A few years ago I made a video about the term Plastic Māori, and in this video I put forward the argument that more and more people are flipping the traditional meaning of this term (i.e. being negative), and identifying with it in a positive way.
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Some 3 years on since I made that video, I still believe this to be true.
Here’s why.
Collective identity.
In my first newsletter post, I talked about this idea of viewing culture through a fixed window; you can see it, but you don’t have access to it.
As an extension of this idea, I think it's easy to get caught up in the idea of ranking yourself on the “Māori Cultural Expertise” scale. At one end of the scale are people that we see as “cultural experts”; they know more about our culture than we could ever fathomably achieve. By virtue of a “scale” there has to be an “opposite” end; the end that we tell ourselves we sit at.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to see ourselves as “one” across the full quantum of that scale.
So, if I’m sitting at the bottom end of the scale, and the discourse I see online is that people with low cultural knowledge or appreciation are called Plastic Māori, then I naturally fit within that neatly-defined box.
In a world of digital connectedness we can find groupings of many unique factors, interests, and demographics. Just think about all the weird-and-wonderful Facebook Groups, Messenger Chat Groups, Discord Servers, and Subreddits there are online, bringing together seemingly random people around a common interest.
There’s a place that exists for Plastic Māori.
It is in that place that commonality, shared experience, and unity can be found.
“You’re plastic?...me too!”
It is through this shared identity that relationships form, a sense of belonging is found, and suddenly a historically negative term now becomes a term of unity for that subsect of the community. Some might argue that it is the wrong thing, or that it is the right thing, but in my opinion right versus wrong is not a metric to measure the grouping by.
Here are some of the comments received on this topic from YouTube:
I used to work in maori mental health many years ago (early 2000s) and we worked off a concept called the 5 faces of maoridom which talks about different groups of Maori from (traditional, assimilated disconnected etc). Pretty gruesome terms lol but the idea was that maori identity can occur in many ways. Your example of this on a linear line and people accepting where they are on the line and i guess that it's okay to go up and down that line (as life dictates) is very powerful.
I have felt like a Plastic Māori in the negative context. I grew up knowing i am Māori & semi immersed in te ao māori. My mātua tūpuna i te taha o tōku māmā were fluent, but never taught their tamariki, for fear of what happened to them to be repeated. My cousins i tēnei taha were closer to my mātua tūpuna & were taught a lot of things from them. My koro i te taha o tōku pāpā knew some but not all things māori, so both my parents missed out on learning te reo as tamariki & therefore couldn't tuku iho ki ahau. I am currently on my reo journey at 36 (4years in) & my māmā has joined me, but I still feel like I'm treading water when I hear fluent speakers, especially when they chuck in some kupu hōu. It has been enlightening learning so many new tikanga & getting in touch with where I whakapapa to. I still feel like a plastic māori, but if the term is like you say "becoming a term of endearment" then maybe thats ok.
i got called a plastic because i didnt like boilup 😂
(that last one made me chuckle!)
Heoi, some whakaaro for you to ponder, and you like please drop a comment below or on the video. I’d love to hear your insights.
Reo Resource - Te Kawenata Hou
This week’s Reo Resource is Te Kawenata Hou - The New Testament.
Personally, this is my favourite reo resource for ongoing learning of Te Reo Māori. I like that it has both languages side by side, which makes it simple to read, follow along, and cross-check if you’re stuck on anything.
An interesting fact about the translation is that the Reo Māori version is a translation of the Reo Pākehā text. Both texts are translated directly from the original Greek text of the New Testament. Neither text is a direct translation of the other, and they represent different types of translation. The Māori text is a form-for-form translation, following the structure of the Greek sentences as closely as possible in Te Reo Māori. While the Pākehā text version is a meaning-for-meaning translation, which changes sentence structure in order to express the meaning naturally in English.
My version (very worn out)
Excerpt from the pages
You can order a copy from many online retailers. Here is one of the smaller retailers you can order a copy from (no affiliation): https://www.maoripostal.co.nz/bilingualbible/te-kawenata-hou-bilingual-bible
Te Ūkaipō Update
To kick off the new year our committee is holding a full-day workshop today (19 Jan) to strategise, plan, and initiate a range of upcoming changes, events, and programs in 2025.
Some of the key areas for discussion and resolution are:
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New governance structure with the implementation of formal Working Groups, Projects, and Programs.
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Working Groups help to investigate ideas and opportunities, and make recommendation back to the committee on whether we can build a project or program to address the issue at hand.
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Projects help to uplift our capability in certain areas.
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Programs are the vessel for “what we do”.
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This structure gives the ability to look at opportunities, build our capabilities, and deliver services in a structured and sustainable manner.
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Confirming our Program categories of strategic partnerships, well-being and support, cultural heritage, community connection, education and skills, and organisational support.
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Confirming our cadence of regular administrative actions across compliance, meetings, finance, and communications.
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And by extension, agreeing on regular processes across these areas.
Many organisations have a clear separation between Governance and Operations. As a small group, a lot of the lines between these areas are blurred and it can be quite a task to “break” the bonds of wearing multiple hats and having multiple responsibilities. We are slowly working towards this. The end state ideally would be an independent board, and an operations team with a single lead that reports to the board.
Let’s see where 2025 takes us!
Mauri ora
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