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50books_pocIp is a professor of Asian Studies at Auckland University, and she’s written a number of books about the Chinese experience in New Zealand/Aotearoa; this one is a collection of interviews with members of seven Māori -Chinese families, loosely grouped in order of the earliest Chinese arrival (1920s – Chinese were arriving in NZ almost 100 years earlier, but my understanding is that this was largely in gold-mining areas in the South Island where there were far fewer Māori, and none of the families are from there). The interviews were also conducted around the time of the 2002 NZ government’s apology for the poll tax only Chinese immigrants had to pay (10 pounds initially, increased to 100 pounds in 1896 when “too many” Chinese were still getting in, with subsequent legislation adding in an English test and denying permanent residency), which was seen as a major step forward by the NZ Chinese community.
One of the themes this book really brought out was how issues of identity have changed over the years. In the first family interviewed, the Joe-Williams family, Waerata Rangitooto married all four of her daughters to Chinese market gardeners in the early 1940s, not seeing any future for herself or for Māori at that time, and right through until the 1970s there’s a definite preference in the families for their Chinese heritage over Māori. And then came the Māori renaissance, with Māori language schools, the Waitangi Tribunal, protests and recognition, and the balance tips back, with many family members becoming heavily involved in Māori community activities – and then in the late 1990s there’s the mainstream backlash against perceived high levels of Asian immigration, with people like Winston Peters (a Māori member of parliament) inciting anti-Asian sentiment, so that one of the interviewees says, “It was like one side of me attacking the other.” Most of the younger interviewees are comfortable with having dual identities, combining and/or moving between them, although often things like their appearance (more Chinese, more Māori) play into that.
Things that crop up in most of the interviews: the importance of language as a means of claiming a particular heritage; commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi; commonalities between Chinese and Māori that both see as different from Pakeha (importance of extended family, as well as differences (usually Māori as displaying more physical warmth and more accepting of interracial relationships). One area where there’s a lot of discussion but no consensus is New Zealand as bicultural or multicultural, which is something I tend to go back and forward on as well, in that I think we should have a multicultural society, but then I think the Treaty (which is hard not to see as inherently bicultural) should be a founding document as well.
Anyway. I thought this was interesting, and although it is highly selective in terms of experiences, it also obviously fits into the broader context of Ip’s work – her latest book, The Dragon and the Taniwha, is an edited collection with a wide range of authors that includes quite a bit more historical detail, including the pre-1900s period.
One of the themes this book really brought out was how issues of identity have changed over the years. In the first family interviewed, the Joe-Williams family, Waerata Rangitooto married all four of her daughters to Chinese market gardeners in the early 1940s, not seeing any future for herself or for Māori at that time, and right through until the 1970s there’s a definite preference in the families for their Chinese heritage over Māori. And then came the Māori renaissance, with Māori language schools, the Waitangi Tribunal, protests and recognition, and the balance tips back, with many family members becoming heavily involved in Māori community activities – and then in the late 1990s there’s the mainstream backlash against perceived high levels of Asian immigration, with people like Winston Peters (a Māori member of parliament) inciting anti-Asian sentiment, so that one of the interviewees says, “It was like one side of me attacking the other.” Most of the younger interviewees are comfortable with having dual identities, combining and/or moving between them, although often things like their appearance (more Chinese, more Māori) play into that.
Things that crop up in most of the interviews: the importance of language as a means of claiming a particular heritage; commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi; commonalities between Chinese and Māori that both see as different from Pakeha (importance of extended family, as well as differences (usually Māori as displaying more physical warmth and more accepting of interracial relationships). One area where there’s a lot of discussion but no consensus is New Zealand as bicultural or multicultural, which is something I tend to go back and forward on as well, in that I think we should have a multicultural society, but then I think the Treaty (which is hard not to see as inherently bicultural) should be a founding document as well.
Anyway. I thought this was interesting, and although it is highly selective in terms of experiences, it also obviously fits into the broader context of Ip’s work – her latest book, The Dragon and the Taniwha, is an edited collection with a wide range of authors that includes quite a bit more historical detail, including the pre-1900s period.
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Date: 2009-06-14 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-15 06:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-14 05:48 pm (UTC)About the "perceived" increase in Asian immigration . . I thought that that was not only reality (that is, easily confirmed with actual numbers) but, in the '90s, related directly to the return of control Hong Kong to China by the British.
Finally, a geeky question: what's the scoop on the diacritical mark that you use in "Maori"? I've never seen the word with diacriticals. (Mind you, while I married a kiwi, I've only spent a few weeks in the country and thus have had minimal exposure to local materials.) Please understand that I am asking as a geek who aims to be accurate -- and remembers things much better when they have stories or even simply explanations.
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Date: 2009-06-15 07:20 am (UTC)And Hong Kong probably did contribute, but my understanding is that the key factor was the 1987 change in immigration law - we shifted to a points-based system rather than a "traditional source country" one, I think largely to attract more business. Proportions of immigrants from Asian countries went up, and those from the Pacific dropped (in the 1970s, all the knee-jerk reactions were to Pacific immigrants). They've fiddled with the English requirements again, and last year's figures have the UK as largest source of immigrants, with China, South Africa and the Philippines all about equal second. Chinese are actually the third largest ethnic group in NZ (from 2006 census data, somewhat complicated by the fact you can identify with multiple ethnic groups) but have historically been overlooked or considered outsiders.
The macron marks a long/doubled vowel, so you might also see "Maaori" as an alternate spelling. Basically, it helps in pronounciation, and avoids confusion (standard example - "keke" is cake, but "kēkē" is armpit :) ).