Academic Journal

Be(com)ing an Asian tangata tiriti

Bibliographic Details
Title: Be(com)ing an Asian tangata tiriti
Authors: Lincoln Dam
Source: Kōtuitui, Vol 18, Iss 3, Pp 213-232 (2023)
Subject Terms: Asian–Māori relations, Asian New Zealanders, Indigenous–Settler relations, tangata tiriti, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Social Sciences
Publisher Information: Taylor & Francis Group, 2023.
Publication Year: 2023
Collection: LCC:Social Sciences
Description: ABSTRACTIn Aotearoa-New Zealand, talk of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s foundational colonial contract) often centres on Indigenous Māori and Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) relations. But, as an Asian New Zealander, where do our Asian (im)migrants/communities fit into such discussions? What are our responsibilities to Māori, the Indigenous people of the land, and Te Tiriti? How might wisdom inherited from our ancestors, in particular, Asian philosophies, help us to think through these questions? Here, I document my journey hitherto of be(com)ing an Asian tangata tiriti – a person/people group belonging here via Te Tiriti. I critically reflect on my (family’s) story and struggles with (not) belonging as Asians in Aotearoa-New Zealand. Learning from te ao Māori (the Māori world), I then reach for wisdom inherited from my own ancestors. I demonstrate how Chinese, Thai and Theravāda Buddhist philosophies on relationality and ethics teach me to live a virtuous life with others and, by extension, to have good, productive relationships with Māori and Te Tiriti. This paper creates possibilities for other (Asian) (im)migrants to reimagine their relationships with Indigenous peoples and treaties here, and elsewhere, and to be(come) tangata tiriti (or equivalent) too.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1177083X
1177-083X
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/1177-083X
DOI: 10.1080/1177083X.2022.2129078
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/dce5bdc0920c4915b342678c45ad885c
Accession Number: edsdoj.5bdc0920c4915b342678c45ad885c
ISSN: 1177083X
DOI: 10.1080/1177083X.2022.2129078
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
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