The funny thing is, it probably wouldn't have bothered me much, if at all, if it had been a Latina calling me "Anglo." Mainly because "Anglo" just means something different in most Western-Hemisphere Spanish-speaking cultures
I agree on that one!
There are probably similar issues in New Zealand, but the thing that is handy is that if you have a good bloodline, you'll generally be able to recite it back to the waka. And they can't take that away from you no matter how white you are. Kai Tahu, the local iwi where I live, has O'Regans and Solomons in its move-shake ranks, meaning some of the key figures in the iwi are pretty damn fair and blue eyed and thin-lipped. My cousin's husband is, he claims, something like 1/16 Maori (but I think he must be about 1/4 something else because he is the blackest Maori I ever saw. I mean, seriously. Her best friend is 1/4 and she is blonde and pale.
It must be hard though. My mother used to work with a woman with Grace Kelly looks who is extremely Maori and was raised on a marae. Her nana always called her "my pakeha mokopuna", probably affectionately, but she always felt like an outsider, even though she was as Maori as anybody else in the family.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-07-20 08:29 am (UTC)I agree on that one!
There are probably similar issues in New Zealand, but the thing that is handy is that if you have a good bloodline, you'll generally be able to recite it back to the waka. And they can't take that away from you no matter how white you are. Kai Tahu, the local iwi where I live, has O'Regans and Solomons in its move-shake ranks, meaning some of the key figures in the iwi are pretty damn fair and blue eyed and thin-lipped. My cousin's husband is, he claims, something like 1/16 Maori (but I think he must be about 1/4 something else because he is the blackest Maori I ever saw. I mean, seriously. Her best friend is 1/4 and she is blonde and pale.
It must be hard though. My mother used to work with a woman with Grace Kelly looks who is extremely Maori and was raised on a marae. Her nana always called her "my pakeha mokopuna", probably affectionately, but she always felt like an outsider, even though she was as Maori as anybody else in the family.