Indigenous youth, nationhood, and the politics of belonging

Abstract

Reconciliation narratives in post-conflict and post-settler societies and within divided populations underpinmuch of the official discourse about national identity. Within these narratives, belonging and civic harmony are heavily emphasized. Indigenous young peoples, however, do not necessarily identify with the notions of belonging, home, civic harmony, and nationhood that are embedded in settler or Crown discourses and often feel excluded or marginalized by these official memory regimes. Previous research shows that politicized constructs of belonging and cultural alienation are developed by marginalized young people in response to these tensions which have a powerful impact on their perceptions in later years of life. In light of this evidence, this chapter explores the way that divergent interpretations of national identity are navigated by indigenous young people in New Zealand. Indigenous Māori youth are positioned in this chapter as active historical agents who have produced their own historical memories and practices of belonging and national identity that sit outside official discourses. These cultural memory repertoires speak directly to the conflicts of the past and their ongoing impact on what it means to be young andMāori in contemporary New Zealand. In response, indigenous Māori youth create parallel stories drawn from both official (Crown) sources and tribal histories, which act as politicized counter-narratives that suggest a range of possible histories and ways of belonging.