Abstract
Irish-Pākehā (a European New Zealander of Irish descent) is a settler identity that embodies ancestral relations with forebears and homelands as well as a relationship with Māori, the Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa-New Zealand. Being of Irish descent carries multiple meanings that can nourish a sense of identity, a sense of belonging, and significant relationships. How have my Irish ancestral relations and places of belonging cultivated in me those relational qualities and ethical–political commitments that inspirit the Indigenous–settler engagements that are part of my personal and professional life? Here I explore the complexities of becoming and being Irish-Pākehā in response to that question. Travelling across generations and two countries, I utilise a series of guiding questions to help construct an Irish-Pākehā diasporic identity through a narrative of belonging. Following Nash, I explore geographies of relatedness, doing kinship, and the effects of identity-making through kinship as a way to understand who I am/am becoming and why being Irish-Pākehā matters in my work with Indigenous Māori.
Highlights
Irish-Pākehā is a settler identity that embodies ancestral relations with forebears and homelands as well as a relationship with Māori, the Indigenous
Irish feminist cultural geographer Catherine Nash has written extensively on changing notions of Irishness, Irish identity, and the significance of ancestral relations, place, memory, and belonging for ethnic, national, and diasporic identities. Her invigorating research arises from her own explorations of “who belongs in a place and on what basis, . . . . and to whom places belong, both imaginatively and within the formal politics of statehood and citizenship” (Nash 2008, p. ix)
Doing kinship involves a process of selecting significant relationships and steering away from others for various reasons
Summary
My great-grandmother Catherine was one of five sisters who joined the Irish diaspora. The expansion of British imperialism to Aotearoa-New Zealand introduced colonial structures, systems, laws, processes, and practices that systematically and systemically contrived to dislocate and dispossess Māori (the Indigenous Peoples of Aotearoa) from/of their lands and other taonga (ancestral treasures). It sought to usurp Māori sovereignty and political status, undermining their human rights to maintain their ways of living and determine their futures.. I explore and respond to some of the complexities of knowing myself as a third generation Irish-Pākehā settler of Aotearoa-New Zealand with deep connections to Ireland, my ancestral place of origin. I reflect on the affinities and ambivalences in such identity practices in the context of Aotearoa-New Zealand and how these and other elements continue to inspirit my experience of and openness to Indigenous–settler relations
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