I understand that, and I reject that our identities are that binary. This is why we got into the identity politics that has come to disrupt our political landscape and not in a good way. We must understand that we are not that simple and stop trying to define our populations based on these terms. Either too binary or too granular we can’t possibly govern anybody. It’s a hard balance to strike but we must start by thinking more critically about how we define ourselves and, more importantly how our government define us. Individually we can think whatever we want, but expecting our government to define us as Māori and Non-Maori is as problematic as the government trying to translate every piece of policy into the 150 languages spoken in NZ. Does that make sense?
I agree with you, but the definition of Paakehaa is literally "non-Maaori".
I understand that, and I reject that our identities are that binary. This is why we got into the identity politics that has come to disrupt our political landscape and not in a good way. We must understand that we are not that simple and stop trying to define our populations based on these terms. Either too binary or too granular we can’t possibly govern anybody. It’s a hard balance to strike but we must start by thinking more critically about how we define ourselves and, more importantly how our government define us. Individually we can think whatever we want, but expecting our government to define us as Māori and Non-Maori is as problematic as the government trying to translate every piece of policy into the 150 languages spoken in NZ. Does that make sense?
It makes sense, of course. My “race” forms a very small part of my identity, so I tend to look at this in a more detached and literal manner.
Whether or not someone is Maaori or Paakehaa matters less to me than whether they have blue eyes or not-blue eyes.