The Treaty of Waitangi and Asian Immigrants in Aotearoa: A Reflective Journey
type: CreativeWork
description: The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand being represented at the signing by chiefs from various tribes. The Treaty promised to ensure legitimate control on European settlers, while guaranteeing Māori their sovereignty, undisturbed possession of natural and cultural resources, and citizenship. However, these commitments were reneged upon and were largely discarded over the next century, including devastating confiscations of land and other natural resources, undignified treatment of Māori culture and language, and the loss of indigenous sovereignty following large-scale European migration to Aotearoa/New Zealand in the late 19th century. The New Zealand government maintained a ‘white’ New Zealand immigration policy until the late 1980s. An orientation towards white British in New Zealand was so deeply entrenched that the idea of monocultural assimilation remained the norm and went unchallenged until the 1960s. A reflection of this is in the fact that even today the Treaty of Waitangi is not formally recognised in the country’s immigration policies. Since the 1990s, there has been a major upsurge in the number of Asian migrants arriving in Aotearoa/New Zealand, so that today people of Chinese, Indian, and similar origin constitute about 11% of the national total population. However, settlement support programmes and academic research relating to them have focused on superficial coping and adaptation issues. Integration of these migrants has been frequently discussed but without specific cultural references. Māori culture and the Treaty have never been an integral part of the research scope in the study of acculturation of such migrants in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Government. Politicians, and academics have consequently isolated migrants from indigenous issues, because indigenous people were regarded as irrelevant in this field. Nevertheless, some ethnic community groups and individuals have taken…
abstract: The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand being represented at the signing by chiefs from various tribes. The Treaty promised to ensure legitimate control on European settlers, while guaranteeing Māori their sovereignty, undisturbed possession of natural and cultural resources, and citizenship. However, these commitments were reneged upon and were largely discarded over the next century, including devastating confiscations of land and other natural resources, undignified treatment of Māori culture and language, and the loss of indigenous sovereignty following large-scale European migration to Aotearoa/New Zealand in the late 19th century. The New Zealand government maintained a ‘white’ New Zealand immigration policy until the late 1980s. An orientation towards white British in New Zealand was so deeply entrenched that the idea of monocultural assimilation remained the norm and went unchallenged until the 1960s. A reflection of this is in the fact that even today the Treaty of Waitangi is not formally recognised in the country’s immigration policies. Since the 1990s, there has been a major upsurge in the number of Asian migrants arriving in Aotearoa/New Zealand, so that today people of Chinese, Indian, and similar origin constitute about 11% of the national total population. However, settlement support programmes and academic research relating to them have focused on superficial coping and adaptation issues. Integration of these migrants has been frequently discussed but without specific cultural references. Māori culture and the Treaty have never been an integral part of the research scope in the study of acculturation of such migrants in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Government. Politicians, and academics have consequently isolated migrants from indigenous issues, because indigenous people were regarded as irrelevant in this field. Nevertheless, some ethnic community groups and individuals have taken…
author: Omura, Saburo
keywords: Te Tiriti o Waitangi, The Treaty of Waitangi, Asian immigrants, Acculturation, Immigration policy, Tauiwi, Institutional racism, Ethnic identity, Cultural identity, Worldviews, Key informant interview, Focus group, Reflective journey, Resilience, Cross-cultural psychology, Tikanga Māori
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/e43fb5c5-866e-47ba-9e33-78fbf1985bb1/download
date published: 2014
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:21Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Waikato