ABSTRACT

In 1840, the British Crown and Māori rangatira (chiefs) across Aotearoa New Zealand signed a treaty that promised indigenous Māori sovereignty over their lands. In the 1980s, the government moved towards the view that the treaty signing symbolised two races coming together in ‘partnership’. Partnership is a point of contention in settler-indigenous relations, with claims that state institutions favour the interests of the dominant culture. This paper draws on the experiences of Māori teachers of English in secondary schools, to examine how everyday classroom interactions reproduce an imagined partnership between Māori and Pākehā (descendants of European settlers). Findings reveal that teachers and students enact a bicultural narrative that maintains lop-sided notions of partnership to advance Pākehā group interests. The paper concludes by arguing that breaking the silencing of violent colonial histories would authorise a new narrative of biculturalism; one with the potential to transform the idealism of 1840 into practice.

摘要

1840 年，英国王室和新西兰各地的毛利人 rangatira（酋长）签署了一项条约，承诺土著毛利人对其土地拥有主权。在 1980 年代，政府开始认为条约的签署象征着两个种族在“伙伴关系”中走到一起。伙伴关系是定居者与原住民关系中的一个争论点，声称国家机构有利于主流文化的利益。本文借鉴了毛利语中学英语教师的经验，研究日常课堂互动如何重现毛利人和 Pākehā（欧洲定居者的后裔）之间的想象中的伙伴关系。调查结果表明，教师和学生制定了一种双文化叙事，保持不平衡的伙伴关系观念，以促进 Pākehā 群体的利益。该论文最后认为，打破对暴力殖民历史的沉默将授权一种新的双文化主义叙事；有可能将 1840 年的理想主义转化为实践。