Abstract:
Historically, feminist politics within Aotearoa/New Zealand has focused on difference. Women’s collectives of the 1970s implemented various strategies to address differences between women in relation to race/ethnicity, Māori and Pākehā (Peoples of European descent) sexuality and class. A major focus of the early women’s activist groups was the development of bicultural relations between Māori and nonMāori. This focus on Pākehā and Māori and biculturalism reflects the distinctive historical trajectories within Aotearoa/New Zealand and is in contrast to multiculturalism prevalent in countries such as the United States of America and Australia. Māori feminists have argued that biculturalism needs to form a foundation in the first instance rather than focusing on multiculturalism which would bypass indigenous rights. A bicultural positioning emphasises cultural and ethnic differences, between Māori and Pākehā ethnicities within wider debates about ethnicity, colonisation and political struggles in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Highlighting the relationship between Māori and Pākehā and biculturalism acknowledges the history of colonization and the commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi (founding document of Aotearoa/New Zealand which guaranteed tino rangatiratanga to Māori (self determination for Māori) with its kaupapa (philosophy) of partnership between Māori and Pākehā. Another important influence on the development of Māori feminism during this period was the Māori Renaissance. The Māori Renaissance was a social movement of the 1970s which served to revive te reo Māori (the Māori language) and tikanga Māori (cultural practices). For many Māori women though, there was an underlying tension between the politics, culture and language of Māori society that the Māori Renaissance was struggling to preserve and the barriers in Māori society that had prevented Māori women from participating in, and contributing to, Māori society. This paper examines the importance of de-storying narratives of mono-culturalism within the context of postcolonial Aotearoa/New Zealand in order to create space for biculturalism and distinct Māori feminist frameworks such as Mana wāhine Māori, a Māori feminist discourse which affirms Māori women as critical actors for social change.