Abstract:
Early adolescents in New Zealand today are grappling with the questions “what am I?” “who am I?” and “How do I belong?” in a cultural context that is distinctly different from past generations. This paper reports on the racial-ethnic identity (REI) informed behaviors, beliefs and stereotype perceptions of early adolescents from four different racial-ethnic groups in New Zealand - NZ European Pakeha, Maori, Samoan and Chinese. The results of this study reveal a critical point of conflict in early adolescent REI development, in that the culturally distinctive activities or characteristics that they describe as the ‘glue’ to group membership, are also at the core of the racism and discrimination they must endure as group members.
