ABSTRACT
New Zealand adopted biculturalism as a government policy in the 1980s, embedding the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in legislation and emphasising the partnership between Maori and the Crown. This chapter utilises transnationalism to analyse theatrical works that redefine the national and move beyond a bicultural binary. The transnational is associated with “migrant, diasporic and refugee communities not directly emerging from colonial experience”. Transnational migrant narratives have been particularly prominent in the work toured from Aotearoa New Zealand in global world, highlighting processes of emplacement and displaces as an active site of contestation for identity formation. The chapter investigates shift towards transnationalism in the global world as Aotearoa New Zealand continues to negotiate its bicultural colonial legacy alongside multicultural identity, while globalising forces further complicate national concepts. The circulation routes of many of these Pasifika works to European markets demonstrate how Pacific exoticism has cultural currency in the global theatre marketplace, where works “of cultural difference circulate”.
