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Culture is a complex thing.
Jan. 8th, 2011 11:30 pmThis came up in the context of a conversation about NZ culture, and what it is to be a New Zealander or an "NZ European". As sometimes happens when I get to thinking about stuff, it got long. For anyone who's interested, here's what I wrote. Rough though it may be.
Oh, and do feel free to ask if there's any terms I use that you'd like to know and can't figure out from context.
Nationally, I identify as a New Zealander. It'll continue to be my identity when I emigrate, and not just because it's what's on the birth certificate and passport. It's the country where I was born and grew up.
In heritage, I'm European: English, Cornish, Welsh Romnichal. First ancestor got here in the 1830s: jumped ship up in Kororareka, and the local Maori tribe helped to hide him until the ship was out of port. I don't have a full whakapapa, but I've read enough that I know where my family's roots are in both land and values.
In social class, probably middle class/professional. I've mixed with the rich and the poor while I was growing up, so I can be pretty mobile when I want. I find it hard to look at society in terms of "us" and "them" because I'm so used to recognising some "us" in everyone I meet.
Subculturally, a mix of academic, geek, gamer, goth/rivethead, steampunk. Those are "my people" wherever I go in the world.
Culturally, largely "Pakeha" but really a mix of a things. I grew up in Christchurch, as did my dad and his. Mum was born in Fiji, grew up on a mine site and went to boarding school with a whole bunch of different kinds of people from all over. Her family's spread liberally around the South Pacific. Some things I don't feel comfortable doing because they're tabua(tapu), regardless of the fact that I'm not ethnically Kai Viti or Maori.
I went to a school with mostly Pakeha kids, but had Maori language and culture classes in primary, intermediate and high school - it was a hard decision to drop Maori after Third Form because I didn't have enough slots for everything I wanted to do. I'm not Kai Tahu, but I still feel like Aoraki's my mountain and Waimakariri's my river, and I feel a responsibility to treat the land right and see it protected for future generations.
I think it's damned hard to draw a line around a culture and say this is "us", even when it's your own. Maybe especially if it's your own. Things that someone else might see as essential might be something you don't embrace, or directly reject. Culture seems less of a clearly-defined territory, and more of a collection of landmarks that you can illustrate your position by.
What I express and how I feel about stuff isn't any kind of "political correctness" affectation, despite what some people may think. It's a product of who I am and where I come from. I can't un-see the blurry edges, and I can't paint it black and white.
Oh, and do feel free to ask if there's any terms I use that you'd like to know and can't figure out from context.
Nationally, I identify as a New Zealander. It'll continue to be my identity when I emigrate, and not just because it's what's on the birth certificate and passport. It's the country where I was born and grew up.
In heritage, I'm European: English, Cornish, Welsh Romnichal. First ancestor got here in the 1830s: jumped ship up in Kororareka, and the local Maori tribe helped to hide him until the ship was out of port. I don't have a full whakapapa, but I've read enough that I know where my family's roots are in both land and values.
In social class, probably middle class/professional. I've mixed with the rich and the poor while I was growing up, so I can be pretty mobile when I want. I find it hard to look at society in terms of "us" and "them" because I'm so used to recognising some "us" in everyone I meet.
Subculturally, a mix of academic, geek, gamer, goth/rivethead, steampunk. Those are "my people" wherever I go in the world.
Culturally, largely "Pakeha" but really a mix of a things. I grew up in Christchurch, as did my dad and his. Mum was born in Fiji, grew up on a mine site and went to boarding school with a whole bunch of different kinds of people from all over. Her family's spread liberally around the South Pacific. Some things I don't feel comfortable doing because they're tabua(tapu), regardless of the fact that I'm not ethnically Kai Viti or Maori.
I went to a school with mostly Pakeha kids, but had Maori language and culture classes in primary, intermediate and high school - it was a hard decision to drop Maori after Third Form because I didn't have enough slots for everything I wanted to do. I'm not Kai Tahu, but I still feel like Aoraki's my mountain and Waimakariri's my river, and I feel a responsibility to treat the land right and see it protected for future generations.
I think it's damned hard to draw a line around a culture and say this is "us", even when it's your own. Maybe especially if it's your own. Things that someone else might see as essential might be something you don't embrace, or directly reject. Culture seems less of a clearly-defined territory, and more of a collection of landmarks that you can illustrate your position by.
What I express and how I feel about stuff isn't any kind of "political correctness" affectation, despite what some people may think. It's a product of who I am and where I come from. I can't un-see the blurry edges, and I can't paint it black and white.
