Whakanoa Weaves Cultural Safety Into Medical Training

A whakanoa – spiritual clearing ceremony – for more than 200 medical students was held at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, this week.

About 30 years ago, Professor Sir Richard Faull realised many Māori medical students at the University of Auckland were uneasy about working with human cadavers.

The steps Centre for Brain Research director Sir Richard took back in the 1990s culminated in a whakanoa – spiritual clearing ceremony – for more than 200 second-year medical students at the University this week.

Sir Richard, who is of Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Rāhiri, was head of the Department of Anatomy when he decided three decades ago to gather the Māori medical students at the university and ask what they needed to overcome anxieties about examining cadavers.

It was the first time any consideration was given to tikanga Māori in the human anatomy laboratory.

“The human body is tapu, whether it’s alive or dead, and that means it is governed by restrictions. This is especially true in death. Many Māori students were uncomfortable handling the human body and tissues without a process for managing these restrictions.

“I wondered how we could provide a safe cultural environment,” he says.

Sir Richard consulted Tainui kaumātua Eru Thompson and Te Kaanga Skipper and together they provided cultural support for a small group of Māori students, before they worked with human bodies.

More students asked to participate in the whakanoa, so over the past 30 years, it has grown, with the guidance of Tumuaki Professor Papaarangi Reid, kaumātua, kuia, and Māori colleagues.

The simple karakia offered back then is now a significant annual ceremony to support the cultural, spiritual and emotional needs of all the medical students.

“When we first developed this specifically for Māori in the 1990s, there was little support from other academic staff in the department. They didn’t think we should be treating one group of students differently to the others.

“I didn't appreciate that unconsciously it was my Māori whakapapa and tipuna leading me down this pathway, but I knew in my heart this was the right thing to do,” says Sir Richard.

The 2025 whakanoa was led by kaumatua, who offered karanga, waerea, karakia, mihi and waiata in te reo Māori.

Incantations were made to those who had donated their bodies for the purpose of learning, to acknowledge them physically, genealogically and spiritually.

“By the end of the process, the kaumātua are confident that spiritual and cultural pathways will be clear and foundations will be laid to support the emotional journey of the students in the study of anatomy,” says Sir Richard.

These processes lift the restrictions and bless the human bodies (tūpāpaku) donated to medical science, he says.

“The ceremony acknowledges the gift from the family and undertakes to use that gift in a culturally appropriate way.”

The purpose of training in medicine is to look after people – and that starts by respecting the cultural backgrounds of the students and the dignity of the human cadaver, he says.

“Some of the students have tears in their eyes - suddenly they realise they're not just looking at a cadaver, they're looking at the remains of a person who lived and had life, who had a spirit, who made a contribution.

“This is an important part of their professional training because they learn that even in death, the human body is special and needs to be treated with dignity and respect.

“It's an acknowledgement of the dignity of life, no matter what religious or ethnic community you're from – and that’s at the centre of medicine.”

The whakanoa has been held up as an example of offering a culturally inclusive learning environment and has inspired similar practices around the country.

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