Abstract:This paper considers how ways of talking about New Zealand national identity still privilege a settler-centric perspective. The paper begins from the premise that settler colonialism is an ongoing project that must continually code, decode and recode social norms and social spaces so as to secure a meaningful (read proprietary) relationship to the territories and resources at stake. Somewhat akin to an obsessive-compulsive disorder, settler colonialism is deeply vexed by its own precarious identity, a precario… Show more
“…Social pressures resulting from rapid urbanization of the Māori community (see Hill ; Hope ) and growing recognition of difference within society (Belgrave ; Humpage ) have emphasized and compounded these issues. The goal of Māori self‐determination is further constrained by elite political pragmatism (O’Sullivan ) and the fact that ‘the settler nation is deeply vexed by its own precarious nature’ (Smith : 112).…”
Section: The Political Context Of Māori Sovereigntymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The Waitangi Tribunal was created in 1975 to address contemporary breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi signed by some Māori tribes and the British Crown, with reforms in 1985 empowering it to consider historical breaches (Moon ; see also Sullivan ). Smith (: 125) argues the Tribunal is significant but notes:while the claims process has offered Māori communities the chance to retrieve lost tribal histories and rebuild mana (prestige)… [it] tied communities into an existing economic logic that transforms customary resources into commodities and assets.…”
Section: The Political Context Of Māori Sovereigntymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The occupation thrust key actors (including Tariana Turia) into Pākehā consciousness, although the media representation was not positive. Actions such as the Moutoa Gardens occupation provide an opportunity to present claims, but they are filtered through the media, making self‐representation significant in generating capital (see Smith ). It is important to note that the occupation had positive effects on the community, as ‘Pākaitore gave new life to our old people, and an amazing sense of revitalism for our young’ (Turia in Leahy : 187).…”
Section: Political Entrepreneurship Within the Māori Communitymentioning
Individual actors have the potential to shape political outcomes through creative use of opportunities. Political entrepreneurship identifies how such actors recognize and exploit opportunities, for personal or collective gain. The existing literature focuses on individuals operating within institutional settings, with less attention paid to other types of actors. In this article, I argue for an expansion of the political entrepreneurship framework, by considering individuals in the electoral and protest arenas. An examination of the field of Māori sovereignty, or tino rangatiratanga, in Aotearoa New Zealand allows exploration of prominent actors' innovative strategies and practices. The findings highlight the actors' reliance on identity in mobilizing support within the community, to press claims. Broadening the application of political entrepreneurship demonstrates the roles of social, cultural and political capital in influencing outcomes, by identifying opportunities available to individuals embedded in the community and according to the context of the arena.
“…Social pressures resulting from rapid urbanization of the Māori community (see Hill ; Hope ) and growing recognition of difference within society (Belgrave ; Humpage ) have emphasized and compounded these issues. The goal of Māori self‐determination is further constrained by elite political pragmatism (O’Sullivan ) and the fact that ‘the settler nation is deeply vexed by its own precarious nature’ (Smith : 112).…”
Section: The Political Context Of Māori Sovereigntymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The Waitangi Tribunal was created in 1975 to address contemporary breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi signed by some Māori tribes and the British Crown, with reforms in 1985 empowering it to consider historical breaches (Moon ; see also Sullivan ). Smith (: 125) argues the Tribunal is significant but notes:while the claims process has offered Māori communities the chance to retrieve lost tribal histories and rebuild mana (prestige)… [it] tied communities into an existing economic logic that transforms customary resources into commodities and assets.…”
Section: The Political Context Of Māori Sovereigntymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The occupation thrust key actors (including Tariana Turia) into Pākehā consciousness, although the media representation was not positive. Actions such as the Moutoa Gardens occupation provide an opportunity to present claims, but they are filtered through the media, making self‐representation significant in generating capital (see Smith ). It is important to note that the occupation had positive effects on the community, as ‘Pākaitore gave new life to our old people, and an amazing sense of revitalism for our young’ (Turia in Leahy : 187).…”
Section: Political Entrepreneurship Within the Māori Communitymentioning
Individual actors have the potential to shape political outcomes through creative use of opportunities. Political entrepreneurship identifies how such actors recognize and exploit opportunities, for personal or collective gain. The existing literature focuses on individuals operating within institutional settings, with less attention paid to other types of actors. In this article, I argue for an expansion of the political entrepreneurship framework, by considering individuals in the electoral and protest arenas. An examination of the field of Māori sovereignty, or tino rangatiratanga, in Aotearoa New Zealand allows exploration of prominent actors' innovative strategies and practices. The findings highlight the actors' reliance on identity in mobilizing support within the community, to press claims. Broadening the application of political entrepreneurship demonstrates the roles of social, cultural and political capital in influencing outcomes, by identifying opportunities available to individuals embedded in the community and according to the context of the arena.
“…“Geographies of interpellation” (Gregory, , p. 203) that hail Aotearoa New Zealand as “at the end of the world” hold popular currency more broadly. For example, the Auckland Polish Association's website offers to help “Polish newcomers to assimilate in their new country whilst walking ‘upside down at the end of the world’.” In fact, the ongoing prevalence of this geographical imaginary among long‐established residents and new arrivals alike has led Smith () to describe it as “the tyranny of the tyranny of distance.” Steyn () has described a pattern among white South Africans of denigrating Africa and stressing their international links with Euro‐America to reinforce their diasporic relationship with mainstream whiteness. Could we consider the diminishment of what is near and the centralising of Euro‐America in Aotearoa New Zealand along the same lines?…”
Section: Researching With the British In Aucklandmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Could we consider the diminishment of what is near and the centralising of Euro‐America in Aotearoa New Zealand along the same lines? Smith () criticises what she calls “a rather jaded island topos” and its recurring motifs of unsettling remoteness (p. 119). For Smith, such metaphors and tropes “reinscribe other elsewheres as the hidden centres of settler culture” and in doing so divert energy away from building more affirmative affinities that “settler being in place” might offer (p. 114).…”
Section: Researching With the British In Aucklandmentioning
This paper explores the imaginative geographies of relatively privileged migrants living in settler societies for their colonial continuities. It responds to a recent call to historicise the cultural significance attached to migration and destinations in lifestyle migration research through an exploration of some of the potential synergies between the newly emergent field of settler colonial studies and lifestyle migration. The analysis draws on 12 months of qualitative research with British migrants living in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. First, it examines the ambivalent affective associations of "islandness" and distance, as both insulating and isolating.Second, the paper explores the twinned appreciation of spectacular, empty natural surroundings, and a perception of a "lack" of culture and history. It is argued, first, that the geographical and historical interpellation of the country as "at the end of the world" and as "young" recentres distant Euro-colonial cultures and decentres Māori cultures. And, second, that the intersections of contemporary lifestyle migration and settler colonialism are an important avenue for future research.
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