruru has been purposefully adapted from a specific tribe’s knowledge and iterated to represent not just the visible system(s) that Māori communities occupy, but also the ‘unseen’ within Indigenous and colonial histories. Using systems change from an intentional Indigenous paradigm is thereby an act of decolonisation— a direct act against the systems currently blocking Indigenous flourishing. Te Ruru's transformational power lies in its ability to bring to the surface the seen and unseen, and thereby support Māori to take the helm to lead systemic change via the Indigenous translation of inclusive health research.

Land is a place that Māori, the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, are connected to ancestrally, spiritually, physically, and geographically. This relationship is emblematic in our native language, where whenua means both land and placenta, symbolising both as our sites of our origin and sustenance. For Māori, the land is a place that establishes our identity as iwi (tribal nations), hapū (sub-tribe) and whānau (constellations of extended family networks and friends). The imposition of land ownership has alienated Māori from our whenua, making us minorities in our previous home-spaces. Although colonially forced ideologies of land ownership complicate our relationship to place, for many Māori, land is a place of belonging and home. Drawing on research from a project on Māori conceptions of home and wellbeing, this article explores Indigenous experiences of home and place, which highlights Māori resistance to colonising narratives that associate place and home with economic wealth and power. Instead, ideas of identity, belonging, relationality, and self-determination are explored as lived realities of resistance. This article profiles Māori experiences across a range of urban and rural contexts that negotiate the tensions of colonisation, foster strong cultural identities, and cultivate meaningful enactments of home in diverse environments within Aotearoa New Zealand.