Erica Hoskin: Embracing cultures opens doors to other worlds

A kaumatua and local councillor enjoy a conversation in a sunny moment at Owae Marae. Photo / Rob Tucker, File

OPINION

Why are people acting like a multicultural New Zealand is a new and radical idea?

New Zealand’s legal system is already bijural, with many pieces of legislation including te reo Māori and thereby imparting Māori-based law; New Zealand is also moving towards a bilingual and bicultural/multicultural education system.

Culture is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the “customs and beliefs, art, way of life, and social organisation of a particular country or group”.

Historically, the term “culture” would have only been used to describe specific ethnic groups but society has become increasingly multicultural, due to global citizenship driven by the internet and increased mobility.

Being born and raised in Taranaki, I was surrounded by te reo and comfortable with te ao Māori. While identifying as NZ European, I felt a connection to Taranaki maunga, as well as to the soil, the rivers, and the beaches. Moving to Wellington, I felt judged for speaking te reo, and for participating in kapa haka; the more disconnected I became from tikanga Māori, the more distant my sense of home.

For example, it has been my dream for years to do a karanga but I was discouraged because of what my heritage represented for Māori history. Recently I finally had the opportunity to perform a karanga and old joyful memories flooded back of visiting Owae Marae in Taranaki. I felt like my old self.

I understand that underpinning my heritage is a history of colonisation and pain but, despite this, it is the waiata of the tangata whenua that makes my heart sing.

With the impending changes to the school curriculum to encourage the learning of te reo, more tamariki will have the opportunity to experience a childhood immersed in tikanga Māori like mine. However, for revitalisation to occur, the language has to be incorporated into society as well as the societal immersion of te ao Māori.

Dr Hana O’Regan, a Māori language advocate and academic who is Ngāi Tahu, spoke at the Ireland Embassy Summer School in Wellington in July 2022 about language revitalisation. O’Regan believes that to revitalise a language, it needs to be naturalised - an understanding and immersion of its cultural origins is necessary.

Dr Hana O'Regan. Photo / Supplied, File

New Zealand should be a world-leader in languages, cultures, races and identities co-existing and respecting each other in a New Zealand-specific identity.

If we were committed to addressing the crimes and harm done to the indigenous culture we would already be there. What has been taken and what has been lost needs to be addressed and meaningfully responded to. We should have already cultivated a symbiotic relationship where te ao Māori imparts knowledge and while Pākehā privilege benefits all.

By treating tikanga Māori as a separate culture, we are not showing the respect due as the culture of the land.

Taking it a step further, we are not respecting the diversity of our history by separating other cultures in New Zealand. As of the 2018 Census, the ethnic composition of New Zealand is 70.2 per cent European, 16.5 per cent Māori, 8.1 per cent Pasifika, 15.1 per cent Asian, 1.5 per cent MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American, African) and 1.2 per cent identifying as another.

With this melting pot, should we really be defining each separately rather than identifying them as the shared culture of New Zealand?

I believe we should encourage the founding of and participation in more cultural performance groups in schools, and the further incorporation of tikanga Māori in law and societal structure.

We should be fighting the us-versus-them narrative. By separating cultures, we are enforcing in-group and out-group division rather than including everyone who lives in New Zealand.

Erica Hoskin. Photo / Supplied

I agree that precautions need to be taken to protect the authenticity and autonomy of culture. However, the merging of cultural lines is already occurring as the world becomes more multicultural; by acknowledging this we allow for precautions to be taken.

We can take this opportunity to learn how to create an all-inclusive New Zealand culture to celebrate our differences, safeguard minority cultures and look for ways to further reduce ethnic bias, by fighting exclusionary practices and belief systems, further listening to minority voices, as well as admitting the governments’ mistakes and holding entities like the police force more accountable.

We should also make New Zealand a more liveable ecosystem rather than encouraging the constant emigration of people out of our country resulting in a decrease in our national identity.

We, as individuals, can learn how to celebrate our multicultural heritage without making concessions to our identity and taking away the voices of others. Culture is a way of seeing the world and, through language, it can give us freedom of expression like no other.

Culture is what makes us human; it’s not emotions or empathy, it’s not communication or intelligence, but culture.

Erica Hoskin is a Year 13 student at Scots College in Wellington.