How deep is your kaumaha? Unfolding the experiences of historical and intergenerational trauma among Wāhine

Abstract

Historical trauma, the collective, intergenerational wounding from mass subjugation, has been theorized to unconsciously impact Indigenous peoples, including Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians). Previous research has sought to measure historical trauma as a construct that determines the health of contemporary peoples and validate its use among Indigenous populations. However, only a couple of studies have empirically documented historical trauma among Kanaka Maoli and none among Wahine only. The aim of the present research was to contextualize and measure historical and intergenerational trauma among Wāhine in an effort to validate a historical trauma scale that reflects and measures their experiences. The central hypothesis for this dissertation was that historical trauma among Wāhine is unique, and as such, any scale to measure the construct among this group should be unique as well. A mixed-method design employed 1) a systematic literature review to determine existing psychometrically valid scales measuring historical trauma among Indigenous peoples, 2) a qualitative, phenomenological study to unpack the experiences of Wāhine with historical trauma through semi-structured interviews that began with moʻokūauʻhau (genealogy) and established pilina (relationships), and 3) a factor analysis to explore the psychometric properties of an adapted Historical Loss Scale (HLS) among an all-Wāhine sample. Considering all three studies, the results suggest the following: 1) measuring historical trauma has been achieved through several, psychometrically sound scales developed with or informed by Indigenous communities, 2) Wāhine face the brunt of multilevel violence from sexism, racism, and classism both historically and contemporarily that have been traumatic for their kūpuna Wāhine and themselves, and 3) Wāhine endorse an adapted, hierarchal, three-factor HLS model that measures the impact of historical traumatic events.