DOERR, Neriko (Cornell) DISAVOWED DIVISION; DESIRED DIVISION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LABELING OF BICULTURALISM AS "SEPARATISM" IN AN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the word "Separatism" currently encodes a critique of policies intended to institutionalize the “cultural differences” between the Maori (indigenous people) and Pakeha (descendants of European settlers). Earlier, “Anti_separatism had been used in high_profile protests against the Springboks, the all_white South African rugby team.
Ironically, the anti_separatism that was used to challenge racial oppression in South Africa is now used to dismantle policies originally implemented to fight oppression of the Maori. Drawing on ethnographic data from a secondary school, I examine the conditions, processes, and effects of the controversies surrounding the school bilingual unit which aims to revitalize the Maori language. Observing that the school divides students constantly by various axes, such as age and academic/sports ability, I ask: when does a division among students becomes worrisome and an instance of "separatism"? who decides it, under what circumstances, and for what effects? what are the relationship between "problematic" and "unproblematic" divisions? In this process I can highlight what views of the social world the school, and through it Aotearoa New Zealand, produces, endorses and sanctions.