Accusations of being a ‘useless Māori’ or seeing life through a ‘vanilla lens’ might sound mean-spirited and hurtful. But behind the political sloganeering lie deeper questions about Māori identity.
Mt Taranaki on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand.
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Like it or not, many Pākehā New Zealanders are the beneficiaries of a colonial settlement system based on dispossession and alienation. How can the past and present be reconciled honestly?
An 1880s illustration of the village at Parihaka, sitting beneath Mt Taranaki.
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This year marks 140 years since Parihaka pā was sacked. As He Puapua reignites the debate about the impacts of colonisation, how do the descendants of early European settlers respond?