Chapter 9: Indigenized Internationalization: Developments and Lessons from two Aotearoa/New Zealand Universities

The internationalization of Eurocentric psychology is not a new project. With its modern genesis in Europe¹ and subsequent evolution in the USA, relying on largely western, educated industrialized rich and democratic (WEIRD) samples (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzaya, 2010), the world has rapidly engaged with psychology, eagerly seeking the discipline’s knowledge, methods and applications. Aotearoa/New Zealand is one such nation. Situated in the South Pacific, early navigator Abel Tasman mapped the existence of our islands in 1642. After the arrival of traders, missionaries and then settlers, British colonizers, in 1840, negotiated with indigenous Maori tribal leaders the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi which permitted the ordered and peaceful settlement of settlers and promised a future of engaged partnership, protection of Maori, and active participation in a modern society (cf., Orange, 1987). By 1906, with Europeans numbering about 886,000 and Maori 46,000, the promises cemented by the Treaty were largely forgotten by the British colonizers given the weight of settler dominance (Belich, 1996). Immigration massively swamped the Maori population. Estimates based on the 2013 census in New Zealand classify 14.90% of the population of New Zealand as Maori, 11.80% of the population as Asian, and 7.40% as of Pacific Islander origin (Statistics New Zealand, 2013).