Abstract
My mother was a Pākehā child placed into the care of a mixed descent Kāi Tahu whānau in 1929 and later legally adopted. Yet it was illegal for Māori to adopt Pākehā children at that time. The stories of the unique cross-cultural and multi-generational environment my mother was raised in have lain latent and undocumented, like most other Pākehā children raised in similar circumstances. The aim of this research is to explore how the identity and sense of belonging of a Pākehā girl, my mother, was influenced by her whānau environment and the contested space of a Māori whānau raising a Pākehā child in these times.
Taking a Kaupapa Māori research approach, I use the te ao Māori concepts of whakapapa and whanaungatanga as a framework for analysis of historical accounts, and whānau oral history and photographs. Through collaborative storytelling with my whānau, we uncover and tell the story of a Pākehā girl raised in one of the founding mixed descent whānau of southern Aotearoa New Zealand. As a mōkai child, she was raised according to the principles of the customary childcare practice of whāngai. Utilising analysis of historical records, academic literature, and whānau oral histories, I establish that while much tikanga knowledge and practices had been lost in our whānau to the effects of colonisation, the fundamental principles of whanaungatanga, manaakitanga and aroha survived. These were key influences in the formation of my mother’s identity and the way she lived her life, which exhibit characteristics more aligned to a Māori worldview than common Pākehā perspectives.
I propose that while my mother can never have either a Māori or Kāi Tahu identity by tradition because of lack of whakapapa by descent, she can be a highly valued and well-loved member of her mixed descent whānau and a participating member of the Kāi Tahu whānui through whanaungatanga. Furthermore, contrary to a contested space, my mother’s diverse whānau environment was akin to Bhabha’s (1994) ‘third space’ moving beyond the binary of Māori/Pākehā, and transcending the traditional boundaries set by public discourse and legal statutes. This legacy inherited from our tīpuna continues to be lived on a daily basis in our whānau today.