The Commodification of Maori

After the last lecture on Indigeneity I thought about how Maori are perceived not only at home but also overseas. The part that stood out was the contrast between how Maori are seen in the news media, (barely at all), and when they it's mostly negative, vs. How they are shown to the outside world. The example in the lecture was their involvement in Royal engagements. Of course there  is no problem in acknowledgment and trying to express the Maori culture, history and language whenever possible but the way New Zealand treat the Indigenous as a part of tourism can seem more insidious, especially when put into context.

What I mean is, we have seen how Maori issues are absent in our media. After doing much research I found a research paper called the, “Balance and Fairness in Broadcasting News” which exposed the low percent of media attention Maori issues and stories get, and how the majority of those stories are negative. This combined with other statistics such as the 3.7 percent of people who speak Te Reo Maori, the high unemployment, incarceration, mortality and low education rates shows a disadvantage to Maori in New Zealand, yet so much of our tourism is built around the Maori image.

Which once again is not a problem if it were used for education and the spread of a long and proud culture, which is a part of New Zealand tourism but there is so much commodification and cheap tat used to sell the idea of New Zealand and Maori. Which leads to the argument of, is New Zealand selling itself on a lie?  

Maybe...

First of the the problem with the commodification of Maori is cheapening the culture, I’m sure we can all think of a time when we have seen cheap and tacky souvenirs, magnets or key-rings, trying to symbolizes some form on New Zealand and Maori culture. At best these may be a reminder of a nice trip once taken, at worst they are a symbol of cultural appropriation, cheapening a culture and having no understanding of the significance or context of a Koru, Hei-Tiki or Pounamu.

   

This extends into advertising, as seen already in examples from past lectures, Air New Zealand and Maori King beer have use Maori iconography without understanding the importance, to name a few. All of these commodify the Maori culture, making money from it. Which brings me on to the second part, the aforementioned inequality in New Zealand towards Maori. Which means the commodification becomes sinister. It almost becomes a Maori’sploitation.

There is no doubt an unfair position that Maori have been put into, like so many Indigenous cultures throughout the world affected by Colonialism, which is something that has been noted by many studies and articles that is hopefully becoming reconciled over time. However there is still a trend of commodifying Maori culture through appropriation that plagues New Zealand, which is a part of a greater structural racism.     

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sacl/centres-and-institutes/cpf/publications/pdfs/2015/WP09_2014_Indicators-of-Inequality.pdf

http://www.tourism.net.nz/postcards/images/culture-maorigreeting.jpg  http://rlv.zcache.com/paua_koru_silver_colored_round_keychain-ra8cd73a07af2470ebba3c84ba655a470_x76wa_8byvr_512.jpg