Truth-myths of New Zealand

Asian Journal of Philosophy 2 (1):1-16 (2023)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This article probes the gap between different cultural perspectives in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand, a nation-state founded on a bicultural encounter between indigenous Māori and settler British. One source of misunderstandings is a set of distorted versions of historical and social reality that have been promulgated through schooling and national media. These distortions of truth take the form of certain dubious, denigratory ideas about Māori, accepted as commonsense truth by Pākehā (European New Zealanders) to bolster their feelings of security and superiority in relation to Māori. I refer to these ideologies as the ‘truth-myths of New Zealand’ that operate like thought weapons of Whitepower within the apparently harmonious social context of Aotearoa New Zealand, dubbed with a longstanding reputation for the ‘best race relations in the world’. The purpose of this article is to focus in on the truth-myths themselves, represented by three typical statements of key ideas, presenting and explaining each one, and commenting on their significance and ongoing influence in national education, and society more generally.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,130

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Exile, Maori and lesbian.Michelle Erai - 2004 - In Lynne Alice & Lynne Star (eds.), Queer in Aotearoa New Zealand. Palmerston North, N.Z.: Dunmore Press. pp. 35--46.
Ethics in a bicultural context.Alastair V. Campbell - 1995 - Bioethics 9 (2):149–154.

Analytics

Added to PP
2023-01-17

Downloads
33 (#682,329)

6 months
6 (#851,135)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

White Ignorance.Charles Wright Mills - 2007 - In Shannon Sullivan & Nancy Tuana (eds.), Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance. State Univ of New York Pr. pp. 11-38.
Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance.Robert N. Proctor & Londa Schiebinger (eds.) - 2008 - Stanford University Press Stanford, California.
Defending science from what?Georgina Tuari Stewart - 2024 - Educational Philosophy and Theory 56 (6):509-512.
The Treaty and the word: the colonization of Māori philosophy.Moana Jackson - 1992 - In Graham Oddie & Roy W. Perrett (eds.), Justice, Ethics, and New Zealand Society. Oxford University Press. pp. 1--10.

View all 11 references / Add more references