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Introduction
Reeling in the aftermath of the world's first live-streamed mass murder of Muslims in Christchurch in March 2019, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave utterance to the grief-stricken shock of New Zealanders everywhere with the unifying mantra “We Are One” (Westbrook, 2019). Ironically, the phrase echoes the speech given in 1840 by New Zealand's first Governor, William Hobson, who announced to the assembled Maori chiefs “He Iwi tahi tatou” as they signed the infamous Treaty of Waitangi (Simpson, 1990). From thenceforth, “we are one people”.
But how do you build a nation of “one people” based on the confiscation of land and marginalisation of its indigenous population? If, as in New Zealand, you create a “social contract” based on equality where some are more equal than others, then what are the long-term consequences? Modern New Zealand prides itself on its justice and inclusivity. Indeed, Jacinda Ardern proudly wore a “kahu huruhuru” or Maori ceremonial cloak to meet Queen Elizabeth in 2018 as a symbol of her leadership of Maori and Pakeha alike (Roy, 2018). And yet, the process of nation-building, sponsored throughout the 20th century by the New Zealand state, has privileged the narrative of the white Pakeha male, the war hero, the valiant farmer, the “tough” rugby player, over every other narrative. This central motif of the white “man alone” has become the cornerstone of national self-imagining (Jensen, 1996, p. 60), excluding the stories of women, Maori and Asian New Zealanders.
The development of this exclusionary narrative can be empirically analysed using a cultural materialist and postcolonial framework based on the work of James Belich, Raymond Williams and Michel Foucault. Such a framework can be utilised to show that as New Zealand struggled into existence as a self-governing, independent nation, the development of its identity fell into three distinct phases of crew, core and counterdiscourse interlocking cultures. This identity marginalised Maori, Asian and female New Zealanders due to a government-funded initiative, which lauded 20th century masculine endeavour as the new nation's one legitimate narrative.
Despite attempts by feminists and the Maori to rebalance constructions of “New Zealanders”, the impact of this nation-building project has had far-reaching consequences. As the mosque shootings demonstrate that New Zealand's “social contract” of peace, equality and prosperity...