Abstract
The term ‘Māori and Pasifika’ is widely used in Aotearoa, New Zealand to both unite and distinguish these peoples and cultures. As a collective noun of separate peoples, Māori and Pasifika are used to acknowledge the common Pacific ancestry that both cultures share, whilst distinguishing Māori as Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Pasifika as migrants from other lands in the Pacific region. The term ‘Māori and Pasifika’ is a ‘label’ established in New Zealand to combine the minority cultural populations of both Māori, and Pacific migrant peoples, into a category defined by New Zealand policy and discourse. Migration for Māori and Pasifika to Australia (from Aotearoa) has generated new discussion amongst these diasporic communities (in Australia) on the appropriate collective term(s) to refer to Māori and Pasifika peoples and cultures. Some believe that in Australia, Māori should no longer be distinguished from Pasifika as they are not Indigenous (to Australia), while others believe the distinction should continue upon migration. Through the voices of Samoan and Māori researchers who reside in Australia, insider voices are honoured and cultural genealogy is privileged in this discussion of the label ‘Māori and Pasifika’ in the Australian context.
Highlights
As Samoan and Māori academics who were raised in Australia, we encounter controversial dialogue surrounding the term ’Pasifika’ as an appropriate collective term and label to refer to both Māori and those of Pacific Island origins who have resettled in Australia
Zealand), the term is mutually exclusive in all aspects of New Zealand society, as Māori are tangata whenua and Pasifika are a migrant diaspora from various islands throughout the Pacific
As we look into our own Samoan Australian and Māori Australian communities, we have seen, heard and actively been a part of this discussion
Summary
As Samoan and Māori academics who were raised in Australia, we encounter controversial dialogue surrounding the term ’Pasifika’ as an appropriate collective term and label to refer to both Māori and those of Pacific Island origins who have resettled in Australia. In Aotearoa (New. Zealand), the term is mutually exclusive in all aspects of New Zealand society, as Māori are tangata whenua (people of the land) and Pasifika are a migrant diaspora from various islands throughout the Pacific. Zealand), the term is mutually exclusive in all aspects of New Zealand society, as Māori are tangata whenua (people of the land) and Pasifika are a migrant diaspora from various islands throughout the Pacific We acknowledge this distinction in New Zealand and the cultural identities founded on these terms. As we discuss later in the article, the ‘label’ of ‘Māori and Pasifika’ is fraught with colonial elements designed to produce and categorise these minority populations of New Zealand In order to better understand ‘Māori and Pasifika’, we draw upon the gafa/whakapapa (genealogy) of these terms (Enari and Matapo 2020, 2021)
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