Ethnic Identity and Tensions in Nz

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Ethnic Identity in Aotearoa New Zealand and why there might be tension between ethnic identities of different communities. Identity- The fact of being who or what a person or thing is. (Oxford Dictionary , 2012) The world identity is derived from the Latin word identitas, this means sameness. It the context of this assignment we are using the word with a social perspective. This refers to an ethnic/cultural groups identity, the groups behaviors/traditions/ways from both their perspective and how they a viewed by others. This topic has a large amount of bias involved and it is important to acknowledge that. My perspective is due to my background and experiences. I am an Australian of European decent and have spent approximately 2.5 years living in New Zealand since 2007, 95% of my time was in the South Island. When analyzing ethnicity in Aotearoa New Zealand we need be aware of what ethnicities the population identifies with. As of 2006 the 5 main ethnicities identified comprised of 67.6% NZ European, 14.6% Maori, 9.2% Asian, 6.9% Pacific Islander and 11.1% who defined themselves as New Zealander meaning they identify with their local Aotearoa New Zealand heritage (Statistics New Zealand, 2006). Being a multicultural country it is possible to identify with more than 1 ethnicity; hence why the percentages do not equal 100%. When exploring the notion of ethnic identity and tensions in Aotearoa New Zealand, the first thing that we need to understand before we can discuss tensions between these communities is the communities themselves and their history in Aotearoa New Zealand. After gaining an understanding for the 5 predominate ethnicities and their background we can discuss why there might be tensions between these ethnicities. I will introduce these ethnicities and their identities in the chronological order they arrived to Aotearoa New Zealand

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