Showing papers on "Ethnic identity development published in 1987"

Maori identity in the south island of new zealand: ethnic identity development in a migration context

Abstract: The migration of people between and within nations is well known as one of the important larger contexts of ethnic identity development and maintenance. Often, migration can also be the cause of considerable ethnic change, as peoples involved adapt to a newly complex social and political environment, to the disruption of a long stable one, and so on. In the South Island of New Zealand, migration has been present as a contributor to identity formation over a long period of time and through a complex of events. On the one hand, there has been a series of internal migrations by New Zealand's indigenous Maori population into the South Island from the nearby North Island; on the other hand, there have been in-migrations of non-Maoris, notably Europeans and other Polynesians. Among the outcomes have been major changes in identity relations between Maori and non-Maori as well as between Maori and Maori. In this paper1 I document the changes through focus on the intra-Maori sphere and look at what has happened to the identity termed 'South Island Maori'. The migration context also invites inquiry into what can be learned about the nature of ethnicity and ethnic identity. This paper will address one of the basic themes in anthropological approaches to ethnicity by examining the South Island context for insights into the interplay of cultural and social factors in ethnic identity development and use.