Section outline

  • Pasifika is an odd term, and one gaining increasing currency outside the annual festival at Western Springs. Essentially, it's the samoanisation of a Portuguese nod to the Latin phrase Mare Pacificum, or peaceful sea, so named by navigator Ferdinand Magellan. In this country it has become an umbrella term for everyone living here with traceable Pacific island heritage. You'll find it touted enthusiastically by governmental social ministries and schools. Once were islanders, Polynesians, PIs, Pacific peoples and so on, now are Pasifika.

    But it is also the label given to what some believe is a new indigenous culture emerging among New Zealand-born Pacific Islanders. As evidence, they point to our rapidly browning popular culture - think shows like bro'Town, groups such as Nesian Mystik, most of the All Black backline, tapa cloths on the lounge wall, established artists like John Pule, and the Otara flea markets tourist-destination status.

    It's all vaguely interesting stuff to many palagi/pakeha New Zealanders, but look beyond the surface trappings and you'll find the notion of Pasifika has sparked a vigorous, if softly spoken, debate within the communities it is reputedly uniting. 

    So what is this debate and why is it an important discussion for NZ society to have?

     

     

    Success Criteria: I can/have...

    • Describe a number of social issues that create challenges for New Zelanders of Polynesian descent

    • Research, write, and produce a news profile of a story from the Pacific media outlet I discovered.

    Activities:

    1. Polynesian whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand.

    2. Ultimate Survivors: Adapt or disappear.

    Background:https://teara.govt.nz/en/pacific-islands-and-new-zealand

    In 2013 the six largest groups of Pacific peoples in New Zealand were Samoans, Cook Islanders, Tongans, Niueans, Fijians and Tokelauans. However, there were also people from most of the other islands that pepper the world’s largest ocean.

    Living in New Zealand were Austral Islanders, Belau/Palau Islanders, Bougainvilleans, Caroline Islanders, Easter Islanders, Gambier Islanders, Guam Islanders, Hawaiians, I-Kiribati (Kiribati people), Kanaka (New Caledonians), Marquesas Islanders, Marshall Islanders, Nauru Islanders, Papua New Guineans, Phoenix Islanders, Pitcairn Islanders, Society Islanders (including Tahitians), Solomon Islanders, Tuamotu Islanders, Tuvaluans, Vanuatuans, Wallis Islanders and Yap Islanders.

    The most numerous of these other Pacific groups in New Zealand were Kiribati people, Tuvaluans, Papua New Guineans, Solomon Islanders, Vanuatuans and French Polynesians.