The ethnic geography of New Zealand: A decade of growth and change, 1991–2001

Abstract: New Zealand's population growth of 10 per cent over the decade 1991–2001 resulted substantially from an increasing number of those claiming Pacific Island and Asian ethnicity, and to a lesser extent of the New Zealand Maori. Using census data for a comparable set of small areas with average populations of just over 100, this paper examines the changing geography of the four main ethnic categories – New Zealand European, New Zealand Maori, Pacific Island Peoples, and Asians – across the country as a whole and in its major settlements, especially Auckland. There is little extreme segregation of the three minority groups, but most of the Europeans live in areas where there is little exposure to those of other ethnicities. Most of the changes in segregation reflect the growth of Auckland's Pacific Island and, especially, Asian populations.     

Employment

The 1990s began with unprecedented market conditions for labour: unemployment rates were reaching their highest level in over 50 years, participation in the labour market had fallen to historically low levels and net emigration was widespread across all occupations. It seemed that things could only get better. While some did benefit from the limited growth that took place in the nineties, many did not. The greater inequality generated during the 1980s was fanned by the deregulation of the labour market and remained undiminished throughout the following decade. The marked reduction in manufacturing employment in the 1980s continued into the early 1990s negatively impacting Maori and Pacific Island men and women in particular. Increasingly post‐secondary school education became necessary to gain entry into regular work and those with little formal education and few work skills fell further down the queue. These changes are closely allied to the processes of globalisation which is already exercising considerable influence on the employment opportunities of New Zealanders.     

Tauponui a Tia: an interpretation of Maori landscape and land tenure

In the mid-1950s Professor R. Gerard Ward carried out his first significant research project as a graduate student in the ‘Taupo country’– a diverse volcanic landscape with a rich Maori history in the central North Island of New Zealand. This paper traces my own ‘journeys’ into the Taupo country and my association with the complexities of both historical and contemporary understandings and realities of Maori land tenure. I use several specific examples, and draw on a variety of experiences to argue that the ‘Taupo country’ cannot be understood without an appreciation of the enduring Maori values which still permeate society and land tenure in New Zealand’s ‘volcanic desert’ landscape. Despite legislative efforts to impose on Maori a title system derived from British property law, and all the subsequent pressures to assimilate, enduring Maori values intertwined with ancestry and identity cannot be ignored either in reconstructions of the history or in current planning for the future of the Taupo region.     

Decolonising Pacific research,building Pacific research communities and developing Pacific research tools: The case of the talanoa and the faafaletui in Samoa

In building Samoan academic researcher capacity in Samoa, we argue that there is a need to first establish the kind of researcher community advocated by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, and to do so through developing research tools, such as the talanoa and faafaletui, in partnership with researcher capacity‐building initiatives such as the applied postgraduate social and health research methods course (coded PUBX731‐HSA505) run by the Centre for International Health, University of Otago, in partnership with the National University of Samoa. This paper offers a commentary on the talanoa and faafaletui as Pacific research methodologies, and asks what its value might be for researchers in Samoa. It reflects on the learning experiences of staff and students of the applied social and health research methods course in relation to the talanoa and faafaletui as Pacific research methodologies or methods. It concludes that developing Pacific research and researcher capacity in Pacific Island countries, such as Samoa, must include opening up spaces within these communities to critically engage what is Pacific or Samoan or indigenous about these research tools, methods or methodologies, and how they might differ in form or substance from other methods or methodologies.     

Poetry and Pacific studies: notes from the field

After many years at the University of the South Pacific (where this paper was written), William Clarke is currently a Visiting Fellow in Resource Management in the Asia-Pacific Project at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra. Following a brief review of the place of oral poetry and song in Pacific Island societies, aspects of contemporary life are examined through the words of present-day Pacific poets. Topics examined include tourism, land issues, cultural identity and authenticity, the place of women in Pacific societies, corruption, environmental issues, population growth and urbanisation. A central theme of the discussion is that the poetic voice can heighten our attention towards and understandings of people’s lives and feelings.     

Changing market culture in the Pacific: Assembling a conceptual framework from diverse knowledge and experiences

Addressing the multiple dimensions of gender inequality requires commitments by policy‐makers, practitioners and scholars to transformative practices. One challenge is to assemble a coherent conceptual framework from diverse knowledges and experiences. In this paper, we present a framework that emerged from our involvement in changing market culture in the Pacific, which we name a radical empowerment of women approach. We draw on detailed narratives from women market vendors and women‐led new initiatives in marketplaces to explain this approach. We argue that the primary focus of recently developed projects for marketplaces in the Pacific is technical and infrastructural, which is insufficient for addressing gendered political and economic causes of poor market management and oppressive conditions for women vendors. By exploring the complex array of motives and effects of the desire to transform or improve marketplaces in the Pacific, we caution against simplistic technical or infrastructural solutions. This paper also introduces the practice of working as a cooperative, hybrid research collaboration. The knowledges and analyses that we bring to this issue demonstrate that substantive analysis generated from diverse and shifting ‘locations’ and roles, but underpinned by a shared vision of, and commitment to, gender justice, can provide distinctive policy and research insights.     

Reviews

Books reviewed: Sinclair, Karen, Maori Times, Maori Places: Prophetic Histories Farrer, James, Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific, Volume 75, No. 2 De Blij, H.J. and Muller, Peter O., Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts Kuby, Michael, Harner, John and Gober, Patricia, Human Geography in Action Tolliday, Steven (ed.), The Economic Development of Modern Japan, 1945–1995: From Occupation to the Bubble Economy Frost, Alan and Samson, Jane (eds.), Pacific Empires: Essays in Honour of Glyndwr Williams     

The peri‐urban Pacific: From exclusive to inclusive cities

Abstract: As the Pacific Islands continue to urbanise, existing models of governance and planning are coming under greater pressure and scrutiny. Both the city council approach and the ‘good’ urban governance agenda of donors have weaknesses in the region, especially in dealing with peri‐urban settlements where the most rapid urban population growth is occurring. This is resulting in increased social discontent and conflict. This paper critiques the ways in which Pacific Island towns and cities are governed and calls for an approach which is more inclusive (and less hierarchical) and informed by concepts of citizenship and social justice. Indeed, policy makers will need to broaden their concepts and practices of governance if many Pacific cities are to be socially, politically, and envir‐onmentally sustainable. However, the political‐economy of urban development in the region is not proving conducive to consensus, with conflict a more likely outcome in the foreseeable future.     

Maori1 commercial fisheries governance in Aotearoa2/New Zealand within the bounds of a neoliberal fisheries management regime

Recent literature on natural resource governance has highlighted the consequences of a strong imprint of neoliberal political ideologies on current environmental policies. A parallel theme in the recent literature relates to claims pertaining to ownership and management of natural resources by indigenous minorities in post‐colonial Western democracies who have been historically marginalised and impoverished by the aftermath of European colonisation. Recently, in order to respond to indigenous demands to settle long‐standing grievances for the return of their ancestral lands and natural resources, some post‐colonial governments have encouraged the development of indigenous self‐governance and co‐management initiatives to manage natural resources such as fisheries and forests. Based on a study of the recent Maori fisheries restitution policy initiatives in Aotearoa/New Zealand, this paper presents a preliminary interrogation of the new hybrid indigenous fisheries governance spaces within the bounds of a neoliberal fisheries management regime.     

Revising ideas about environmental determinism: Human–environment relations in the Pacific Islands

Rapid cooling and sea–level fall around AD 1300, perhaps accompanied by increased storminess, had major impacts on Pacific Island environments including water–table fall, reef–surface death, increased lagoonal turbidity, and the conversion of seawater embayments to brackish–water wetlands. These environmental changes had severe and lasting impacts on Pacific Island societies, largely associated with a massive (perhaps 80 per cent) reduction in the food resource base on some islands. Conflict ensued, coastal villages were abandoned on high islands in favour of fortified inland sites, settlements on large atoll islands were dispersed. It is clear that environmental change a the major cause of last–millennium cultural transformation in the Pacific Islands, a conclusion which is likely to apply elsewhere.     

Fijian adolescents’ understanding and evaluation of climate change: Implications for enabling effective future adaptation

Pacific Island countries are particularly vulnerable to future manifestations of climate change due to high coastline‐to‐land‐area ratios, and high dependence of inhabitants on natural ecosystems. While everyone in the Pacific Islands should participate in climate change adaptation activities, it is the young people, given they are the generation likely to not only bear the burden of climate change, but to lead and live effective climate change adaptation activities and strategies specific to their region, the involvement of youth is critical. Pacific Island youths are often marginalised within traditional decision‐making hierarchies, therefore they are typically excluded from participating in meaningful discussions at community and government levels. Discussions were held with 30 adolescents aged 14–18 years in Fiji to explore knowledge and experiences regarding climate change. Participants revealed their dismay at their inability to talk to family – who they consider are not doing enough – about what they consider as appropriate responses to climate change, recommending the help of an authoritative outsider who could speak to their community leaders and family. Discussions also revealed that Fijian youth could not distinguish between changes in the climate and normal weather events, attesting to the importance of climate‐change education and awareness‐raising efforts within the Pacific Islands more generally.     

Restitution of fishing rights to Maori: representation,social justice and community development

For a quarter of a century, the government of New Zealand has been engaged in a process of restitution of property to Maori. Although land is the main object of Maori claims for restitution, rights to fisheries are also important. The nature of these rights is being influenced by findings of the Waitangi Tribunal and determined by legislation and judicial decisions. Both the definition of customary rights of Maori and the allocation of commercial fishing assets between urban Maori and members of traditional tribes present difficult questions not fully resolved. One principle that does appear to be settled is that full restitution is not feasible. Instead, both government and Maori seek settlements that will provide a firm foundation for community and economic development.     

International healthcare worker migration in Asia Pacific: International policy responses

The growth of the international migration of health workers in recent decades has taken place in the context of the transnationalisation of healthcare provision as well as of governance and policy responses. This paper examines international policy responses to cross‐border health worker migration in the Asia Pacific region. These include multilateral (global and regional) and bilateral policy agreements, policy dialogue and programmes of action in relation to key issues of ethical recruitment, ‘circular’ migration and labour rights and key themes of health workforce planning and management. The paper brings original new analysis of international datasets and secondary data to bear on the pressing and important questions of what international policy initiatives and responses are at work in the Asia Pacific region, and what these mean for the nature of migration governance in the region. The paper's focus routes the evidence and argument towards current research and policy debates about the relationship between health worker migration, health worker shortages and poor health outcomes. In this, the paper brings new insights into the analysis of the international policy ‘universe’ through its emphasis on multiple and intersecting cross‐border institutions, initiatives and actors operating across different scales. Coherent national and international strategies for integrated health worker migration governance and policy need to incorporate these insights, and the paper considers their implications for current strategies to attain universal health care and improved health outcomes in Asia Pacific and beyond.     

The challenge of urban Maori: reconciling conceptions of indigeneity and social change

A massive demographic rural-urban shift has taken place within Maori society since the second world war. This demographic shift prompted changes in the structure of some Maori social institutions. Due to a number of factors these new social institutions have not been readily assimilated by Maori cultural practices. Recent battles over the allocation of pre-settlement Treaty assets have brought this issue to the fore, acting as catalysts in the struggle for recognition between evolutionary social change (represented by urban Maori) and the perceived static boundaries of indigenous culture (as represented by modern Iwi). This paper therefore addresses the problems of accommodating social change within ‘static’ cultural frameworks raised by the issue of asset allocation. The paper outlines the historical factors that have allowed incongruities between social structure and culture to emerge in New Zealand Maori society, and provides a number of options for consideration in the hope of resolving this issue.     

Te Iwi Maori

The decade started with the 150‐year commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi that established British governance. This was when Maori were severely and disproportionately affected by the structural adjustment programmes which had reduced their standards of living and thrown them back on their own community resources as government withdrew from community involvement. The continuing conflict between the desire to retain their collective Maori identity and the almost overwhelming forces of assimilation (internally) and globalisation affected fortunes of Maori New Zealanders (internationally). This is best exemplified by the conflict in the Treaty of Waitangi between British sovereignty and Maori tino rangatiratanga. As the decade progressed, government sought a full and final settlement of the many hundreds of historical treaty claims, with a unilateral declaration of what was available ($1 billion). Unilateral actions on either side did little to assuage the long‐standing sense of mutual mistrust between Maori and Pakeha which was fuelled by a hostile mass media. Notwithstanding, ‘progress’ was made, and the twentieth century ended with Maori and Pakeha closer together than they had ever been.     

Hurricanes and socio‐economic development on Niue Island

This case study investigates the complex ways that recurrent ecological damage affected the course of socio‐economic development on Niue Island, a Pacific micro‐state. In tracing the historical record of droughts and hurricanes from 1900 to 1990, it is clear that severely inclement weather repeatedly destroyed agricultural development endeavours on the island leading to stagnation in this economic sector. In the aftermath of such disasters there were additional widespread social, political, and economic responses resulting in insidious but inexorable change. These responses – metaphoric ‘winds of change’– constituted, bolstered and sustained the transition to a MIRAB economy.     

Homegardening as a panacea: A case study of South Tarawa

The Republic of Kiribati is a small, highly infertile Pacific Island nation and is one of the most challenging locations to attempt to support dense urban populations. Kiribati, like other nations in the Pacific, faces an urban future where food insecurity, unemployment, waste management and malnutrition will become increasing issues. Homegardening is suggested as one way to address many of these problems. However, the most recent study on agriculture production in urban centres in Kiribati shows that, in general, intensive cultivation of homegardens is not a common practice. This disparity between theory and practice creates an opportunity to re‐examine homegardening in Kiribati and, more broadly, in the Pacific. This paper examines the practice of homegardening in urban centres in Kiribati and explores reasons why change has or has not occurred through interviews with homegardeners and government/donor representatives. Results show that homegardening has increased significantly in the past five years, largely because of the promotion of homegardens and organic composting systems by donor organisations. While findings further endorse homegardening as an excellent theoretical solution to many of the problems that confront urban settlements in Kiribati and the Pacific, it raises additional questions regarding the continuation of homegarden schemes beyond donor support programmes.     

Samoan children's sense of place: Experiential landscapes in an urban village

Pacific Island communities are experiencing significant societal changes as a result of rural urban, inter‐island migration and migration to New Zealand. These relocations have significant implications for children's relationship to place. However, virtually nothing is known about children's sense of place in Samoa or places and activities that are important to them. This exploratory study worked with eight children aged 5–12 years growing up in an urban village in Samoa drawing on ‘Talanoa’ as research methodology and method by employing photo‐elicitation. The study provides a first snapshot of Samoan children's sense of place growing up in an urban village.     

Pacific approaches to fundraising in the digital age: COVID-19, resilience and community relational economic practices

The aim of this paper is to discuss how community relational economic practices in virtual spaces are effective in building resilience because they are borne of and sustained by familiar traditional Fijian values of collective work and social interdependence. The researchers adopted a pandemic-induced methodology, conducting online-based talanoa (fluid conversations between two or more people) with a number of people leading, or involved in, these initiatives. We also engaged with online community groups behind a number of initiatives. Examples are provided of online crowdfunding, livestreaming of concerts to solicit donations, and bartering facilitated by social media sites. To conclude, we stress the enduring nature of communal bonds and traditional systems which Pacific people readily adapt and translate into different forums and forms in the face of challenges such as the restrictions and financial hardships caused by COVID-19. The findings highlight that solesolevaki – a tradition of working together for a common cause – can also occur in the digital era: this demonstrates the deep connection of Fijian peoples and their sense of obligation to one another and to their culture, regardless of where they are in the world.