Content area
Full Text
Keywords: Homosexuality, language, identity, indigeneity
Ka ngaro te reo, ka ngaro taua, pera i te ngaro o te moa
If the language be lost, man will be lost, as dead as the moa --Maori proverb presented at the Waitangi Tribunal on the Te Reo M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori Claim (1986)
Introduction
In Aotearoa/New Zealand(1) the dominant language of everyday life for the majority of the country's population is English. It is also a society in which "gay" is the most commonly utilized term for "homosexual identity" in public institutions such as the government and media as well as in more informal day-to-day conversations. However, New Zealand is also home to an indigenous population known as M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori who consist of approximately 15% of the national population (Te Puni K[Symbol Not Transcribed]okiri: 2000, 13). Prior to colonization, the M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori spoke a language which is today referred to as "te Reo M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori" (the M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori language; sometimes referred to as te Reo), although in contemporary Aotearoa, it is estimated that only between 4 and 8% of the M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori population are fluent in this language. According to most reports, despite a major language revitalization movement spanning over 20 years, te Reo M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori remains in danger of disappearing or being reduced to a language of "ritual" only.
However, in M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori media and in discussions with a number of M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori individuals and groups(2) over the past five years, I have noted an increase in the use of a te Reo M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori term--takat[Symbol Not Transcribed]apui--as a way of identifying oneself as homosexual and M[Symbol Not Transcribed]aori.(3) The increasing presence of this term raises a number of questions about language in relation to sexual and other identifications: How does language figure in the negotiation of same sex desires and identities amongst an indigenous group who live as a minority in an Anglo-European colonized society? How central is language to these negotiations? Are there distinct forms of same sex talking and text-making amongst this group whose primary language is that of the colonizer and whose native language is only spoken fluently by a minority? Is language the primary boundary marker for sexual and ethnic identifications? What other socio-political...