To Belong in Aotearoa New Zealand: Latin American Migrant Experiences in Multicultural Auckland

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, I give voice to Latin Americans' ideas about belonging in Aotearoa New Zealand society. As a small, low-profile migrant community in Auckland, their self-positioning in the urban social matrix is especially interesting because of New Zealand's official policy as a bicultural nation, aspiring to an equal partnership between indigenous Māori and Pākehā (European New Zealanders). This study is situated in the context of transnational migration research which stresses the potential for migrants to use transnational linkages to negotiate ‘belonging’ in the receiving society. Due to New Zealand's revised immigration laws in the late 1980s, the cultural composition of Auckland has changed enormously in the last decades. Increasing non-white immigration has challenged New Zealand's national identity as a bicultural, but predominantly white, society in the South Pacific. However, it is unclear where other ethnic groups are situated in this bicultural framework. Based on fieldwork and discursive accounts, I scrutinise Latin American migrants' understanding of biculturalism in a multicultural context. I am particularly interested in their self-positioning in the wider social matrix and in the contested forms of (self-)inclusion and exclusion. I situate these practices in migrants' biographies as they are shaped by political ideas, class and economic opportunities. I argue that these conditions are key in migrants' perceptions of ‘belonging’ and self-positioning in the urban ambit. Keywords: Transnational MigrationBiculturalismMulticulturalismBelongingNew ZealandLatin America Acknowledgements I thank all participants for sharing their experiences with me and for their hospitality. I am also grateful to Gordon Winder for his comments and to the five anonymous JEMS reviewers’ suggestions on this article. Notes 1. The term Päkehä is contested and there is no agreed definition of its meaning (see Belich Citation2001; Spoonley Citation2005: 102). In this article, I use it to refer to ‘European New Zealander’. 2. The Treaty of Waitangi is considered to be the country's founding document. It entails principles of governance between Māori and Pākehā and is crucial in the debate on social positioning, power and identity in Aotearoa New Zealand (Durie Citation1998; Sharp Citation1997). 3. All participant names have been altered to ensure confidentiality. I have translated all quotes from Spanish into English, except the interview with Juan—conducted in English. Latin American migration to New Zealand differs considerably from Latin American migration to Europe or the US—far bigger in scale and with many indigenous peoples of the Americas. It also includes contract labour and a long history of changing policies. 4. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workingholiday/ [accessed 10 August 2008]. 5. Note that, in the 2006 census, people were asked to indicate the ethnic group or groups with which they identified, including those who indicated more than one group. Some 2,253 identified as Latin American. Asked for their ethnicity, 4,377 individuals are classified as Latin American (Statistics New Zealand 2006b). The Brazilian community (1,761) notably outstripped the Chileans (1,377) for the first time (see also Wilson Citation2007). 6. ‘Kiwi’ is a colloquial term for New Zealand nationals. The name stems from a flightless bird unique to New Zealand.