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2007 Humanities Award Winning Entry The New New Zealander – Life in the 21st CenturyPhoebe HarropShe has got blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes. And she’s wearing a moko on her chin. “I can imagine a whole group of people turning in their graves at the thought of this”, she says. It’s the blatant display of biculturalism that has people stopping and staring as she strolls through Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. Rachel Helms, singer extraordinaire and student representative of Victoria University is of mixed descent: “Scottish and Irish and maybe English… definitely not Maori!” In a hundred years, what will historians say about my generation? That we destroyed the environment, exhausted the fossil fuels and overpopulated the world? That could really apply to any developed country today. But how will New Zealand be remembered as a nation: one culture in 1800, two cultures in 1900… but what about the year 2000? Or the year 2100? How will culture in the 21st century influence the future of New Zealand? In fact, how can we even decide how to classify New Zealand’s cultural makeup? Sure, the census might ask for the cultural group that we identify with – but I for one don’t consider myself a “European New Zealander”, which was the only box I could legitimately tick. I’m a New Zealander. A Kiwi. European doesn’t come into it. My generation appreciates cultural diversity. But appreciating and celebrating cultural diversity doesn’t mean singling out cultural groups as making up New Zealand. Why should a Maori person be classed differently to a European New Zealander when we have both been Kiwis for multiple generations? It is important to recognise ancestry – but if I want to be known simply as a New Zealander, I believe that is my right. And there is a whole generation who share this opinion. Walking through WOMAD 2007 Festival with the recently-mokoed Rachel, I came to question what it is to be a New Zealander. One hundred, even fifty years ago there were clearly defined cultural groups in our society – works like Bruce Mason’s “Pohutukawa Tree” are a testament to this cultural rift. But today we see a growing culture – not European or Maori, but a new integrated group of “New Zealanders”. A group who take their origins from all over the place: Europe, Asia, the Pacific, even Africa and the Americas. I like to think of New Zealanders as making up one giant patchwork: each section of material is a different ancestry that maintains its pattern, but is stitched to other cultures with the thread of shared “kiwi” influences. The result? A marvelous, intricate, diverse and simply beautiful quilt. After all, it’s no secret that New Zealand is one big melting pot of cultures. The 2006 census brought into focus the fast-rising number of Asian citizens in New Zealand, who now make up a reported 9.2% of New Zealand’s population. And some people are getting worried. Since the release of the statistics from last year’s census, there has been call for tighter immigration policies to slow the influx of overseas migrants. Winston Peters, former deputy Prime Minister is particularly critical of the government’s “stupid population policies” and said that a continuation of “artificial population change” would create considerable social and cultural disruption. But would it? In a country that is so diverse, why should cultural difference, and indeed cultural composition, really matter? Why not go one step further? Let’s say that bicultural New Zealand is a thing of the past. And good riddance to it - as a result of this increasingly multifarious nation we have an intensely unique “flava” that is entirely New Zealand: in our fashion, literature, music and arts. It is from these interactions, too, that spring the forerunners of business, sport and science in our country. Every time we watch the All Blacks on TV we see this – Fijian, Samoan, Maori and “European” players representing our nation together. In fact, our recent national rugby captain is of Thai and Samoan descent – but we claim him fiercely as a New Zealander, and he had more mana than anyone else on the field. Where would we be without the diverse influences on our “New Zealandism”? As a country we share kiwi culture, and share the differences of our own ancestry. Maori may be the indigenous culture in New Zealand, and Europeans like to think they have the next claim, but really we are just one nation. New Zealand. Not divided by culture, race, or skin colour. And that’s the way it should be. Our cultural patchwork shouldn’t be picked apart. As one of the new generation of New Zealander, I can only see unity through diversity as being incredibly valuable: too often countries are torn by religious and cultural clashes. We have a nation bound by diversity and by shared influences that is continuing to develop its unique culture. With this as our future, the world will be our stage. So, I propose that official documents such as the Census should include a new cultural identity: New Zealander. If people wish to continue ticking Maori, or European New Zealander, that’s fine. New Zealanders want the opportunity to be united officially, and I for one would definitely be shifting my “identity” to “New Zealander.” There is one shortcoming in this stunning quilt. New Zealand has a serious problem. It’s not global warming, overzealous parents smacking their children or even cross-dressing lawyers. It’s in the stitching - one of the components that connects all cultures as “New Zealanders” is language. English is a unifier, but also an excluder. As New Zealand is in the “English club” we have become shortsighted and complacent, accepting English as the only language we need, and the language that everybody else should learn. It’s an international language, used by America - the world’s economic superpower – and spoken all over the world. But it is this ease of English that has left New Zealand behind in the multilingualism revolution Particularly in Europe, many people are multilingual. It is compulsory in many European schools to study the mother tongue of the country in which the students’ live; English; and one other language of the students’ choice. This multilingualism is invaluable – and something New Zealanders are lacking. Multilingualism is recognised as vital by other countries, yet New Zealand is being left behind as a largely unilingual nation. As international interaction increases, so too does the importance of language. In times of International conflict, understanding through language of another culture can bring perspective, peace and understanding: we fear what we do not know. The weight of language cannot be underestimated, as the importance of international co-operation and toleration becomes more and more important. Literacy in New Zealand has always been a focus of the education system, and NCEA is helping our students come out of secondary school with a proficiency in English. Furthermore there is a comprehensive scheme in place to ensure that all adults, including immigrants, have the chance to become literate. We are successfully cultivating an almost entirely English literate nation – but is that enough? I have noticed that students of today have little motivation to pick up a second language at school. The standard schoolboy-French-and-Latin education of yesteryear is being lost and schools are not doing much to correct this trend. As student numbers dwindle and classes are no longer viable in a large number of schools, learning through the Correspondence School of New Zealand is the only option available to many. Combine this with a lack of new language teachers and New Zealand has a very serious problem on its hands. Globalisation has a huge part to play in the demise of international language learning. Students don’t see the point of studying another language, when English is so widely spoken overseas. The classic “OE” that so many New Zealanders have set out on in the past in is no longer such a foreign experience, as so many people internationally speak English. Simply, New Zealanders have become lazy, accepting English as the only language they need: here and overseas. This attitude has serious consequences. Not only does language provide us with a medium for communication, but it also gives unique insight into culture, tradition, history, influences and personality of a country. Adele Scott, Senior Lecturer at Massey University said this: “You become a different person when you learn a second language; you build a new identity and a richer world-view. This new learning area will develop essential learning and communication skills, and has the potential to develop knowledgeable, self-confident members of society.” It is this that unilingual New Zealanders are missing out on. New Zealand is accepting its multiculturalism, now it must start working on the multilingualism. As a nation we’ve always been good all-rounders who punch above our weight. Can we account this to multiculturalism? Almost certainly. Such a wide-ranging ancestral spectrum has given colour to our quilt and to our national personality. Being a New Zealander in the 21st century is a complex thing. You can look at any class in a New Zealand school and have trouble determining where each student’s parents, grandparents or great-grandparents emigrated from – or if they were born New Zealanders, how long ago their ancestors moved to our fair islands. That is the beauty of Aotearoa. Some hail from Hawaiiki, some from Hong Kong, but as people we share our citizenship and our pride in New Zealand. The future of our culture relies on the growing diversity of our
population. We can only hope that the New Zealanders of the future
won’t even consider culture differences, but rather simply refer to
themselves as “kiwis”, as many of us do already. New Zealand of the
22nd century will be diverse, in culture and in language. How do we want
New Zealand of the 21st century to be remembered? As the first country
that accepted and promoted multiculturalism and multilingualism. So
let’s join the revolution – Rachel has started already.
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