Indigenous leisure events in times of turmoil: Resistance and resilience

Abstract

In Aotearoa New Zealand, Matariki is a special time in the Māori world. The rising of the Matariki constellation (also known as Pleiades) is a time for remembering the dead, celebrating the present, and preparing the ground for the coming year. While its observation had all but ceased by 1940, it has experienced a resurgence since the 1990s (Whaanga et al., 2020).

In 2020, the Labour party promised to make Matariki a public holiday if they were elected to government. As the only public holiday recognising the country’s Indigenous culture, this was highly significant. It was opposed by the opposition parties, some who made comments that showed “contempt for Māori culture” (RNZ, 2022). The bill passed and the first Matariki holiday was observed in June 2022 with communities around the country holding events, generating increased positive media coverage. In 2023, the opposition parties were elected to power, immediately announcing plans to repeal or review policies designed to improve outcomes for Māori (Duff, 2022). This generated a backlash amongst Māori (and many non-Māori).

This qualitative study critically examines media accounts of leisure events celebrating Matariki over the period 2020-2024. We explore how, in this time of turmoil and increased hostility towards ‘things Māori’, media narratives frame events as sites of resistance and resilience. To foreground Māori voice in the findings, we use an Indigenous analytic framework drawing on four Māori principles: Te Ao Māori (the Māori world); tino rangatiratanga (selfdetermination, governance and autonomy); whanaungatanga (relationships and connection) and te reo (Māori language).

We find that the Aotearoa NZ media have begun to connect the issues facing contemporary Māori with colonisation, and make them more visible. We conclude they are beginning to portray a more accurate ‘reality’ of the contemporary Māori lifeworld, using Matariki as a lens.