On Asian Immigrants, "Kiwiana" and Pakeha Anxieites

Recently, whilst chatting to a friend about New Zealand’s demographics, my friend claimed that in the next few decades Asians would be the dominant cultural group in Auckland and argued that all the good things about “New Zealand culture” would gradually disappear.

Of course, these thoughts are not new. In 2011, a right wing resistance group was investigated after distributing pamphlets titled ‘Stop the Asian Invasion’ throughout Auckland and Christchurch.  Likewise, in 2014 during his speech on National’s weak defence of their recent selling of land to foreign-buyers, Winston Peters’ joked that ‘two Wongs don’t make a right’ — playing on the fear of Asian immigration.

Yet what intrigued me most was my friend’s definition of “New Zealand culture”. Asking him to expand on this term he replied, ‘Well, you have to admit that there is a distinctly New Zealand culture. You know: our love of rugby, no.8 wire, the ANZACs….’. This list brought to mind a collection of stamps published by New Zealand Post I had been admiring, entitled “Counting in Kiwi”, that, like my friend, listed items, activities and events claimed to be characteristic of “New Zealand culture” such as Jandals, Cricket, Lamingtons, 21^st birthday parties. Notably, both these lists failed to account for the wide variety of ethnic groups in New Zealand including Maori, Pacific Islanders, and, yes, people of Asian descent.  Of course, this is directly linked to the idea of “whiteness” or “Pakehaness” as an unnamed and invisible cultural group thus creating a myth that to be Pakeha is “normal” while to be anything “other” is not. 

In this light it is not surprising that many Pakeha fear the consequences of Asian immigration. Because our identities are primarily formed through recognition of what we are not, the increasing presence of Asian culture in New Zealand cities challenges the idea of white hegemony by bringing attention to the Pakeha colonial identity. On the “Counting in Kiwi” stamp sheet are two stamps in particular which speak volumes about how Pakeha view their place in New Zealand society — one portrays Captain James Cook’ 1769 landing in New Zealand and the other of a white statue in front of the Beehive.  Both demonstrate the way in which the idea of white hegemonic power has become naturalised in postcolonial New Zealand.  As Avril Bell has rightly pointed out, Pakeha don’t like to be named as a distinctive ethnic group, preferring to claim that “We’re just New Zealanders” rather than risk admitting the reality of white privilege.  This is where the fear of immigration stems from. Pakeha do not fear the loss of an “inherent” New Zealand culture. That has already been largely achieved through colonialism and attempts to systematically destroy the Maori identity.  Asian immigration challenges assimilationist and white hegemonic rhetoric and it appears that Pakeha do not take this threat lightly.  The toppling of white hegemony is a scary thought for those whose privileges rest upon it.