DOCSLIB.ORG

Immigration and National Identity in 1970S New Zealand

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Immigration and National Identity in 1970S New Zealand THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY PROTECTION OF AUTHOR ’S COPYRIGHT This copy has been supplied by the Library of the University of Otago on the understanding that the following conditions will be observed: 1. To comply with s56 of the Copyright Act 1994 [NZ], this thesis copy must only be used for the purposes of research or private study. 2. The author's permission must be obtained before any material in the thesis is reproduced, unless such reproduction falls within the fair dealing guidelines of the Copyright Act 1994. Due acknowledgement must be made to the author in any citation. 3. No further copies may be made without the permission of the Librarian of the University of Otago. August 2010 Immigration and National Identity in 1970s New Zealand James Mitchell A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand July 2003 Abstract This thesis is an attempt to understand the evolution of national identity in New Zealand through an examination of New Zealanders' evolving attitudes to immigrants and immigration. It begins with the premise that through selecting whom to admit to New Zealand as immigrants and become New Zealanders, we are collectively expressing what we believe a New Zealander to be. A rapidly evolving body of international literature sparked by Benedict Anderson's 1991 work Imagined Communities, places the self and the process of identification at the heart of understandings about national and other forms of collective identity. I draw on these models of national identity to critically evaluate the 'ethno-cultural' model of the New Zealand nation adopted by writers such as Keith Sinclair and James Belich. I contend that, in trying to write national histories which stress the unique cultural elements of the nation, these writers have produced artificially homogenous and static models of New Zealand's cultural identity. My thesis proposes that a model of national identity as a state of shared consciousness attained by a defined and mutually understood group of people is inadequate. Instead, I argue that notions both of what constitutes the nation and who belongs within its boundaries are a source of constant debate and evolve over time. I examine national identity in relation to immigration on two levels: at the level of immigration policy, which determines who is formally admitted to the nation-state, and at the level of public debate over immigration which is a more popular expression of a nation's boundaries. The 1970s in New Zealand provides excellent material for examining both of these aspects of the relationship. The decade witnessed both significant changes in immigration policy and bitter public debate about immigration. Before the 1970s, New Zealand's immigration policy was based around a popular identification with Britain and the assumption that New Zealand was part of a British family of nations. Consequently, immigration policy strongly favoured white people from Great Britain. Britain's entry into the European Economic Community in 1973, however, forced New Zealanders to reevaluate the idea that New Zealand identity was part of a broader British identity category and this had implications for immigration policy and attitudes to British immigrants. At the same time, the arrival of an increasing number of Pacific Island immigrants, a group which fell without the boundaries of a culturally defined nation, contributed to debate about cultural diversity and national culture. The presence of Pacific Islanders presented a challenge to the idea of the nation should or could be defined in terms of a single unitary culture. In this way, the 1970s debate over immigration can be understood as part of a broader debate about the place of multiculturalism in New Zealand. This thesis interprets the 1970s as a pivotal time in the evolution of New Zealand identity. At the same time, by examining contestation over immigration as a manifestation of a broader uncertainty and debate about national identity, it makes a case for a broader understanding of New Zealand identity as a debate and as an evolving process. Acknowledgements I originally set out to write this work as a Master's thesis in 1997, believing that I would 'knock something together' in six months and then depart on a working holiday in France. While amused at my own naivety, I believe that the growth of my work in scope, in complexity and in length has reflected my own growth as an academic historian. Like all growth it has been at times both painful and extremely rewarding and I owe an enormous debt to my supervisors Barbara Brookes and Brian Moloughney in guiding me through the process. I have learnt more from both of you than I ever imagined. I also acknowledge the early input of Roberto Rabel and Judy Bennett in their capacity as supervisors. I would also especially like to thank my wife Roopali Johri and my parents Janet and Stuart Mitchell. Both your support and criticism have been invaluable. In facilitating access to archives I would like to thank Anthony Moss and Reinold Disse at the Immigration Division, Graeme Eskrigge, formerly of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Sherwood Young of the New Zealand Police, and to recognise the work of the late David Macdonald and his staff at the Hocken Library. You run the friendliest and most efficient historical research archive in the country. Others to whom I am indebted include those who I interviewed especially Frank Corner, Don Bond and Gavin Jackson. Thanks also to Ali Clarke and James Croot who cheerfully read my drafts, to my friends and colleagues among the postgrads at the University of Otago History Department and at Canterbury, your camaraderie helped to keep me sane. To Erik Olsen and Dot Page for your periodic advice and help, and to the many others who have contributed both professionally and personally to my project including Margaret and John Chetwin and Alan and Jeanette Scott, and Hung Lam, I offer my sincere thanks. Finally I would like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Otago for their financial support. Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou katoa. James. Table of Contents ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................................... I PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................... III PERSONAL IDENTITY AND NATIONAL IDENTITY ........................................................................................ III IMMIGRATION ............................................................................................................................................. V NATIONAL IDENTITY AND IMMIGRATION ................................................................................................... V CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: ECONOMIC AND FOREIGN POLICY FACTORS AFFECTING IMMIGRATION POLICY ........................................................................................................................ 31 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ECONOMICS AND IMMIGRATION POLICY .................................................... 31 FOREIGN POLICY AND IMMIGRATION ........................................................................................................ 38 HUMANITARIAN IMMIGRATION? ................................................................................................................ 44 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 48 CHAPTER 3: IMMIGRATION POLICY AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN NEW ZEALAND ........ 50 ASSIMILATION, CULTURAL PLURALISM AND IMMIGRATION POLICY ......................................................... 61 RESETTLEMENT POLICY ............................................................................................................................ 65 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER 4: EVOLUTION OF LEGISLATION AND POLICY ........................................................ 74 IMMIGRATION POLICY UNDER NATIONAL PRE-1972 .................................................................................. 74 IMMIGRATION UNDER LABOUR 1972-75 .................................................................................................... 86 IMMIGRATION POLICY 1975-78: THE THIRD NATIONAL GOVERNMENT‟S FIRST TERM ............................. 96 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 102 CHAPTER 5: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT A PLANE-LOAD OF POMS HAS JUST ARRIVED? PUBLIC ATTITUDES TO BRITISH IMMIGRATION ................................................. 104 SOCIOMETRICS AND THE NATION ............................................................................................................ 105 THE EEC, PATRIALITY LAWS, RETALIATION........................................................................................... 107 Main Idea ........................................................................................................................................... 110 BRITISH IMMIGRANTS AND ASSIMILABILITY ..........................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ethnicity and Views About the New Zealand Environment
    Ethnicity and views about the New Zealand environment Kenneth FD Hughey1, Geoffrey N Kerr2,, Ross Cullen3 1 Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, PO Box 85084, Lincoln University 7647, New Zealand. +64 3 3252811 [email protected] 2 Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, PO Box 85084, Lincoln University 7647, New Zealand. +64 3 3252811 [email protected] 3 Faculty of Commerce, PO Box 85084, Lincoln University 7647, New Zealand. +47 9701 5588 [email protected] Paper prepared for presentation at the EAAE 2014 Congress ‘Agri-Food and Rural Innovations for Healthier Societies’ August 26 to 29, 2014 Ljubljana, Slovenia Copyright 2014 by Hughey, Kerr, Cullen. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Abstract Limited research has been completed on the relationship between ethnicity and views within a country on the environment, pressures on the environment and its management. Some recent New Zealand research has found no significant difference in environmental world views between different ethnic groupings. We report selected results from a decade of biennial, nationwide surveys of adults in New Zealand. By socio-demographic measures, respondents are broadly representative of New Zealand adults. In each biennial survey we have found significant differences between ethnicities in views on water quality, causes of damage to water, and water management. There are also significant differences between ethnicities in participation in environmental activities. Our survey has an advantage over other work in that it is able to distinguish between indigenous New Zealanders and native-born New Zealanders, a distinction that proved helpful in identifying these significant differences.
    [Show full text]
  • New Left Journal of Analysis in Pursuit of Another World
    IRAQ AND THE MEDIA WAR GERALDENE PETERS A PhD researcher on political documentary and activist media in the Department of Film, Television and Media Studies at the University of Auckland New Left journal of analysis in pursuit of another world Red & Green: The NZ Journal of Left Alternatives 1 (1), edited by Jill Ovens. Auckland, The Red and Green Editorial Board, 2003. 160 pp. ISSN 1176 1482 porary, Bruce Jesson – not an aca- demic by choice, but undoubtedly an ED & GREEN is the latest in a intellectual — was another. As the Rjournal tradition engaging with editorial infers, within the domains of politics and culture in Aotearoa/New cultural and political analysis both Zealand. Immediately, by dint of ref- commentators have been interested to erence to an early journal article writ- explore the ‘pragmatic method of ten by Roger Horrocks, the editorial “replac[ing] overseas theories by the ‘voice’ of the introduction is conscious concrete details of local reality”’ (p of this critical genealogy. The journal 4). Informed by socialist principles, AND was a university based cultural/ R&G cannot leave history out of the literature studies journal produced in picture, and editorial choices recur- the early 1980s, and as both a univer- rently signal the journal’s place within sity professor and a cultural activist, these strands of pragmatic-theoretical Horrocks is one commentator who tradition. continues to be particularly alive to In this first issue, the poetics of the coexistence of a politics of culture Arundhati Roy’s address spoken on and political economy. His contem- the anniversary of September the 11th, PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 9 2003 197 IRAQ AND THE MEDIA WAR and the inclusion of media commen- nals is the latter’s collective editorial tary and film reviews, signals the im- board, academic/activist pitch, and the portance of the political dimension of room allowed for overseas commen- culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Making a Community: Filipinos in Wellington
    Making a Community: Filipinos in Wellington September 2017 ISBN 978-0-9941409-4-4 (PDF) Making a Community: Filipinos in Wellington About the Author As an American living in New Zealand, I’ve been observing the debate here on immigration and multiculturalism. I arrived in Wellington last year with my Kiwi husband and three-year old son – and while settling in we’ve spent a lot of time discovering the delights of the city and its people. The experience also gave me some perspective on being a migrant far from home. I have a professional interest in South East Asian history, languages and culture - I just completed a PhD on the subject. I speak some Filipino, and am fascinated by the Philippines’ complex history. One of the major phenomena in the Philippines since the 1970s has been the growth of the global Filipino diaspora. That story has often been full of sadness. So I was intrigued by anecdotes of positivity and success from Wellington. Writing about how the migrant Filipino community has settled in New Zealand has been more than just a research project. It has highlighted how migration plays a role in community building. It also has meaning for me and my family’s future here. I really wanted to share some of the stories that I think reflect successful outcomes from immigration over the past thirty years. By Dr Rebecca Townsend 1 Key Points 1. 2. 3. Filipinos comprise 1 percent of Filipinos are a vital part of Most Filipinos in New Zealand are New Zealand’s population – the New Zealand’s dairy, healthcare, not Overseas Filipino Workers third largest Asian ethnic group construction, nursing, aged care, (OFW).
    [Show full text]
  • Interim Report 2009
    TVNZ Interim Report FY2009 CONTENTS CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION........................................................3 CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S OVERVIEW........................................................4 INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTS...................................................6 DIRECT GOVERNMENT FUNDING.................................................14 CHARTER PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT ...................................16 TVNZ BOARD AND MANAGEMENT DIRECTORY..........................23 2 TVNZ Interim Report FY2009 CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION TVNZ has achieved a satisfactory result for the first six months of the 2009 financial year, reporting earnings (before interest, tax and financial instruments) of $27.7 million compared to $32.3 million in the same period the previous year. The after tax profit of $18.2 million for the period compares with $20.6 million for the prior period. While this is a pleasing result in the circumstances the impact of the global economic downturn is already apparent and, like all other businesses in 2009, TVNZ will face significant constraints due to worsening conditions. We expect the remainder of the fiscal year to be tough, and are prepared for this to continue into the 2010 year. Sir John Anderson Chairman 3 TVNZ Interim Report FY2009 CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S OVERVIEW Two years ago TVNZ began the hard work of turning the organisation into a contemporary, streamlined and efficient digital media company with a long term future – rather than a simple television broadcaster. The result of this effort became visible at the end of the last financial year, when the company worked its way back into the black, with a return on shareholders equity that was better than most SOEs and Crown-owned Companies as well as many publicly listed companies. The current half-year result is a validation of that approach.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter Tapsell (New Zealand Politician)
    Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Article Talk Read Edit View history Search Wikipedia Peter Tapsell (New Zealand politician) Main page From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Contents Sir Peter Wilfred Tapsell Featured content The Honourable Current events KNZM MBE FRCS FRCSEd (21 Sir Peter Tapsell Random article January 1930 – 5 April 2012) KNZM MBE FRCS FRCSEd Donate to Wikipedia was Speaker of the New Wikipedia store Zealand House of Interaction Representatives from 1993 to 1996. He was notable for being Help [2] About Wikipedia the first Māori Speaker, and Community portal for being the first Speaker since Recent changes Bill Barnard in 1943 to hold Contact page office while not a member of the governing party. Tools What links here He was an orthopaedic surgeon Related changes before entering politics.[3][4] Upload file Special pages Contents [hide] Permanent link 1 Early life Page information 2 Member of Parliament Wikidata item 2.1 Speaker of the House Cite this page of Representatives 24th Speaker of the House of 3 Retirement Representatives Print/export 4 References In office Create a book 1993–1996 Download as PDF Prime Minister Jim Bolger Printable version Early life [ edit ] Preceded by Robin Gray In other projects Tapsell was born and raised in Succeeded by Doug Kidd Wikimedia Commons Rotorua, and went to Rotorua 30th Minister of Defence Boys' High School. With the In office Languages help of a scholarship, he 9 February 1990 – 2 November 1990 Français Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer Edit links studied medicine at the University of Otago,[5] Preceded by Bob Tizard graduating in 1952.
    [Show full text]
  • 16. Māori Political and Economic Recognition in a Diverse Economy
    16 Māori political and economic recognition in a diverse economy Maria Bargh Introduction The relationship between Māori and the state in Aotearoa/New Zealand has been radically reshaped in the past 20 years. In some respects, Māori tribal (iwi) enterprises now have more recognition from the Crown, primarily as economic actors, and more access to decision-making power than they have had since the 1820s, when iwi had complete tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty) in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In particular, many iwi enterprises that have completed Treaty of Waitangi settlements1 and have re-established a strong economic base are receiving greater recognition from Crown agencies. The Māori Party, formed in 2004, has been instrumental in assisting the Iwi Chairs’ Forum (a national grouping of the leaders of tribal enterprises) access ministers and key policymakers, symbolic of the manner in which economic recognition has also led to forms of political recognition. In other respects, however, the Crown persists with policies, predominantly neoliberal policies, that continue to restrict and marginalise Māori political and economic organisational forms and rights. In this chapter, 1 These are negotiated settlements between Māori and the Crown in part as reparation for Crown breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi 1840. 293 THE NEOLIBERAL state, RECOGNITION AND INDIGENOUS RIGHTS I am defining neoliberal policies as those that include reducing the size of the state, promoting forms of trade that have few barriers to the movement of goods and finance, and are premised on the belief that the market is the best mechanism to regulate all forms of human behaviour as people are predominantly self-maximising and selfish individuals (Bargh 2007).
    [Show full text]
  • REFERENCE LIST: 10 (4) Legat, Nicola
    REFERENCE LIST: 10 (4) Legat, Nicola. "South - the Endurance of the Old, the Shock of the New." Auckland Metro 5, no. 52 (1985): 60-75. Roger, W. "Six Months in Another Town." Auckland Metro 40 (1984): 155-70. ———. "West - in Struggle Country, Battlers Still Triumph." Auckland Metro 5, no. 52 (1985): 88-99. Young, C. "Newmarket." Auckland Metro 38 (1984): 118-27. 1 General works (21) "Auckland in the 80s." Metro 100 (1989): 106-211. "City of the Commonwealth: Auckland." New Commonwealth 46 (1968): 117-19. "In Suburbia: Objectively Speaking - and Subjectively - the Best Suburbs in Auckland - the Verdict." Metro 81 (1988): 60-75. "Joshua Thorp's Impressions of the Town of Auckland in 1857." Journal of the Auckland Historical Society 35 (1979): 1-8. "Photogeography: The Growth of a City: Auckland 1840-1950." New Zealand Geographer 6, no. 2 (1950): 190-97. "What’s Really Going On." Metro 79 (1988): 61-95. Armstrong, Richard Warwick. "Auckland in 1896: An Urban Geography." M.A. thesis (Geography), Auckland University College, 1958. Elphick, J. "Culture in a Colonial Setting: Auckland in the Early 1870s." New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 10 (1974): 1-14. Elphick, Judith Mary. "Auckland, 1870-74: A Social Portrait." M.A. thesis (History), University of Auckland, 1974. Fowlds, George M. "Historical Oddments." Journal of the Auckland Historical Society 4 (1964): 35. Halstead, E.H. "Greater Auckland." M.A. thesis (Geography), Auckland University College, 1934. Le Roy, A.E. "A Little Boy's Memory of Auckland, 1895 to Early 1900." Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal 51 (1987): 1-6. Morton, Harry.
    [Show full text]
  • Debate Recovery? Ch
    JANUARY 16, 1976 25 CENTS VOLUME 40/NUMBER 2 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY/PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE actions nee - DEBATE U.S. LEFT GROUPS DISCUSS VITAL ISSUES IN REVOLUTION. PAGE 8. RECOVERY? MARXIST TELLS WHY ECONOMIC UPTURN HAS NOT BROUGHT JOBS. PAGE 24. RUSSELL MEANS CONVICTED IN S.D. FRAME-UP. PAGE 13. Original murder charges against Hurricane Carter stand exposed and discredited. Now New Jersey officials seek to keep him' behind bars on new frame-up as 'accomplice/ See page 7. PITTSBURGH STRIKERS FIGHT TO SAVE SCHOOLS. PAGE 14. CH ACTION TO HALT COP TERROR a Ira me- IN NATIONAL CITY. PAGE 17. In Brief NO MORE SHACKLES FOR SAN QUENTIN SIX: The lation that would deprive undocumented workers of their San Quentin Six have scored a victory with their civil suit rights. charging "cruel and unusual punishment" in their treat­ The group's "Action Letter" notes, "[These] bills are ment by prison authorities. In December a federal judge nothing but the focusing on our people and upon all Brown THIS ordered an end to the use of tear gas, neck chains, or any and Asian people's ability to obtain and keep a job, get a mechanical restraints except handcuffs "unless there is an promotion, and to be able to fight off discrimination. But imminent threat of bodily harm" for the six Black and now it will not only be the government agencies that will be WEEK'S Latino prisoners. The judge also expanded the outdoor qualifying Brown people as to whether we have the 'right' to periods allowed all prisoners in the "maximum security" be here, but every employer will be challenging us at every MILITANT Adjustment Center at San Quentin.
    [Show full text]
  • Life Stories of Robert Semple
    Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. From Coal Pit to Leather Pit: Life Stories of Robert Semple A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of a PhD in History at Massey University Carina Hickey 2010 ii Abstract In the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography Len Richardson described Robert Semple as one of the most colourful leaders of the New Zealand labour movement in the first half of the twentieth century. Semple was a national figure in his time and, although historians had outlined some aspects of his public career, there has been no full-length biography written on him. In New Zealand history his characterisation is dominated by two public personas. Firstly, he is remembered as the radical organiser for the New Zealand Federation of Labour (colloquially known as the Red Feds), during 1910-1913. Semple’s second image is as the flamboyant Minister of Public Works in the first New Zealand Labour government from 1935-49. This thesis is not organised in a chronological structure as may be expected of a biography but is centred on a series of themes which have appeared most prominently and which reflect the patterns most prevalent in Semple’s life. The themes were based on activities which were of perceived value to Semple. Thus, the thematic selection was a complex interaction between an author’s role shaping and forming Semple’s life and perceived real patterns visible in the sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Incarceration, Migration and Indigenous Sovereignty
    Space, Race, Bodies is a research collective focused on the connections between racisms, geography, and activist and theoretical accounts of embodiment. A number of events and research projects have been hosted under this theme, including the Incarceration, conference and workshops from which this booklet emerged, Space, Race, Bodies II: Sovereignty and Migration in a Carceral Age. Incarceration, Migration and Indigenous Sovereignty: Thoughts on Existence and Resistance Migration and in Racist Times responds to the current and ongoing histories of the incarceration of Indigenous peoples, migrants, and communities of colour. One of its key aims is to think about how prisons and their institutional operations are not marginal to everyday spaces, social relations, and politics. Rather the complex set of practices Indigenous around policing, detaining, and building and maintaining prisons and detention cen- tres are intimately connected to the way we understand space and place, how we understand ourselves and our families in relation to categories of criminal or inno- cent, and whether we feel secure or at home in the country we reside. Sovereignty: School of Indigenous Australian Studies Thoughts on Existence and Charles Sturt University Locked Bag 49 Resistance in Racist Times Dubbo NSW 2830 www.spaceracebodies.com Australia Edited by Holly Randell-Moon Incarceration, Migration and Indigenous Sovereignty: Thoughts on Existence and Resistance in Racist Times Edited by Holly Randell-Moon Second edition published in 2019 by Space, Race, Bodies School of Indigenous Australian Studies Charles Sturt University Locked Bag 49 Dubbo NSW 2830 Australia www.spaceracebodies.com ISBN 978-0-473-41840-3 Space, Race, Bodies Incarceration, Migration and Indigenous Sovereignty: Thoughts on Existence and Resistance in Racist Times Format Softcover Publication Date 11/2019 Layout, typesetting, cover design and printing by MCK Design & Print Space, Race, Bodies logo design by Mahdis Azarmandi.
    [Show full text]
  • (No. 23)Craccum-1976-050-023.Pdf
    A u rb la n d University Student Paper to make these points at all. He was In April and May of 197 2 the obviously sensitive about the fact short-lived Sunday Herald ran a that his articles conflicted with the series of four articles dealing with official fiction that ours is a classless the men who dominate New Zealand society, and was trying to salvage as commerce. The first article was much of the myth as possible. headed Elite Group has Reins on The formation of oligarchies Key Directorships, and it justified is a strong New Zealand characterist­ this title with the contention that ic - it doesn’t only happen in the “a large proportion of private assets business world. The situation could in New Zealand are under the almost be described as ‘Government control of a group which probably m M m by In-group’. This characteristic is numbers less than 300 people. more costy than sinister - not that Control of commerce in New it makes any difference. The effect Zealand seems to be exercised is more important than the motive, through large companies which have and the effect in this case is that the interlocking directorates. It is country is suffocating under the possible to construct a circular uninspired direction of a number of chain which leads from point A little in-groups. Practically every right through the economy back to institution and organisation in New point A.” W EALTH Zealand - whether it be a university The anonymous author selected administration or a students’ a company at random - New association, Federated Farmers or Zealand Breweries - and listed the the Federation of Labour - is run by connections that its directors had POWER with other companies.
    [Show full text]
  • Institutional Racism and the Dynamics of Privilege in Public Health
    Institutional Racism and the Dynamics of Privilege in Public Health A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at The University of Waikato by HEATHER ANNE CAME _____________________________________ 2012 ABSTRACT Institutional racism, a pattern of differential access to material resources and power determined by race, advantages one sector of the population while disadvantaging another. Such racism is not only about conspicuous acts of violence but can be carried in the hold of mono-cultural perspectives. Overt state violation of principles contributes to the backdrop against which much less overt yet insidious violations occur. New Zealand health policy is one such mono- cultural domain. It is dominated by western bio-medical discourses that preclude and under-value Māori,1 the indigenous peoples of this land, in the conceptualisation, structure, content, and processes of health policies, despite Te Tiriti o Waitangi2 guarantees to protect Māori interests. Since the 1980s, the Department of Health has committed to honouring the Treaty of Waitangi as the founding document of Māori-settler relationships and governance arrangements. Subsequent Waitangi Tribunal reports, produced by an independent Commission of Inquiry have documented the often-illegal actions of successive governments advancing the interests of Pākehā3 at the expense of Māori. Institutional controls have not prevented inequities between Māori and non-Māori across a plethora of social and economic indicators. Activist scholars work to expose and transform perceived inequities. My research interest lies in how Crown Ministers and officials within the public health sector practice institutional racism and privilege and how it can be transformed.
    [Show full text]