“Some of My Best Friends are Maori but”: Cross-Ethnic Friendships, Ethnic Identity and Attitudes to Race Relations in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

New Zealand is sometimes held up as an example of model race relations. However, many would argue that prejudiced attitudes and discrimination toward Māori, the indigenous population, by Pākehā, descendants of its colonisers, still exist, both at structural and interpersonal levels. This thesis seeks to examine whether friendships between members of each group improve race relations or reinforce stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes. The solution to 'race relations' problems, it has often been suggested, is the development of friendships between people of different ethnic groups. Cross-ethnic friendships will result in increased knowledge, affection, understanding and empathy between people. Prejudice and racism will then cease. Friendly contact produces a realignment of identity, such that an individual's self-definition according to their in-group will be put aside in favour of a more inclusive identity. This modification of identity in turn reacts back upon attitudes, producing a change from conservative racism to liberal support of minorities. A body of literature setting out to test the above processes, which is loosely known as 'the contact hypothesis', provides qualified support for these ideas. However, an equally compelling argument has been made predicting that contact may have no effect or, at worst, a negative effect on attitudes and may, in fact, reinforce ethnocentrism, exclusivist ethnic identity and racist views. This more structural analysis acknowledges that macro-level conflicts which arise as a result of group interest may be less amenable to amelioration through micro-level interpersonal contact. This thesis asks whether contact is likely to promote unity or conflict. A case is made for a qualitative approach which provides the opportunity for detailed analysis of what 'contact', in the form of friendship, actually means; the ways in which identity, and ethnic identity particularly, is salient in such interactions; and how both of these factors are related to attitudes about 'race relations' issues expressed by New Zealanders. Interviews with 21 Māori and Pākehā respondents provide the data for analysis. Using a discourse analytic approach, I investigate how Māori and Pākehā represent themselves and their identities, friendships and attitudes by drawing on culturally-given discursive repertoires. While these are articulated using elements of a 'standard story' based on shared representations, these elements are manipulated to produce complex and plausible narratives of the individual's sense of self and their attitudes to race relations issues. A significant feature of accounts of friendship is a sense of trust and honesty in the relationship, but simultaneously, an awareness of impression management and strategic manipulation of such relationships exists. This is likely to confound the effect of 'contact'. A key feature of ethnic identity accounts is, in many cases, an ambivalence together with a sense of disinterest regarding ethnic identity, and less commonly, the existence of 'project' identities. The process of ethnic identity negotiation, in the form of both construction and deconstruction attempts, is mapped. Both the linguistic and conceptual or thematic tools available for the articulation of views and identity are examined. The influence of collective representations or ideologies of racism, and their resistance and challenging in oppositional discourses becomes central, as do other structural factors which modify the effects of interpersonal contact. A focus on the discursive aspects of the forms of articulation of these representations demonstrates that similar rhetorical and impression management tools are used to produce both the mainstream, conservative 'racist' discourse and more liberal, oppositional stances. The thesis concludes that while cross-ethnic friendships may go some way to reducing racist attitudes, macro-level factors such as the influence of ideology and perceptions of threat to one's group interest, will intervene to confound any clear correlations. In addition, the reverse effect on minority group members of friendships with majority members, results in an ambivalent identity for Māori and more conservative attitudes to race relations issues. In an attempt to bridge the micro/macro divide in social analysis, the thesis examines the manner in which individuals play a constructive role in the articulation of ideology into practice. A key focus is on the filtering, resistance and challenging of that ideology, in the form of possible ethnic identity claims and the expression of attitudes about race relations issues, which occurs in interpersonal interactions. The thesis concludes that contact is a necessary, but not sufficient condition, for the development of more positive 'race relations', being contingent upon the issues of identity, levels of engagement with alternative viewpoints and the strength of ideological influences.