(in Maori culture) shame or embarrassment.
avoiding a doctor out of embarrassment or whakama is just plain silly
Example sentencesExamples
- I do not know how the Maori members in this House can stand seeing yet another attack on the concept of whakama.
- For many Maori New Zealanders, to infringe this value would be to bring whakama on themselves.
- They should suppress their whakama and sign up for the courses that are available.
- Mitigating against such a self-identification strategy is a complex phenomenon called whakama.
- In these communities there is still an element of 'whakama' in having a smear but also anonymity.
- The biggest enemy of language revitalisation is whakama, a terrible sense of 'I'm not doing this right'.
- Maori cultural phenomena such as whakama or hopo may have similarities in terms of being culture-bound reactions to extreme stressors.
- Whakama is described as a state of mind that some Maori experience when they feel at a disadvantage.
- There is intense externalised shame or guilt (sometimes described as whakama).
- Students identified more areas warranting further investigation, such as "possibility of whakama".