AIS101Research Paper - online with Octaviana Trujillo PDF

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Aileen Nguyen November 8, 2020 AIS 101-001

Māori: The People of New Zealand The indigenous community that this research paper will focus outside the United States is Māori, which is native to New Zealand. The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originates with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of waka (canoes) voyages between 1320 and 1350. The Maori meaning people of the land, are one of the native peoples of Polynesia, that inhabit the islands of New Zealand. Today, Māori makes up 14% of New Zealand. The 5 subtopics will talk about the challenges or issues that Maori faces on a basis day are the environment, health, social/racism, and education.

Māori people sees the environment as an interconnected whole and assess its health in the same way. All parts of the environment – animate and inanimate – are infused with mauri (life force) and are connected by whakapapa – the descent of all living things from the original creators of life, and the genealogical relationships between all lives. Many Maori villages lie on the coast, and sea level rise of even a few meters threatens to completely wipe out many settlements. Pollution of rivers such as the river Waikato and other natural resources impact on the Maori ability to live their traditional way of life, forcing them to move from their homes into towns or cities.

The Maori are the poorest ethnic group in New-Zealand. They are mostly in the lowest percentile for healthcare and education. The poverty rates of the Maori are around double of the European New-Zealanders. Maori make up most of the New Zealand prison population and their rates of incarceration and criminality are disproportionately high.

The Maori suffer a lot from racism, bot directly; from people on the street, or; indirectly; hiring prejudice. Many European New-Zealanders appropriate Maori culture; such as the haka or Maori facial tattoos. This is so much of a problem that in 2000 the Ngati Toa tribe threatened to trademark the haka. On average, the Maori have less access to clean water than the white new Zealander and many rural Maori suffer from resource exploitation. Until the 1980s the government gave no aid to the preservation of the Maori language and the language would have gone extinct if it had not been for the resilience of the Maori people.

Schools in New Zealand could help to combat racism by educating everybody about Maori culture and history. Educating people is often a viable solution for racism. Starting government funded immersion courses for Maori and improving the place of the language in schools. This would help the preservation of the Maori language as well as promoting the culture. Scholarships for poor Maori groups would give the poorer groups the opportunity to break out of poverty. It may be difficult to implement these reforms because of how much taxpayer money would be needed to make changes to the school system, make all new courses and to pay for the scholarships. There may also be social backlash to changes in the school system due to the fact that Maori would likely have to replace another subject. In such a rich country as

New Zealand, the public should be willing to make little sacrifices (higher taxes) to help their culture and the historic culture of the Maori.

The Maori suffer from many issues, including social/racism, environment, education, and heath is the way to solve these issues. Unfortunately, because they are so far integrated into European New Zealand culture that there is no way for them to go back to their way of life, so helping preserve their culture is the next best thing.

Works Cited Environment Guide. (2018, January 11). Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://www.environmentguide.org.nz/overview/maori-and-environmental-law/ Maori. (2018, January 31). Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/maori/ Māori relationship with the environment. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/environmental-reporting/environment-aotearoa2015-our-new-reporting-approach/m%C4%81ori Newsroom.co.nz, L. (2018, November 06). Our racist education system. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/108414195/our-racist-educationsystem Racial Discrimination in New Zealand: Māori at the Heart of the Debate. (2020, October 08). Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://www.wilpf.org/racial-discrimination-in-newzealand-maori-at-the-heart-of-the-debate/ Walters, L. (2018, November 06). Our racist education system. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/108414195/our-racist-education-system...