ABSTRACT
There is a provocative tendency in current post-colonial theories to overgeneralize the similarities between formerly colonized peoples. In Australia, Canada and Aotearoa/New Zealand in particular, there is an assumed similarity in the discovery and appropriation of land, and its long-term consequences. Significantly, though, Aotearoa/New Zealand is not a multicultural society, applying generic policy templates of diversity, difference and ‘celebration’ of many ‘cultures’. Instead, the nation maintains a policy of biculturalism, marking and acknowledging two communities: the indigenous Maori and the (white) settler populations, the Pakeha. This policy has dense problems but also profound strengths. It serves to mark New Zealand differences, but also creates an important lens through which to understand sport.
