This research is concerned with ethnic identity and focuses on the experiences of my tribe, the Ngai Tahu of the South Island of New Zealand, as a case study. Material drawn from interviews with eight Ngai Tahu respondents are used to illustrate the factors influencing Ngai Tahu identity, which include whakapapa, land, language, tikanga, mahinga kai, the Claim, our legal identity, and the perceptions of significant others. These factors are discussed within the context of the wider Maori identity and the New Zealand environment.
The interviews also provide an insight into the personal nature of Ngai Tahu cultural identity and the experiences of the respondents in terms of inclusion and exclusion from the general Maori identity.
A theoretical base on the issues of cultural identity development is gained from the literature and used as a framework for discussing Ngai Tahu identity development. This research investigates the development of pan-Maori identity and how it has manifested itself within New Zealand society. The cultural criteria used to measure and assess membership in the Maori ethnic collective are often inadequate and inappropriate for Ngai Tahu and within the Ngai Tahu context.
This research illustrates how the environment and the choices it offers to people of Ngai Tahu identity both in the past and the present. I will argue that Ngai Tahu identity is largely a product of its circumstance. Although primordialist notions such as whakapapa are consistently present in that identity, the weight that they carry is largely determined by the political and cultural environment and context.
The project concludes with an assessment of the level of appreciation given to differences that exist within different sections of Maoridom and the need to understand the validity and legitimacy of those differences if a positive sense of cultural identity is to be achieved.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217620 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | O'Regan, Hana Merenea, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Te Tumu - School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Hana Merenea O'Regan |
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