GLOBAL STRUCTURES OF COMMON DIFFERENCE, CULTURAL OBJECTIFICATION, AND THEIR SUBVERSIONS: CULTURAL POLITICS IN AN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL

Abstract

This article adds to Richard Wilk's work on the emergence of “global structures of common difference,” that organize diversity through objectification of culture. Using cases from an Aotearoa/New Zealand school in 1997–1998, this article reveals a limit to the hegemony of global structures of common difference in daily life. By focusing on the indigenous Māori culture and newly arrived Asian's culture, this article shows (1) how variously positioned individuals did not necessarily subscribe to global structures of common difference—defying, evading, critiquing, ignoring, and circumventing them—and (2) to what degrees people objectified cultural differences and with what effects when global structures of common difference shaped cultural differences.

Key Words:

• cultural objectification
• globalization
• schooling
• Aotearoa/New Zealand

This article derives from my Ph. D. dissertation. I thank the members of my dissertation committee, John Borneman, Benedict Anderson, and Jane Fajans; the people who supported my fieldwork, especially Rex Kerr, Mel Cooper, Akuhata Akuhata, Alastair Murchie, Hine Wilson, Pania Te Maro, and Jackie Holland; researchers in Aotearoa/New Zealand, especially Jill Bevan-Brown, Michael Goldsmith, and Paul Spoonley; the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad program and Cornell University's Sage Fellowship, which funded my fieldwork and write-up of the dissertation, respectively; Hervé Varenne and Michelle Bigenho, who commented on earlier drafts; the editors and anonymous reviewers of Identities for their comments; and Christopher Doerr for proofreading the drafts. The text's deficiencies are wholly my responsibility.

Notes

Statistics New Zealand and Space-Time Research 1997. Census 96 [computer file]: with Supermap 3 and for GIS and Mapping Ver. 1.0, Windows 3 or Macintosh MacPlus, Wellington, NZ.