‘Māori History can be a Freeing Shaper’: Embracing Māori Histories to Construct a ‘Good’ Pākehā Identity

Abstract

Recent upheaval in racism debates across western countries is exemplified in New Zealand in the decision to compulsorily teach Māori histories in schools. Until recently this history has been largely marginalised and ignored by settlers/Pākehā who maintained a belief in histories which served to legitimise the Pākehā position of power. Earlier analyses have identified how the media has maintained normative Pākehā dominance and power through a consistent dissemination of a limited set of racist discourses. Our thematic and discursive analysis explores how media that embrace Māori histories (9 media items published 1 April 2019 to 30 September 2019) work to provide discursive resources for Pākehā in navigating the current debates. A process of hard work followed by transformation into an enlightened future was identified as a pathway for Pākehā to navigate the current upheaval and construct a ‘good’ Pākehā identity. The construction of a racist Pākehā outgroup works as a comparison to emphasise the ‘good’ Pākehā as ideal, and to assign blame for past and present racism. Our analysis demonstrates that despite overtly positive coverage, media accounts can still work to maintain Pākehā centrality and side-line or render invisible structural racism and Pākehā privilege. Keywords: te Tiriti o Waitangi; colonialism; media studies; discourse analysis; New Zealand history

Being 'Good' in the Classroom: Whiteness and Moral Liminality in the 2023 Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum

“…To recognise difficult emotions emanating from the settler-colonial crypt in the classroom, it was important for me to understand how to recognise emotion and also have an understanding of how Pākehā discomfort has previously been discussed. Beatty (2019) and Hotere- Barne's (2015) interpretation of Tolich's (2002) Pederson, McCreanor, and Braun (2022), Applebaum (2010), and Sullivan (2014) discuss the White preoccupation with avoiding being 'wrong' and focusing on finding ways to be 'good' to reclaim white innocence. Wekker (2016) describes White innocence as the idea that whiteness is superior because it is 'purer' and more noble than everything else, combined with ignorance of violence done in its name.…”