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Queer Culture in Aotearoa

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Queer Culture in Aotearoa QUEER CULTURE IN AOTEAROA QUEER CULTURE IN AOTEAROA _______________ A Senior Honors Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science with Honors in MaJor _______________ By Syd Gonzalez May 2019 ii QUEER CULTURE IN AOTEAROA ______________________________ Syd Gonzalez APPROVED: ______________________________ Keith E. McNeal, Ph.D. Committee Chair ______________________________ Andrew Joseph Pegoda, Ph.D. ______________________________ Richard H. Armstrong, Ph.D. ______________________________ Antonio D. Tillis, Ph.D. Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Department of Hispanic Studies iii QUEER CULTURE IN AOTEAROA _______________ A Senior Honors Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science with Honors in MaJor _______________ By Syd Gonzalez May, 2019 iv DEDICATION This is dedicated to all the queer Māori peoples of Aotearoa whose stories have yet to be told. 1 Abstract In this thesis I explore queerness in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand utilizing historical sources, modern day texts, and interviews with members of the community. MaJor events like legislative rulings and pride parades will primarily be explored as markers of where we are in time through this essay. The goal of this thesis is to examine the layers of history that encompass queerness in Aotearoa up to present day. Utilizing survey results along with interviews of community members will provide insight to the cultural norms of queerness within Wellington that may not be easily visible otherwise. This thesis will be comprised of three main parts Queer Aotearoa which will focus on the history of queerness in Aotearoa up to present day. Subject Interviews and Analysis which is a condensed version of the transcribed interviews along with analysis of those interviews which includes the consumption of America media, utilizing social media as their primary form of social interactions, and coming out to friends before family members. The final chapter is Homonationalism in Wellington where I explore nationalistic tendencies within queer communities and events like pride. 2 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction and Methodology 4 Queer Aotearoa 16 Subject Interviews and Analysis 29 Homonationalism in Wellington 55 Conclusion 65 Index of Te Reo Māori Words 67 Bibliography 68 Appendix 71 3 Introduction and Methodology I have always had an interest in studying queerness and queer culture. At first it was as a way to learn more about myself, but then it became a craving to know more about people like me. When I was awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship that set in stone my semester abroad to Wellington, New Zealand, I knew I needed to figure out something to research while I was there. This was partially out of my own curiosity of Wellington’s culture, but it was also out of necessity for my then-future doctoral program applications. After falling down a rabbit hole of Wellington as a city, and Māori as a culture, I found out about Takatāpui. This is the Māori word for an intimate partner of the same sex, and something that I wanted to be able to have the privilege of studying. With this in mind, I applied for the Mellon Research Scholars grant that would allow me to gain the resources and support I needed to fulfill this research. My acceptance into this program was everything I needed to begin my journey into studying takatāpui, and more broadly, the queer culture of Wellington. While I was in Wellington, I was able to learn from a Māori anthropology professor Tarapuhi Vaeau, who provided me with the Māori knowledge and guidance that was necessary for this research. She informed me of historical trauma, the Kaupapa Māori method, and how to navigate the purgatory that was being a researcher in Wellington that wasn’t Māori/Pasifika but also wasn’t White. The original plan for this thesis was to study queer culture in Wellington, Aotearoa (the Māori name for New Zealand) and to determine the rate of acculturation among 4 ethnic minorities. I wanted to study this because Aotearoa has been home to takatāpui, a queer sexuality within Māori culture, since the early years of Māori settlement. I hypothesized that as ethnic minorities are acculturated within Western nations something similar might have taken place with queerness in Wellington. As queer people are part of a marginalized group they are expected to conform to the surrounding cis-heteronormative society, similar to people of color’s expectation to minimalize their Of Color-ness in a White society. After five months of research within Wellington I decided to go in a different direction and look at queerness of color, at homonationalism, and at the underlying impact of acculturation within Wellington. This research will still focus on takatāpui culture, along with queer ethnic minorities but now includes a deep look into the military/police presence at Wellington’s Pride parade and the harms of appropriation of Māori culture by non- Māori. Throughout this research I had many ethical concerns that impacted the way I structured and conducted my thesis. My position as a queer person of color with Native American lineage played a large role in how I processed the thoughts I had about my thesis. Being a non-White person, I held a connection with Māori people as someone whose people and land had been colonized. On the other hand, as a non- Māori person I was not able to entirely understand their plight with colonization or the New Zealand government. This made me question my ability to continue with this research as I was concerned about why I had the right to ask potentially invasive questions about people’s own queer experience, and their experience with queerness 5 in Wellington. More specifically, I was questioning my own ability to successfully write about Māori queerness in Wellington as a non-Māori researcher. I did not want to perpetuate any stereotypes or mistruths, nor did I want to add to any historical trauma that was inflicted on Māori by researchers. Through this introduction I will go into further detail about what methods I chose to use for this research and why those were the ones I decided on. The word “queer” is utilized throughout this research as an umbrella term for people within the LGBTQIA+ community. The word “queer” is a Western creation and will be used with care when referencing people who identify as “takatāpui” when it comes to sexuality, or something like Samoa’s “fa’afafine” in relation to gender. Throughout this thesis, Te Reo (the Māori language) words for Māori concepts will be used. For example, while whakapapa can be translated to “genealogy” as it is a Māori concept, the Te Reo word will be used. In the same vein, I will refer to “New Zealand” as “Aotearoa” since that was the country’s name prior to colonization. When referencing Aotearoa members of society who are of European decent, they will be referred to as “Pākehā.” At the end of this thesis, there will be an index with words and definitions, at times also translations if they are Māori words. In addition to the research question are the methods I reference throughout this process. As mentioned before, focusing on cultural sensitivities within my research is important. Aotearoa has its own historical traumas with some researchers taking information from Māori populations and portraying it in a way that negatively affects them. That’s not to say that all researchers did this, rather that those who did left a bad taste in Māori people’s mouth when it comes to an outsider looking in. 6 These thoughts were in my head throughout my research experience, especially having reading Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples in which the focal point of the book is to use indigenous methods of research when studying indigenous people. The indigenous method mentioned before is called Kaupapa Māori research and is explained in depth in Chapter 10 of Smith’s book.1 Very simply, this method was created so Māori people had a way to conduct research in a non-Western, non- colonized way. Due to previous Western research conducted on Māori, there was a push to do away with all research as a way of protection from future harms. Hence the creation of this method as it took into account being Māori, the philosophy and spiritual principles of Māori, the importance of Māori culture, and Māori autonomy by emphasizing the respect for whānau (family), rangatiratanga (self- determinization), and kaupapa (the collective vision of Māori).2 Combining all these components creates the Kaupapa method, a way in which Māori can perform research without furthering the act of colonization. I decided that using a form of this research method would be the most effective way to honor Māori. I want to emphasize that I am using a form of this research, as there are some complexities when it comes to who can and who cannot use Kaupapa Māori. Other indigenous researchers are allowed to use this method with no hesitation. As for non-indigenous, non-Māori researchers, the argument for them 1 Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 2008) p. 183-193 2 “Principles of Kaupapa Māori,” Rangahau, Accessed April 9, 2020, http://www.rangahau.co.nz/research-idea/27/ 7 being able to use the method is because the method is a reflection of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (not to be confused with The Treaty of Waitangi).3 A coming together of Māori and non-Māori with the intention of supporting Māori people and culture.
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