Coming Home: An Autoethnographic Reflection of Interviews with Non-Māori on Becoming Tangata Tiriti

Abstract

This thesis undertakes an autoethnographic interview analysis of the cultural identity experiences of myself and other participants working in decolonisation and Treaty settings. Embracing the personal in academic work is a crucial step in the journey toward decolonising the academy and society at large. Through critical autoethnographic analysis that centres on themes of identity and belonging, I juxtapose myself alongside interview participants: as both researcher and the researched, and as a student-not-yet-professional in the field of Treaty and decolonisation work. I engage with settler identity theories, indigenous perspectives, and the voices of other non-Māori in considering what it means to belong in Aotearoa, and how we might engage in our responsibilities to and with Others, toward ethical relations. I argue that a decolonisation of the self is a necessary step that settlers and their descendants must take in the journey toward a collective sense of belonging as tangata Tiriti in Aotearoa New Zealand. I perform some of the doubts, responsibilities, and privileges experienced on my pathway toward a career in decolonisation work, exploring the settler-indigenous relation along the way. I capture, confront, and converse with identity tensions recorded in my own and others’ words to illustrate the case for autoethnographic decolonisation within the academy and beyond. In so doing, I maintain that the ethical relationships required for improving cross-cultural relations begin with a decolonisation of the self as the first step in attending to the Other.