Establishing a 'secure' Māori identity based solely on particular criteria of Māori culture (te reo Māori, tikanga, marae etc.) remains problematic for some Māori. Findings suggest that conventional and experiential indicators of Māori identity, as well as a strong localized identity, are key factors in this exploration. Establishing a 'secure' Māori identity based solely on particular criteria of Māori culture (te reo Māori, tikanga, marae, etc...) remains problematic for some Māori.
Before reviewing some of the local, national and international literature on Māori identity, it may be useful to provide some contextual information about Māori identity.
Literature
One of the first Māori scholars to paint a powerful picture of Māori identity was Makereti. Secure identity – indicates positive self-identification as Māori and includes high scores on at least four of the other six characteristics. Positive identity – positive self-identification as Māori and some involvement in cultural activities and average scores on three of the other six characteristics.
Virtual identity – positive self-identification and low scores on at least four of the other six indicators. Common indicators of Māori identity - One aspect of the Māori identity literature emphasizes a range of markers that apply to certain types of Māori experience. Adaptability of the environment - The importance of the physical environment in terms of identity formation is clearly evident from Maori literature.
Project Design, Methods and Analysis
For some of the participants involved in the current study, grounding the project in tereo Maori and the ideas of Maori cultural identity covered in the literature would have alienated them and created a sense of incompetence and disempowerment . Indeed, the aim of the project itself is to broaden the picture of what is considered Maori culture. To elicit and analyze narratives of cultural identity that exist for rangatahi Maori in South Auckland.
Focused life story interviews were conducted with young people who identified as Maori and lived in the South Auckland region. The sampling of the young people was intended to include rangatahi with diverse life experiences living in different whanau situations. The sample includes seven male and five female participants of various ages and occupations, with some participants being one or more of the following at the time of the interview; students, the unemployed, a parent, part of the working population or voluntary work.
Due to the small number of interviews included in this thesis and the relative database of information, there are not from all South Auckland suburbs. If there was agreement, a letter was sent to the young person with an information sheet and consent form. The key to the data collection process was to make the research process as pleasant as possible for the participants.
Along with this was an intense commitment to keeping the research and data collection processes as flexible as possible to meet the needs and desires of the young people rather than the researcher. Interpretive phenomenological analysis (Smith, J., 1999) was also used to present important information about participants' experiential indicators of identity and to develop a comprehensive account of the ways in which language, ideas and images were being used to establish and defend different positions. on the topic of cultural identity.
Findings
Of particular interest is the use of the word "therefore" to create a rhetorically shorthand phrase. Some of the issues that influenced the participants' decision to admit Māori to the school are described below. Learning te reo Māori, being in a whanau unit or a bilingual unit and participating in kapa haka were combined in all the schools the participants had attended or were still attending.
In addition to various comments made about some of the more common understandings of what it means to be Māori, participants also made a number of comments about their lived experience as young Māori. Indeed, one of the participants who emphasized that he was not 'poor' felt that this was another point of contention about his Maori identity. Many of the participants interviewed were physically active and enjoyed a wide range of sports and recreational activities.
Some of the men in particular strongly stated that their sport was an important part of who they were. Many of the participants involved in school kapa haka groups mentioned group parties as a common aspect of their participation. One of the chat rooms frequently mentioned by participants was the MSN group "Kapa haka whanau".
Many of the kapa haka participants were members of the kapa haka whanau and frequently accessed the site, particularly after high school kapa haka competitions. Many participants who accessed kapa haka whanau described the comments as more negative than positive, but nevertheless informative. Churches of one kind or another were occasionally mentioned, especially among some of the younger participants.
Many expressed the view that South Auckland was seen as a 'rough' place where violence, crime and poverty were part of the profile.
Discussion
First, being in a whanau unit requires a huge commitment from the student and their family. Whanau unit students are also expected to participate in the kapa haka group, usually as performers (or in some cases tutors), but also as supporters especially in those groups with large membership. In many high schools, whanau unit students make up only a small proportion of the school's Maori pupils.
As such, mainstream Māori students have different things to say about their whanau unit counterparts. For some schools, the focus on Māori medium provision is set to meet the school's obligations rather than the needs and aspirations of all Māori students in the school. For students who choose to be in the whanau unit and who, together with their families, are able to make the expected commitment, their experience in the whanau unit and in their school in general is extremely positive.
This sense of pride in the unit can be attributed to the feelings of comfort, intimacy and support mentioned by many Whanau unit students. Many of the reasons mentioned above influence whether or not a student will decide to study at a Whanau unit. It is not uncommon for whanau unit activities to attract large numbers of local Māori.
In this study Maori and Pacific people live in the same place, have similar school and community experiences. This is not to say that Māori and Pacific youth think they are the same, only that there is an affinity in this community – perhaps like nowhere else in the world – that is impossible to ignore.
Conclusion
In this study, some of the positive images of being Maori stem from a stronger sense of belonging to the local environment. As with the experience indicators, there were clear negative representations of South Auckland as a place of crime and deprivation. However, in contrast to the experience indicators, participants seemed to exert a greater sense of control, trust, and agency not only by challenging this discourse, but also by constructing positive counter-images based on a shared sense of the Southside collective.
This distinctive Southside identity was an important part of who these young people felt to be. Living Southside conveyed a wide range of meanings and connections, which for most in this study were a source of communal strength and pride, as well as individual self-esteem and belonging. This presents a challenge to the way we conceptualize identity and the way we want to address Maori welfare.
To continue to conceptualize identity through a fixed, essentialized, and individualistic lens will miss the bigger picture. If being Māori is only about conventional indicators, we must ask ourselves what it means for those who do not "have" these markers of identity. Identity then risks being constructed around what is 'missing', in relation to these markers and in relation to how Māori as a population are portrayed.
Ironically, health promotion and other approaches can also sometimes reinforce this by targeting and framing interventions that represent Māori as a population "in need" (ie in need of better parenting, healthier lifestyles, young in danger). This study suggests that action is needed that builds on and reinforces all the positive markers of identity displayed by Māori youth, not just the conventional markers.
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