‘Vea, you made me cry’
“There was a really beautiful thing that happened during the filming. We had a change of heart which changed our head.” — Vea Mafile’o on learning to understand her father through the making of ‘For My Father’s Kingdom’.
Kōrero
Comment & Analysis
Beyond the Dusky Maiden
“Even in the most liberal of spaces, such as universities that publicly commit to being a space that welcomes and celebrates Pasifika, we see a pattern of racism and sexism.”
Caren Rangi: Leading and dancing
“Being able to express myself as a Cook Islander through dancing and singing and teaching is still important for me.” — Caren Rangi.
Kura Forrester: Rudely funny
“Everybody knows what it's like to be on a first date. Or have rude thoughts. And, as long as you're being honest, it can be funny.” — Kura Forrester, Billy T award winner.
Oscar Kightley: I never want to embarrass my mum
“I always loved that little kids could watch bro'Town and not feel so stink about being poor.” — Oscar Kightley
Kerensa Johnston: Holding out for justice
“Look, if you do a deal with us, you can call us in 200 years' time and we'll still be here. Someone will pick up the telephone.”
Comment & Analysis
It happened here — a snapshot of hate crime in New Zealand
Nine years of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand, based on news media reports between 2004 and 2012.
The whakapapa of our literature
“Instead of placing Māori and Pacific literatures as late arrivals to English literature, we instead recognise a whakapapa of Māori literature that goes all the way back to Te Moana nui a Kiwa.”
A good death
“Those who cannot truly and freely choose should be protected by the state, not exposed to greater risk of death.”
Now there’s hope
"Let’s be honest. Both sides of politics abandoned the provinces last century. The Provincial Growth Fund is the first injection of capital in a long time."
Reflections
The singing island
“There is no airstrip. To get to Takū, you book a passage on the supply ship — if it's sailing. Last year, not a single ship visit was made. Cut off from outside supplies, the islanders relied entirely on their traditional food sources: fish, coconut and occasional taro."
I’m good at languages — so why can’t I speak Sāmoan?
“Many of us have lost our languages through no fault of our own. Let’s remove the shame from reclaiming our languages.”
Merata — a son’s tribute
“My hunger for the past came out of a need to process my own grief, rather than a desire to study the history.” — Hepi Mita, on making a film about his mum, Merata.
A river calls my name
“Of first importance, the river. Of second importance, the river.”— Kennedy Warne on the Whanganui River.
Identity
I’ve tried to learn Tongan, and I’ve tried to be Tongan
"Being an outsider because of my personality quirks was an identity I could embrace. Better than being defined purely by my lack of culture and language. Give me Crazy Pālangi over plain Pālangi any day."
My mother is Pākehā — and I love her
When I hear a child saying she hates Pākehā, it doesn’t sit right with me. It’s the same when I hear people referring to the “bloody Pākehās”.
Old certainties, old prejudices, old fears are losing their grip
The good news is that the country seems to be in a process of recovery — and for Pākehā, discovery — of the Māori conceptual world.
Why I didn’t sit with the other Māori girls at school
I grew up in a predominantly Pākehā town in the South Island. My mother is Pākehā. My father, who...
Reo
Rawiri Wright: It’s cool to be Māori
“I believe absolutely that the Kura Kaupapa Māori Aho Matua is the way forward for us to revitalise and regenerate ourselves as Māori.”
Māori media revamp: Where’s the focus on quality journalism?
Being a good reo speaker doesn’t necessarily qualify you as a good reporter.
Cathy Dewes: We have a right to be Māori in our own land
"Our goal is that all Māori children should have access to their language and be able to live as Māori in Aotearoa."
Media
Indira Stewart: When one of us wins, all of us win
“When I think about the shortage of Pasifika journalists, I'm a bit surprised there aren't more of us, because we're powerful storytellers and we always have been.”—Indira Stewart, host of RNZ's new morning news show First Up.
This is not the time for white voices
“Everyone has their say in a democracy. But mostly the people who have their say in public life in New Zealand are white.”—Steve Braunias
Conversations: Lifting our voices
Our stories create the lens through which we see ourselves and our neighbours and the world around us.
Conversations: It’s about serving our communities
“Our women look at people as if everyone is important and everyone belongs to one of the communities they serve.”
Arts
Whiti Hereaka: My advice? Let yourself write terribly
“It's okay to be a bad writer in your first draft because a lot of the craft of writing is in the rewriting.”
Robyn Bargh: Building the wall of tino rangatiratanga
“I always used to think that the work we were doing was adding another brick to the wall — the wall of rangatiratanga.”—Robyn Bargh, founder of Huia Publishers.
Madeleine Sami: No holding her back
"I was so lucky to grow up with my 23 cousins. We all liked to joke around. I was used to banter and coming back with one-liners. And being a smartarse."
Rose Matafeo, Edinburgh, and the Pacific arts pantheon
Comedian James Nokise, an Edinburgh Fringe festival veteran of seven years, on why Rose Matafeo winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award last week is a very big deal.
History
Equality on the battlefield — but not at home
Despite their war service during the First World War, Māori soldiers returning home found that little had changed in post-war New Zealand.
Māori in the First World War
When the First World War broke out in 1914, the wars of the 1860s, the subsequent land confiscations, and the invasion of Parihaka in 1881 were still fresh in the memories of many Māori.
Decolonising the Pacific
"Colonialism had done little to develop or educate those people it ruled, so for many Pacific — especially Polynesian — people, leaving their homelands was often seen as one of the few routes to economic and social advancement.”
New Zealand Wars, Land Wars, or Māori Wars — why does the name matter?
What should we call the series of conflicts that raged between the Crown and groups of Māori from 1845 to 1872?
RADIO WAATEA
E-Tangata and Radio Waatea are longtime friends, and support each other's kaupapa.
