“One of my goals is to get into a position where I can work for Ngāti Pikiao, as someone who helps our people to come home . . . to help them discover this whole other way of life.” — Te Atamairangi Emery-Hughes.
“My story is one of absence, loss, and sometimes sadness. Still, I refuse to let it be a story of despair.” — Aroha Gilling.
“I've always felt that, within the Māori world, there were never absolutes. I mean, yes, most people were heterosexual. But, in my community, there were also extraordinary, visionary, talented, astonishing human beings who defied convention.” — Ngahuia Te Awekotuku.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked the question: ‘What percentage Māori are you?’ For most of my life, I’ve answered with what I thought was an honest and correct explanation: ‘About a quarter, I think.’” — Tarryn Ryan.
“After two centuries and more of living together on the same islands, you’d think Māori and Pākehā would have got to know each other.” — John Bluck in his book ‘Becoming Pākehā’.
“What I ended up learning about Matariki and the maramataka has changed my life.” — Olive Karena-Lockyer, planetarium presenter and educator at Stardome Observatory.
“I carry my name with pride. It’s a very public signifier of the reclamation of my whakapapa, and mine is the first Māori name in our direct line in 186 years.” — Atakohu Middleton.
"I can’t stand it any longer. I send away for a DNA test. It arrives in a little white packet, and I’m excited. I tell my husband that I’m sure I have Māori in me." — Aimee Milne.
“As ‘Mozzies’, our Māori identity is fluid and multi-faceted. We are Indigenous, we are Pacific peoples, we are largely urbanised living in a colonial world. There are many nuances to our identity.” — Ngāwaiata Henderson.
“That bridge tragedy in 1947 severed my links to my taha Māori. And only now, in my early 40s, am I reclaiming what was lost.” — Cornell Tukiri.
“It’s only in recent years that I’ve even plucked up the courage to claim my identity, to proudly say: Yes, I am Māori.” — Siena Yates.
"We don’t just want to see our life experiences. We want change so we can fully experience our lives." — Cole Meyers, writer and producer of 'Rūrangi'.
“It’s funny to think that it took moving across the moana and immersing myself in another Pacific culture to gain an appreciation of my own.” — Terina Kaire.
"The issue of language and identity haunts all Sāmoans who were raised in New Zealand. I know this because of the recurring conversation on social media around whether you can call yourself a 'real' Sāmoan if you don’t speak the language." — Patrick Thomsen.
“Except for church, our Sāmoan-ness never made it out the front door of our house.”
“I can’t think of a time I’ve been in such a mixed group. There is a vibe of considerateness, gentleness. People are careful with the kids, and with each other. If you make eye contact, people say 'Kia ora', even if you don’t say it first.”
"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."
The good news is that the country seems to be in a process of recovery — and for Pākehā, discovery — of the Māori conceptual world.
I grew up in a predominantly Pākehā town in the South Island. My mother is Pākehā. My father, who...
Tūhoe leader Tāmati Kruger delivered this year’s annual Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture at the...
This chapter by Evelyn Marsters, “Shifting Borders”, is extracted from Fair Borders? Migration Policy in the Twenty-First Century, published by Bridget Williams Books.
I sat on the freshly concreted wall to my father’s grave, with tears steaming off my face. It was...
'I looked like I was just another Pālagi — whereas actually, I felt like I was a Samoan from South Auckland.'
No one can hurt you more than you can hurt yourself.
There’s a saying, a whakataukī, that reminds us that the kūmara doesn’t speak of its own...
Laura Toailoa was born in Samoa, grew up in South Auckland, and is now living in Wellington, where...
Before I started learning Māori, the only time I ever came into contact with the language was on...
As some of you will know, I recently had my DNA tested. Well, I got my results back, and I had a...
My family has no real secrets – that I know of, anyway. Mum and Dad are both my birth-parents. I...
I live in an increasingly Polynesian country. It is part of who I am, and I think a big part of...
I was rehearsing a speech in Māori the other day when my 10-year-old son interrupted me to ask if,...
Biculturalism is deeply embedded in the Kiwi psyche, writes Nadine Millar, but many of us don’t...
I worked in a call centre when I was 21 and sat on the side of the office that was almost...
An Irish-Maori Kiwi writer, Piripi Whaanga, has come across an Irish-American with a puzzling, and...
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