Pacific Islands Peoples in Aotearoa / New Zealand: Existing and Emerging Paradigms

David Earle

Our understanding of the world is built on paradigms, or sets of assumptions. When a paradigm is widely used it can become invisible to the people who use it, and sets the limits on what can and cannot be discussed. The only recourse then is to challenge the underlying paradigm, and this has happened in New Zealand with respect to race relations, whereby the dominant paradigm of the last century has been challenged by tangata whenua.

This paper looks at how existing and emerging paradigms position Pacific Islands people in New Zealand. The traditional paradigm is to treat Pacific Islands people as a “minority ethnic group”, which automatically puts them in a subordinate position. Multiculturalism emerged as a challenge to this paradigm, which was in turn challenged by biculturalism, in recognition of the special status of Māori, but biculturalism does not adequately address the situation of Pacific Islands people.

This paper presents a model for a paradigm that addresses the unique position of tangata whenua, the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi and the aims and aspirations of the various ethnic groups in our society, but concludes that we must continue to be aware of the limitations of any paradigm we adopt.