Wake up New Zealand!!!

Kia ora,

A country like New Zealand with such a patchy colonial history, in my opinion has really lost its way in terms of a common goal and establishment of a "nationhood". Our national identity is basically a combination of the All Blacks (who have mostly non-white individuals playing), the Haka, the Lord of The Rings and particular aspects of Maori culture. We as a nation adopt these characteristics and relate to them in order to be identified on a international level. For example, when you are overseas and a local will say "Oh New Zealand is where they do the Haka" or some other comment that connects you and New Zealand to indigenous Maori culture.

The major problem I have with this is that in New Zealand society we still (even after many years of fighting), subordinate our true indigenous culture and replace it with a wishy washy mix of ideas that amount to no substantial identity. Most white New Zealanders feel like they do not have a culture and try to tap into Maori's, but it can not work both ways. I guess the current culture within New Zealand is to promote and advantage whiteness and to subordinate all others.

It seems ridiculous to me that the Maori culture, traditions, people etc that identify New Zealand on an international level are treated so badly in their own country. A bigger effort needs to be made to preserve it and teach Maori and all it encompasses not only to Natives but to the entire population. Smith and Abel (2008) talk about how one of the aims of creating Maori Television was to cement a nationhood and national identity that everyone could be a part of. The channels main objective was and still is the protion of te reo  Māori me ngā tikanga  Māori, which means to teach and sustain the Maori language, culture and customs (Smith and Abel, 2008). This needs to be a focus across the entire country and not only in minority parts that suit the government who are aiming to reinforce the dominant white narrative. The media has made some significant leaps in normalising Maori language, for example, Maori appearing in news reports, Te Karere, Maori Television and Maori language week that is publicised. However, these aforementioned aspects are only the beginning of what should be done.


All I am saying is that because we are identified as a nation using our indigenous culture the majority of the time it is wrong that we as a country do not make more of an effort to celebrate, nurture and teach our current national identification features (Maori culture and customs). We need to embrace and celebrate it all the time on a individual, local, national and international scale. However, in saying that Maori should be treated better on the basis that it is the indigenous and native culture of New Zealand, but that is a whole other story.

We can not just be proud of Maori culture when it suits us!

References:

Smith, J &Abel,S(2008)"Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou:Indigenous Television in Aotearoa/New Zealand". In Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou. Victoria University. Wellington, NZ.