Abstract:
One of the most emphasized aims of the largest museums in New Zealand is the focus on representing the country’s multicultural identity. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa states that for them: “A key goal is to represent and appeal to New Zealand’s diverse society.”2 Similarly, the Auckland War Memorial Museum in their mission statement claims it “..tells the story of New Zealand, its place in the Pacific, and its people.”3 The ways these minority cultures are encompassed under a New Zealand identity is arguably a result of the relationship between the museums and the communities. Often this relationship can be built around an agenda, a cultivated vision of diversity for the nation and this can affect the minorities which are represented, those which are not, and the impact of inclusion / exclusion on the communities themselves. This research proposes a deconstruction of the relationship between New Zealand Museums and the minority communities they represent. Included is a case study addressing the Caribbean community’s relative invisibility in New Zealand’s multicultural identity. It explores the fluidity of terms such as migrant culture, cultural identity and Caribbean in relation to the structure of community representation in New Zealand museums. It also considers the implications of constructing an exhibition proposal for submission by the Caribbean community in Auckland. Within this case study lies an autoethnographic component: my experience as a Euro-Caribbean researching a Caribbean community has implications for the awareness of my own cultural identity.