Aotearoa New Zealand undoubtedly
is one of the most diverse countries in the world. According to Statistics New
Zealand (n.d.), in 2013, the population of New Zealand consisted of 74.6% of
European, 15.6% Maori, 12.2% of Asian, 7.8% Pacific peoples, and 1.2% of Middle
Eastern, Latin American, African. While walking on the street, one can see
various kinds of people with different hair and skin colours, which is the one
of the most fascinating features of New Zealand. With so many people from
different races and more immigrants coming to the country, it is extremely
important that people get along well and work together to build a better
future. Personally, I fell in love with this country soon after my visit last
year and I managed to return. I chose New Zealand not only because of its
stunning pure nature but also its acclaimed accepting society. However, this
year, my perspective has changed slightly as I stayed longer in New Zealand and
as I explored more into NZ society through this group project.
Our group project topic is racism
in New Zealand schools from primary to tertiary education. In Oxford
Dictionaries (2016), racism is defined as “prejudice, discrimination…against someone
of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior”. Even
in New Zealand, the country that celebrates its diversity, surprisingly, we
found that Maori students are often the victims of casual or everyday racism in
school (Mayeda, Keil, Dutton & ‘Ofamo’oni, 2014). In their study, they
state that “majority group members enact everyday racism unconsciously without
intent”, and “acts of everyday racism include assumptions of incompetence
and/or criminality” (p. 174). That means that people who conduct racist
behavior do not know that they are actually doing it. Also, they have the
tendency to think that a person from a particular race does not have the
ability to do something, or that most of the crimes are committed by the people
from a certain race. This is what Maori are facing right now in New Zealand. A very
recent study shows that in school, teachers have lower expectations toward
Maori students (Blank, Houkamau & Kingi, 2016), which has indirectly led to
less participation of Maori students and their dropping out of school earlier
than other racial groups. The lower expectations toward Maori students might
result from the stereotypical attitude toward Maori families’ social and
economic status and from seeing Maori as an inferior race due to the historical
development of the country.
As we went deeper into the topic,
we found that racism has another form called “institutional racism” that has
been influencing New Zealand society in a fundamental way. The 1988 report Püao-te-ata-tü (Daybreak) indicates that
institutional racism exists while national decisions are made through
mono-cultural perspective, and “participation by minorities is conditional on
their subjugating their own values and systems to those of ‘the system’ of the power
culture” (as cited in Human Rights Commission, 2012, p. 3). To date, most of
New Zealand’s curricula are still “Eurocentric” (Mayeda et al., 2014, p. 174). To
close the disparity between Maori students and students of other racial groups,
Ministry of Education has been holding assisting programs like Te Kotahitanga ended in 2013 and Ka Hikitia in use now. Communication
and mutual understanding between teachers and Maori students are encouraged. These
projects indeed have shown improvement in the learning environment of Maori
students. Additionally, Maori students’ achievement in education has increased
and more participation has been seen. However, we still have doubts in whether
everyday and institutional racism have decreased and whether people’s mindsets
have completely changed or not.
To tackle this problem, as a
major in Language and Culture, I could not agree more when I heard one of our
lecturers, Deborah Corder, who comes from the same discipline, say that marginalisation
occurs due to “ignorance, the lack of understanding, and lack of knowledge on
both sides” in the symposium (personal communication, October 18, 2016). She
also mentions that we can solve this problem by having “intercultural dialogue”
and a conversation with “people who are in the position to bring about change”.
I totally agree with her solution to decreasing marginalisation because that is
exactly the solution I thought of when doing the group project. To me, the
world is full of different languages and cultures, which is why it is so
fascinating. There is no “good” or “bad” culture, and no “good” race or “bad”
race. We should value cultures and try our best to understand the reasons behind
other cultures’ beliefs and practices. Also, according to United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(1948), everyone is born equal regardless of his or her race, sex, religion,
etc.
Racism, as a form of marginalisation,
could be minimized by increasing mutual understanding between people of
different races from the perspective of my discipline. That is why I think I, Too, Am Auckland and That’s Us Campaign are great solutions
to the problem. For the previous solution, two students of different races ask
each other questions related to their respective races, cultures, identities,
beliefs, and so on. For the latter, people can write about their racist
experiences on the campaign website so that more understanding is achieved. In
addition, awareness of racism could be raised because as I mentioned before,
some people are not aware of their racist deeds. In my group, we also have
students from the disciplines of Education and Hospitality. Our group focused
more on solutions from Education discipline in our presentation, since we
believe that education starts at a young age, and it has a huge impact on
people. To diminish racism toward the Maori, we think that Maori culture should
be incorporated into the New Zealand curriculum because the culture is the root
of the country. Students should learn the culture and understand its beliefs
and practices in detail, rather than by a tourist approach. To educate parents
and to include people from different cultures, we deem that holding regular
school meetings and cultural activities might be a good way. Parents care about
their children and when parents participate in those events, they might learn
something and gradually change their mindsets toward some races as well. From
the Hospitality perspective, cultural events at a regional or societal scale could
be held regularly to help people from different cultures acquire deeper
cultural knowledge.
After this semester, I think that
as global citizens and the future of the world, we can alter the negative side
of society like racism to the positive if we really want to. We can see
ourselves as “the people who are in the position to bring about change” which
is presented by our lecturer, Deborah Corder. We may start small like I, Too, Am Auckland, a student-based supporting
group for Pacific Islander and Maori students at The University of Auckland, but
the positive attitude can be spread around the city, the nation, even the whole
world. Perhaps one day we really make a change, watching everyone enjoy living
in this diverse world.
References
Blank, A., Houkamau, C., &
Kingi, H. (2016). Unconscious bias and education: A comparative study of
Māori and African American students. Retrieved October 26 from http://www.antonblank.com/uploads/2/6/4/6/26465847/unconsious-bias-and-education.pdf
Human Rights Commission. (2012). A
fair go for all? Addressing Structural Discrimination in Public Services.
Retrieved October 26, 2016 from https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/2914/2409/4608/HRC-Structural-Report_final_webV1.pdf
Mayeda, D. T., Keil, M., Dutton,
H. D., & 'Ofamo'oni, I.-F.- H. (2014). Maori and Pacific voices on student
success in higher education. Alternative:
An International Journal Of Indigenous Peoples, 10(2), 165-179.
Racism [Def 1].
(2016). In Oxford Dictionaries.
Retrieved October
26, 2016 from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/racism
Statistics New Zealand. (n.d.). New Zealand in Profile: 2015. Retrieved
October 26, 2016 from http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-in-profile-2015/about-new-zealand.aspx
United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
(1948). Retrieved October 26, 2016 from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/