David Hill: Maori have much in common with Native Americans

COMMENT

The year's loudest sneers so far are probably those that came after some Maori received Government money to travel overseas to study hip-hop music.

(Question 1: Would there have been any sneering if they had received money to travel to study Bach? Yet hip-hop means far more to Maori and Pacific Island youth than classical composers.)

It seems that when Maori look for overseas exemplars, they usually turn to Afro-American life and culture. And, indeed, there are many similarities of past and present problems.

But a couple of months in the United States make me wonder if Maori have more in common with Native Americans.

(Question 2: Why don't children these days play cowboys and Native Americans? Don't bother to tell me.)

Both groups arrived by migration long ago, spread through their new country, built mythologies and lifestyles and defended or expanded territory through internecine warfare.

Both then faced a huge European influx, fought defiantly, suffered disease, displacement and near-extinction, then gradually re-established cultural, economic and political significance - and a new set of problems.

Native Americans have endured bigotry as bad as any you'll hear from our own talkback throwbacks. John Wayne declared it was great that whites conquered the West, and that "Indians were selfish" for trying to hold on to their land.

Like Maori, they are still stereotyped. "Watch for the satellite dishes and trailer homes," carolled our coach driver in Wyoming.

Are there aspects of the Native American situation that New Zealand could consider - or avoid? And let me say instantly that I'm aware of the arrogance in such a question.

I certainly wouldn't like to see any equivalent to the establishment of casinos on tribal land. Importing another culture's crassness does not seem much of an idea.

Nor would I like to see control of mineral rights pass out of Government hands the way it has on some reservations in the US.

The ownership, use and symbolism of land is central to indigenous cultures in both countries. The US has finally returned land with virtually no conditions. Often it's in areas which aren't attractive to developers - the Painted Desert, the Rockies. But it now belongs to the Apache/Crow/Comanche nations. Is this the way ahead for New Zealand?

Like the Maori, Native Americans are actively reviving their languages, especially the names of people and places they had been urged to abandon.

(Question 3: Why are some Pakeha able to pronounce tangata whenua or Aotearoa only with a sneer? What are they afraid of?)

North American tribes are consciously pursuing academic excellence in mainstream institutions. Several times we read how John Dark Pine or Shannon White Flower had graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, or New York State and planned careers to help their people.

One major growth area for Native Americans has been in arts and crafts, from jewellery and weaving to theatre and video. Like the renaissance in Maori art and literature, these old forms and new forms affirm identity and purpose.

They're making, not taking. And we did enjoy the roadside craft-stall sign: "Friendly Injuns here. We Take-um Visa."

Gangs seem less of a problem among Native Americans. Maybe they are just not so visible because there is a growing return to traditional, often rural areas.

But liquor is a blight. Picture the saddest excesses of drinking among Australian Aborigines and that's the situation among some North American tribes. Nearly all reservations ban liquor. Nearly all the bans are defied. Fingers crossed that the same epidemic doesn't affect New Zealand.

Of course there are huge differences between the situations of Maori and Native Americans. The latter are emphatically diverse: they think of themselves as Choctaw, Iroquois, Sioux, rather than one indigenous people. Yet isn't that one of the problems facing our new Maori Party?

Differences, but also intriguing similarities. Enough for me to feel that I wouldn't mind at all if any Maori got funding to travel to study the North Dakota buffalo dance.

* Tapu Misa returns next Wednesday.