Being and becoming Pākehā
Unfolding the places of colonisation behind my pepeha
Keywords:
Pākehā, pepeha, decolonisation, poetry, cultural identityAbstract
In her recent book, “This Pākehā life: An unsettled memoir”, New Zealand Professor Alison Jones (2020) wrote about how she is continuing to become Pākehā in her own way. In a similar vein, this article is a personal reflection on my story of how I am becoming Pākehā. Here I depict Pākehā identity as having many “folds” that I can grow in over time. I focus on two folds that I have grown in recently: knowing my coloniser ancestry more keenly through engaging in critical family history, and continuing in my decolonisation journey through retelling family history in a way that makes colonisation visible. A focal point for this growth in Pākehā identity was the discovery of layers of colonisation in the places that feature in my pepeha (Connor, 2019). I retell my pepeha in a poem, which highlights these layers, and conclude with implications for other counsellors to consider when noticing recent growth in their own becoming as Pākehā.
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