Having worked in various health-related domains for a number of years, I regularly use Māori greetings and favour the word "whānau" not only as an attempt to incorporate te reo Māori into my vocabulary, but also because it has a broader meaning than the English definition of "family".
My knowledge of te reo Māori is limited. I may never learn enough to converse in te reo, but I do make an effort to understand and use Māori terms where appropriate.
Recently I have been reading academic literature on cultural identity and indigenous psychology. A recurring theme has been reference to people not wanting to be called Pākehā. Framed in a less than kind way to demonstrate ignorance and racism on behalf of said Pākehā person.
Aotearoa New Zealand has a history of outrage over the word Pākehā. I remember growing up in Auckland in the 1980s encased in the urban myth that the word translates to "white pig". It is no wonder that so many folk of my generation and older resent being referred to as Pākehā.
I too am one of those people. But for different reasons. From what I understand, Pākehā is now used as an umbrella term to refer to anyone who is non-Māori. I certainly fit into that category. However, as a non-Māori, I simply do not relate to the word Pākehā. It has no meaning to me and therefore it does not define who I am. What does "non-Māori" even mean? If you ask someone you meet "where were you born?" you don't expect them to simply say "not in Aotearoa New Zealand", you would hope that they give you something more meaningful. I was born in Hungary. Both my parents were born in Hungary and so too were their parents and grandparents. Yes, I have a German surname so at some point my father descended from German ancestry. But I am 100% Hungarian (Magyar to be precise). To simply refer to me as a "non-Māori" feels disrespectful towards my cultural heritage. Just the same as labelling me as "European." Yes, I am European, but not all Europeans are the same. (Just as no two Iwis are the same.) The words that we use really do matter. Sometimes more than we consciously realise. On a similar but separate note. . . why do some people (e.g. Chinese and Korean) feel the need to change their name to make things easier on English speaking folk? When I arrived here as a political refugee back in the early 1980s, I was told I had to change the pronunciation of my name as it was "too difficult" for Kiwis. So I did. I have accepted this. But now that I am older, I do feel a level of sadness over losing a part of me. We live in a different world now. Ours is a richly multi-cultural society. Just as we respect Māori people's right to cultural autonomy, we must also respect other people's right to cultural autonomy. (I shall resist the urge to rant about the need to recognise the broader meaning of the term "culture".).
When I shared these views with my peers (being other postgrad students), I was praised for my courage in sharing my (unpopular) views. Because, you know, we are being taught about cultural competency for psychologists in Aotearoa New Zealand. With a strong emphasis on meeting our obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. (I am going to resist the urge here to comment on the New Zealand Psychologists Board's use of "The Treaty of Waitangi". That's a critique worthy of a blog post of its own. And then some.) So to make a public statement that I cannot identify with a Māori language label to describe my culture may seem like academic suicide. But this is the beauty of being informed by a critical psychology lens. I get to play the devil's advocate and challenge mainstream psychology's power.
One fellow student (who spoke of their own existential crisis as a Māori woman who doesn't feel Māori "enough") asked me what I would like to be referred to as instead of Pākehā; and if there was a Hungarian word I would prefer people to use. Sigh. Firstly, I specifically stated that I am Hungarian and even shared the Hungarian word for Hungarian, being "Magyar". Secondly, she completely missed my point. My issue isn't with using a Māori word - after all, Māori is one of the three official languages of Aotearoa New Zealand. My issue is that Pākehā isn't specific enough to describe my cultural heritage. It simply identifies me as being non-Māori; and completely dismisses my own cultural heritage of having any significance. I find this to be disrespectful. Even if we take the word Pākehā to mean "European", not all Europeans are cut from the same mold. And anyone who has even the slightest knowledge of European history would understand that many Europeans (particularly Hungarians) are fiercely patriotic and would be insulted if their cultural identity was likened to that of one of their neighbouring countries.
I would be more than happy to refer to myself using a Māori word for Hungarian - if one existed. I am still waiting for a knowledgeable Māori person to tell me what that word is.
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