Week 10:

Class Notes:

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“Understanding Samoans” by the vocational training council.

• Aim of the booklets: trying to have better connections between Samoans and europeans in the work place.
• Exploiting samoan people by using their cultural beliefs and value systems against them.
• Their money wouldn’t have been world as much as here in NZ, they would’ve moved from overseas where they had family homes and assets to live from, money wasn’t a large drive or denominator in their country. Coming to NZ wouldn’t been a full re-start from them but they still pass all of this information and state that Samoan people are “desperate for money”, without explaining all of the reasons why they need money due to their situation.

“Devout Church Member”

• a consequence of colonisation.
• In Samoan they didn’t have connections to society and it’s ever-changing ways. In the 70’s people started to disbelieve in God and believe in atheism, creating a whole new society where church people were “extreme”.

Stereotyping is not ethical. Putting all of their situations together into one stereotype does not help Samoan people starting into a NZ society and a new life, progressing in society. All these booklets did was forever deemed them into a life of labour due to the stereotype automatically put upon them when entering this country.

Re-designing the booklets:

• Our group thinks that the booklets should be written by or with a Samoan person/peoples to get the stories straight. If the book was written in this day, it could be created as a short film or documentary where the film crew actually go to Samoa and see where these people are from, what their work is like and what kinds of skills they have over there. This is the first step to understanding Samoan people. The next thing they should do is document their struggles coming to a new country and having to re-start their lives – leaving their families behind, having to buy a house, having children put into education systems, ect. Understanding these different struggles that migrating comes with would mean that an employer would be able to respect the Samoan person a lot more and understanding their life. The video could also include translations into Samoan language so that europeans can get used to them speaking their language and will feel more comfortable with them speaking it in the work place. It could include each individual Samoan person talking of their different stories to show that they are not the same at all – and each lead different lives and journeys to NZ.

Individual Study:

http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=FL17144973

The Construction of Ethnicity and ‘Belonging’ in New Zealand: Where We Have Come From and Where We Might be Going

• you have spent enough time in New Zealand over the last 5 years. If you leave the country for more than 4 months of any year you do not meet the requirements. This could be one trip or many small trips.
• You must intend to keep living here
• You must be able to hold a basic conversation in English. (Maori is not mentioned, neither is NZSL despite them both being official languages of NZ also discriminatory to people with non-verbal illnesses and disabilities)
• You must show that you are “of good character” eg. no criminal offenses

Maori women : caught in the contradictions of a colonised reality 

Intro 

• Tikanga maori says leadership was the primary domain of men and that they exercised power over women 
• There were greater significance to male roles than female 

Tikanga Maori and Mana Wahine 

• Men and women are essential parts of the collective whole = whakapapa
• Women = key role in linking present and future 
• Everyone is a part of the collective, meaning there is a collective responsibility to see that their respective roles were valued and protected
• No hierarchy of sexes lies within the maori language. Both the personal pronouns and possessive personal pronouns are gender neutral 
• Pere describes her childhood of being full of positive female models and the support / respect men and women had for each other. She points out assault on women results in death or dead to the community 
• Traditionally marriage didn’t mean transfer of property from father to sprouse. She remained part of the whanau even if she lived with her husbands whanau. The whanau are responsible for rearing the children of the kainga. Parents weren’t the sole givers . This ensured a degree of flexibility for women enabled the, to take up other roles including leadership roles. 
• Maori women occupied a very important leadership role positions in traditional society, spiritual and political significance 

The status of women under english law 

• The head of the family (husband/father) was in control of the household
• women/children = used and abused 
• Females are seen as property and anything they owned belonged to either the father or husband 
• Women had no rights to their children and can’t end a marriage and keep her property and children . she would have nothing 
• Rape wasnt perpetrated in nz law by husband against his wife

The impact of introduced law on maori women 

• Western civilisations did not allow women any power. 
• There myths and beliefs were reshaped and retold . maori women find their mana wahines destroyed. Stories shifted emphasis. They no longer had powerful women influence in stories 
• Women with chiefly roles were considered an exception to the rule
• The crown only could conceive of dealing with men and the treaty was signed predominantly by men 
• Most damaging effect of colonisation for maori women was the destruction of the whanau 
• Whanau were forced to break into nuclear families and move to towns/cities for work 
• The eurpoean civilization did not tolerate maori marriage and demand on the colonial wife to be subservient . maori females had to be domiciled very quickly to the value of the new reginee that had arrived 

V .Adoption : a specific example 

• European : The process was that children that are adopted can not return to their birth parents later in life. The new parents own the child
• Maori : the child is born and remains in the whanau and has a right to their whakapapa. No permanent arrangement , children aren’t property. 
• Adopting maori babies was a concern and it was hard for boys and dark babies to be adopted 
• Adult adoption information act 1985 enables contact between birth mother and child under limited circumstances yet numerous maori were never able to reconnect under legislation 

The position of maori women today 

• The health strau of maori women is acknowledged as being particularly poor 
• Maori women remain largely absent from consultative and advisory bodies set up by the crown 
• The movie “the piano” and the movie “ Once were warriors” demonstrate the traditions of oppression of women. They portray maori men as child and how the strong women struggling to make their way within the context of the nuclear family  and common law expectations about the roles of men and women.