King Charles III isn’t the only monarch of New Zealand, nor has he really ever been called the “connector of peoples” like the one discussed in this article. On September 5th, Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō was anointed the Te Arikinui Kuīni (the Supreme Chief, Queen) of Aotearoa (the indigenous Māori name for New Zealand) at a pivotal time for New Zealand’s indigenous population.
Like all island countries in the Pacific, save the Kingdom of Tonga, New Zealand was colonized by a European power during the European colonialism era from 1700s to the 1920s. And now, like many other Pacific Island nations, the Kiwi government is pushing the indigenous people of the North and South Islands aside – breaking down and reversing fifty years of progress for Māori rights.
For generations, the people of the Pacific Islands have been largely erased from the pages of history.
Despite this widespread perceived invisibility, Pacific Islanders have a rich history and culture that has had a profound impact on the world, and what’s going on in New Zealand right now is a good example of the struggle that Pacific Islanders worldwide are facing to preserve their land and their identities.
In this article, we’ll dive into New Zealand’s new Māori queen, her role in this large moment, and the stories, struggles, and celebrations of Pacific Islanders around the world and here at Pitman.
A Brief History of the Colonization of Aotearoa
As the story goes, Europeans had discovered the islands of New Zealand in 1642 – but the Polynesians had already been there since around 1200 AD. Over that 400-year period, the Māori developed a rich and full culture distinct from its Polynesian cousins in Samoa, Hawai’i, Tonga, and Easter Island.
However, the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on February 6, 1840 established a formal connection between the British Crown (now embodied in the government of New Zealand) and the Māori people.
The British saw Te Tiriti o Waitangi – as it’s known in Māori – as the Māori tribes of New Zealand submitting to their rule, moving to revoke the lands, rights, and sovereignty of the tribes. The colonialists and then the New Zealand government would continue to suppress Māori rights outlined in the treaty.
Until they started to fight back.
The Fight for Māori Rights
Beginning in the 1970s, Māori protesters from many different iwi (tribes) began to demonstrate their solidarity with one another to fight for their rights and sovereignty.
The main concern of these protests? Addressing the shortcomings of the Crown and the New Zealand government to fulfill their responsibilities in the Treaty of Waitangi.
And when better to make a statement than the 150th anniversary of Te Tiriti, when HM Queen Elizabeth II herself would be visiting New Zealand to meet with the Prime Minister and several members of the Māori high ranks to commemorate the anniversary?
On Waitangi Day 1990, the 150th anniversary of the signing of the treaty saw many Māori protesters heckling keynote speakers, all culminating in one protester throwing a t-shirt at the Queen – an event which was said to have left her shaken and in thought.
The protests against Her Majesty worked. Queen Elizabeth II issued a formal apology from the Crown in 1995 to the Tainui Māori iwi, whose lands the Crown (in the name of HM Queen Victoria) had gone to battle for in 1863 and then viciously took the lands of all iwi whose people stood up against the British for their rights.
And the tribe that Her Majesty apologized to? One of the main tribes of the Kīngitanga movement – the movement that elects a supreme chief and monarch that connects many of the Māori iwi tribes.
New Zealand’s New Queen
Te Tiriti to Māori people has always meant a level of understanding, sovereignty, and equality as patrons of the islands of New Zealand with the British crown.
So when it became evident that this equality would not be respected, various Māori tribes banded together to create the Kīngitanga movement: a movement that would reflect the British monarchy except in that the Supreme Chief would be chosen democratically by the leaders of each participating tribe.
Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō comes up to be the new monarch of theKīngitanga Māori after years of public service as the youngest daughter of Kīngi Tūheitia. The 27-year-old is the eighth of these monarchs and the second ever Kuīni, after her grandmother Te Atairangikaahu.
As Māori Queen, she is expected to fulfill the ceremonial duties of a monarch and unify the Māori people – even those from major tribes outside of the Kīngitanga movement, who respect her position even as they don’t officially are under her jurisdiction. She will also be the principal person to speak to foreign entities, such as the British monarch and the UN.
It’s these powers and responsibilities as the bridge between the Māori and the establishments of the world that have earned the Kuīni the title:
The Connectors of Peoples
Te Arikinui Kuīni (Supreme Chief, Queen) Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō buried her father and became the new Queen of the Kīngitanga. The media quickly dubbed her “the connector of peoples” – much like the Māori people that she now represents.
You see: ever since the start of the Māori protest movement, Māori citizens of New Zealand have fought for and regained their treaty-given rights and reclaimed some of their ancestral lands. In doing so, they’ve inspired the indigenous peoples of many neighboring countries.
Indigenous (or as they’re called in Australia, Black) Senator Lidia Thorpe of Australia went viral for swearing to “the colonizing Queen Elizabeth II” in August 2022 – one year after New Zealand Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi, was ejected from parliament sessions twice for criticizing the Crown’s colonizing history and nature.
(UPDATE: Just days before publishing this article, British King Charles III controversially scheduled a ten-day tour of Australia that began on October 18th. Upon his reception in the Australian parliament on October 20th, Senator Thorpe (in full indigenous dress) shouted things like “You our not our/my king”, “Give us a treaty, we want treaty in this country”, and “Give us back everything you stole from us.”
Her demonstration was one of many against the British monarch in a more and more republic-favoring Australia. Her escort out of the chamber made some wonder: what makes His Majesty so special that he can’t be yelled at for wrongdoings like the rest of us?
His Majesty is expected to conclude his tour by visiting Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, his first such appearance since his cancer diagnosis.
As Samoa is solely a member of the Commonwealth and not a Realm, they already do not recognize the British monarch as their Head of State — such protests as those in Australia have not been reported.)
Native Hawaiians both on the islands and in the Lower 48 states fighting for their sovereignty and survival from the overthrow of their kingdom in 1893 all the way through the lack of respect and aid from both the government and their fellow citizens in the rest of the United States in the wake of the 2023 Lahaina fires.
It’s clear that Pacific Islanders everywhere have had to consistently make bold moves in order to prevent their cultures and peoples from being erased from the world’s consciousness.
In Closing: An Unfiltered Conversation with Local Pacific Islanders
To finish this article, I wanted to have a conversation with some of our students here on campus of Pacific Islander descent.
I got the chance to speak with Tusi Elisaia, a twelfth grader you may have seen (or will see) on campus involved in yearbook and girls’ basketball. As a member of the Turlock/Modesto area’s sizable Samoan community, we had much to talk about from how she celebrates her identity to her thoughts on the erasure of Pacific Islanders from the world story.
First, I asked Tusi to describe what the term “Pacific Islander” means. Her response:
“Normally when people ask me what a Pacific Islander is, I give them the technical term – a person with the origins or background of the original peoples of the islands of Hawaii, Samoa or any other Pacific Islands.
But on a personal level, it’s more than where you come from, it’s who you are. The culture of our people is the most important part of being a Pacific Islander: the traditional dances, the traditions of honoring achievements and the elderly, our customs of celebrating those in our families we hold dear to our hearts, the music we create with our native languages – all of the many joys that our ancestors passed on to us.
We’re more than just the term ‘Pacific Islander’, I’m more than proud to be able to say I am a Pacific Islander.”
It was at this point in our correspondence that I decided to title this section as if I was talking with more than one person – because in a way, I was. Throughout our conversation, Tusi brought the knowledge and culture that had been passed to her by generations of people that came before.
I’m humbled to be able to pass the rest of our back-and-forth to you readers and I hope it provokes and encourages you to reflect on your own honoring of those who stood before you.
Next, I asked about what she does to celebrate her identity and ethnicity.
“I do a lot to celebrate my ethnicity. It usually starts at home; I have responsibilities that are intertwined with the culture that my parents had brought from their villages and incorporated in our lives since we were young.
A lot of the times when I go to football games for close relatives or my siblings or cousins, we always cheer loud and anytime one of our family’s names are called, we let out a big, loud fa’aumu, which is a battle cry that Samoan men had used when fighting but we use it nowadays to cheer on our families.
For my being a Samoan woman, at special events, my mother has my sisters and I learn traditional dances, called a Siva, that we normally perform at events like birthdays, graduations, or baby showers.”
As I was writing the next question, I thought about things I have brought up throughout this article and throughout my career as a journalist. From the Lahaina fires to the colonization of my own country made up of islands in the Austronesian Pacific to news stories about islands slipping under the sea and underwater parliament demonstrations by governments struggling to get the world to pay attention.
All this in mind, I asked the following: “Do you think that Pacific Islanders are overlooked or erased from the places that they live outside of the islands or from the world story as a whole?”
“The islands that aren’t well known are overlooked a lot. Most people around the world only know Hawai’i as a state and they tend to appropriate the Native Island. Hawai’i isn’t a trend nor should their culture be represented as that: they are a people, an ethnicity, a home to those who occupy the islands.”
Expanding further on this point, she said:
“I understand that Hawai’i is a part of America but that doesn’t give rights to Americans to whitewash its culture, disrespecting and discriminating against those natives who take their culture seriously. I have heard of a lot of ‘trends’ that take the traditions of Hawai’i and call it the ‘coconut aesthetic’, which is very offensive to actual islanders.
The aesthetic takes the stereotypical views of Hawai’i without actually taking the time and effort to get to know the culture deeper and make it seem like the islands are some kind of joke or costume to wear for Halloween or a theme for parties.”
If that sounds familiar, Tusi addressed that in the next sentence:
“It’s similar for other cultures: Hispanics, Chinese or other Asian ethnicities, even Black and Native American people.”
Concluding her response to the question, she stated:
“Not only are other islands [that are not as well known like Hawai’i] overlooked, we’re packed so tight to one category that if you were anything other than Hawaiian, people automatically stuff you under that one group, which is frustrating for the smaller, lesser known islands.”
I then wanted to ask if she knew of the new queen in New Zealand. She responded:
“I have not heard of the new Māori queen in New Zealand, my knowledge on most islands are quite limited, but I still respect them as much as my own. All I can say is that I am happy for New Zealand.
The most I know about the process of anointing who rules is that it’s done through the people instead of through heritage, which I find a lot more convenient and easy for the people to decide who rules over them rather than handing it down to someone in the family.
Regardless of my lack of knowledge, I support and am happy for any decisions resolved by the people of the islands.”
And isn’t that what we should all be doing? Regardless, to wrap our conversation up, I asked one last question: “What makes you proud to be a Pacific Islander/Samoan?”
She answered the question simply:
“My family makes me proud to be a Pacific Islander.
Growing up, my parents always taught me to be proud and embrace my culture because it makes me who I am as a person. I have always held my family close to my heart and they’re my number one priority.
My father taught me a lot on how his responsibilities are as the man of the house, which is very important in Samoan culture as is in other Pacific islands. He leads the household, has the final say in a lot of decisions, represents our family as a whole, and works his best to provide for our family so we can live a life of ease the best we can. He’s taught me a lot of lessons on working hard in life and to never give up so easily because anything can be done with the willpower to do it.
My mother has taught me a lot about what is done as a Samoan woman. We are usually the ones who clean the house while my father and brother are typically the ones who work –
or that’s how households are supposed to be. It’s the typical Victorian Age kind of standards, husbands work and provide while wives cook, clean, and serve.
But my parents have taught me that I don’t have to uphold those standards, just modify them a bit to fit my liking yet still respect the traditions of Samoan culture.
My culture brings personal joys to my life. I love learning new dances, embracing our language, seeing how much pride it brings to my family and I, and being able to indulge in our customs and traditions.
I will always be proud to call myself a Pacific Islander.”