Irihapeti Merenia Ramsden (1946 – 5 April 2003) was a New Zealand

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

nurse, anthropologist, and writer who worked to improve health outcomes for Māori people.

Biography

Irihapeti Ramsden was the daughter of writer and historian Eric Ramsden and Merenia Manawatu, and was of

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Poi ...

and Rangitāne

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...

. She was born and raised in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and trained as a nurse at Wellington Technical College. In 1963, she began working at Wellington Hospital. In 1979, Ramsden enrolled at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

and studied for a degree in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. In the 1980s, Ramsden developed ''Kawa Whakaruruhau'' or Cultural Safety in Nursing Education, an approach to health care which was both original and controversial. The approach required people and organisations in the health sector to consider Māori and other cultural identities that a patient brings with them as they access health services. These cultures include the culture of poverty, gender, sexual orientation or social class. Many of Ramsden’s recommendations were later legislated into nursing and midwifery education and adopted by other professions and movements in New Zealand and internationally; in 1992, cultural safety was officially incorporated into nursing training in New Zealand. In 1984, Ramsden was one of the women who formed the Spiral Collective to publish

Keri Hulme Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (9 March 194727 December 2021) was a New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer. She also wrote under the pen name Kai Tainui. Her novel ''The Bone People'' won the Booker Prize in 1985; she was the first New Zealande ...

's novel, ''

The Bone People ''The Bone People'', styled by the writer and in some editions as ''the bone people'', is a 1984 novel by New Zealand writer Keri Hulme. Set on the coast of the South Island of New Zealand, the novel focuses on three characters, all of whom ar ...

'', when mainstream publishers had rejected it. The book went on to win the 1984

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

. In 2002, Ramsden completed her PhD at Victoria University of Wellington; her thesis was titled ''Cultural Safety and Nursing Education in Aotearoa and Te Waipounamu''. Ramsden died on 5 April 2003 at her Wellington home after a long illness with cancer. She was 57 years old.

Tariana Turia Dame Tariana Turia (born 8 April 1944) is a New Zealand politician. She was first elected to Parliament in 1996. Turia gained considerable prominence during the foreshore and seabed controversy in 2004, and eventually broke with the Labour P ...

, then Associate Maori Affairs Minister, and historian Michael King both issued statements of remembrance on her passing. Ramsden had been invested as an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

two weeks before she died, the honour having been announced in the 2003 New Year Honours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsden, Irihapeti 1946 births 2003 deaths People from Wellington City Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Ngāi Tahu people Rangitāne people Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand nurses New Zealand Māori nurses New Zealand women nurses Medical anthropologists People in public health Indigenous health