Divergent paths, the pursuit of cultural recognition in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Stimulated by a recent government ban on kosher slaughter (shechita), and a whale stranding involving Ngāti Toa near Wellington, the author compares the quests of Indigenous and minority groups for cultural rights in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Observing Māori and Jews navigating in the contexts of the Treaty of Waitangi and human rights legislation, this paper provides concrete ethnographic examples that highlight how such claims articulate with the political and legal contexts in this Antipodean nation.

KEYWORDS:

• Race
• nationalism
• ethnography
• migration
• ethnicity
• research methods
• identity
• racial studies
• history of race relations
• local level politics

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the anonymous referees of a previous version of this paper for their helpful comments and criticisms.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The Waitangi Tribunal found recently that the chiefs did not cede sovereignty to the Crown. The Minister of Treaty Affairs retorted that ‘There is no debate as at today who holds sovereignty over New Zealand’ and Maori commentators deplored his comment. (http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/finlayson-dismisses-findings-waitangi-tribunal-report)

2. Legal scholar, Moana Jackson heads a parallel Māori process ‘matika mai’.

3. ‘Ko te Kuini o Ingarani ka wakarite ka wakaae ki nga Rangitira ki nga hapu - ki nga tangata katoa o Nu Tirani te tino rangatiratanga o o ratou wenua o ratou kainga me o ratou taonga katoa’.

4. Sections 17F, K and M; 26ZY, ZZ and 48B.

5. http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1999/0142/latest/DLM49664.html

6. There is in fact some doubt about this. The Becket Fund (2010) noted that Jews are required to eat meat on the Sabbath and certain holidays. However, some noted rabbis have been vegetarians (Schwartz 2014).

7. The ban provides an interesting contrast with the situation in Europe where animal welfare considerations are cited to restrict the halal practices of their Muslim populations (Havinga 2010).

8. ‘The Panel heard that the current arrangements do not always fully reflect these different ways to belong and their different histories. Some positions formed around concepts and practices of biculturalism and multiculturalism to protect cultural and political identities from being subsumed’ (Constitutional Advisory Panel 2014, 12).