It went from being very straight laced to reasonably liberal within the decade, and white NZ started to actually create something of a culture of their own. Mostly due to TV, I think. When you don't border other countries and don't have the window on the world TV gives you, things don't change much I guess. And I don't think we'd changed much since the 30s or earlier.
If you asked any New Zealander to name some NZ songs written before the 1970s, most couldn't give you much of an answer I suspect. (Maori songs excepted.) That's how much of a cultural backwater we were. (There were writers though.) We took our cue from Britain up until the beginning of the 60s, but by the end of it we were starting to act like our own nation.
No, other than the usual bunch of words you pick up. "kia ora" - welcome, "kai" - food, "tangata whenua" - people of the land/original inhabitants, "Pakeha" - non-Maori New Zealanders/whites in general. etc.
The Maori language has had something of a rennassiance in the last few decades, as has Maori culture in general. There's lots of Maori radio stations now, as well as a national TV station. Ummm... A list of online Maori radio stations can be found here... (http://www.maori.org.nz/papa_panui/links_showall.asp?cat_id=127&parent_id=8&sub_name=Radio+Stations&parent_name=News)
I'm just a typical mono-lingual New Zealander though...
A treaty between the Maori tribes and the British was signed in 1840 which placed NZ under British law. See...
http://www.treatyofwaitangi.govt.nz/
That meant immigration was placed under formal control, (as apposed to Europeans just turning up and settling wherever they could), but it also opened the gates to a flood of immigrants from Britain, (the Maori population was equaled in about thirty years I think), all wanting land, which of course did cause tensions - and wars in the late 1800s. Those land-grabs are still in the process of being settled, (see "Treaty Settlements" in the above link), and new disputes still occur. See...
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0405/S00046.htm
for instance.
At the personal level though, race relations here are pretty good, (relatively speaking), with a lot of intermarriage.
I can't recall any major segregation in the past here, either of the US or South African kind, though Maori children were punished for speaking Maori in school in the first half of last century. Which was a kind of enforced assimilation I guess, as apposed to segregation.
Politically, we have "Maori Seats" in parliament, they existing to guarantee Maori representation. Maori can chose to be on the Maori roll or the General roll, with the number of Maori seats determined by how many want to be on the Maori roll. Not a perfect solution to the imbalance of numbers between Maori and Pakeha, (Maori represent about 16% of the population, I think), but in a one-man, one-vote system, it at least ensures they get people into parliament.
We were lucky I think, in that NZ was one of the last places to experience European colonization and so attitudes to indigenous peoples had progressed a bit by the time it occurred here. Not enough to realize that colonization per se was a bad idea of course, but some things take a while to sink in...
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-20 03:19 pm (UTC)d.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-20 04:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-20 03:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-20 09:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 06:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 07:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 07:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 08:31 am (UTC)If you asked any New Zealander to name some NZ songs written before the 1970s, most couldn't give you much of an answer I suspect. (Maori songs excepted.) That's how much of a cultural backwater we were. (There were writers though.) We took our cue from Britain up until the beginning of the 60s, but by the end of it we were starting to act like our own nation.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 08:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 10:12 am (UTC)The Maori language has had something of a rennassiance in the last few decades, as has Maori culture in general. There's lots of Maori radio stations now, as well as a national TV station. Ummm... A list of online Maori radio stations can be found here... (http://www.maori.org.nz/papa_panui/links_showall.asp?cat_id=127&parent_id=8&sub_name=Radio+Stations&parent_name=News)
I'm just a typical mono-lingual New Zealander though...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 03:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-22 01:04 am (UTC)http://www.treatyofwaitangi.govt.nz/
That meant immigration was placed under formal control, (as apposed to Europeans just turning up and settling wherever they could), but it also opened the gates to a flood of immigrants from Britain, (the Maori population was equaled in about thirty years I think), all wanting land, which of course did cause tensions - and wars in the late 1800s. Those land-grabs are still in the process of being settled, (see "Treaty Settlements" in the above link), and new disputes still occur. See...
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0405/S00046.htm
for instance.
At the personal level though, race relations here are pretty good, (relatively speaking), with a lot of intermarriage.
I can't recall any major segregation in the past here, either of the US or South African kind, though Maori children were punished for speaking Maori in school in the first half of last century. Which was a kind of enforced assimilation I guess, as apposed to segregation.
Politically, we have "Maori Seats" in parliament, they existing to guarantee Maori representation. Maori can chose to be on the Maori roll or the General roll, with the number of Maori seats determined by how many want to be on the Maori roll. Not a perfect solution to the imbalance of numbers between Maori and Pakeha, (Maori represent about 16% of the population, I think), but in a one-man, one-vote system, it at least ensures they get people into parliament.
We were lucky I think, in that NZ was one of the last places to experience European colonization and so attitudes to indigenous peoples had progressed a bit by the time it occurred here. Not enough to realize that colonization per se was a bad idea of course, but some things take a while to sink in...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-20 11:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 06:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-21 05:38 am (UTC)