Pākehā#Attitudes to the term

The etymology of {{Lang|mi|Pākehā}} is uncertain. The most likely sources are the Māori words {{Lang|mi|pākehakeha}} or {{Lang|mi|pakepakehā}}, which refer to an oral tale of a "mythical, human like being, with fair skin and hair who possessed canoes made of reeds which changed magically into sailing vessels".{{cite journal |last=Ranford |first=Jodie |date=2000 |title='Pakeha', its origin and meaning |url= https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/items/0b66e93e-34bb-434f-88ad-dd916fd642f5 |journal=ACE Papers |volume=6: Graduate Student Work – Issues in Contemporary Education. |article-number=Paper 8 |publisher=Auckland College of Education |pages=64–70 |access-date=11 May 2025 |via=University of Auckland}} When Europeans first arrived they rowed to shore in longboats, facing backwards:{{cite encyclopedia |first=Te Ahukaramū Charles |last=Royal |date=2005 |title=Māori – The arrival of Europeans |url= https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori/page-3 |encyclopedia=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=30 April 2025}}{{further citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=Source verifies little of the provided text}}

{{blockquote|We stayed at Whitianga and their ship arrived. Our elders saw their ship and said that it was a god and that the crew were goblins. The ship anchored and a boat started to row to shore. Our elders then said, "Indeed they are goblins as they have eyes in the backs of their heads. That is why they row with their backs to the shore."White, John. Ancient History of the Maori. Vol. 5. Wellington: Government Printer, 1888, p. 105.}}

{{multiple image|perrow = 1|total_width=300

| image1 = An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His present Majesty for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, and successively performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain (14796336363).jpg

| caption1 = Drawing of a traditional waka showing Māori rowers facing forwards (1773)

| caption2 =

| footer =

}}

In traditional Māori canoes or {{Lang|mi|waka}}, paddlers face the direction of travel. This is supposed to have led to the belief by some, that the sailors were patupaiarehe (supernatural beings):{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

{{blockquote|Pakepakehā is another word for patupaiarehe. It may have given rise to the term Pākehā (a New Zealander of European descent). To Māori, Europeans resembled the pakepakehā or patupaiarehe, with their fair skin and light-coloured hair.{{cite encyclopedia |first=Martin |last=Wikaira |date=2007 |title=Patupaiarehe – Encounters with patupaiarehe |url= https://teara.govt.nz/en/patupaiarehe/page-2 |encyclopedia=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=30 April 2025}}}}

There have been several dubious interpretations given to the word {{Lang|mi|Pākehā}}. One claims that it derives from {{Lang|mi|poaka}}, the Māori word for pig, and {{Lang|mi|keha}}, one of the Māori words for flea, and therefore expresses derogatory implications.{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=Claire |last2=Nabila |first2=Jaber |last3=Anglem |first3=Jim |title=Pakeha Identity and Whitness: What does it mean to be White? |url=https://sites.otago.ac.nz/Sites/article/viewFile/223/255 |access-date=17 September 2017 |page=84 |journal=Sites: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies |series=New Series |volume=10|issue=2|date=2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128015201/https://sites.otago.ac.nz/Sites/article/viewFile/223/255|archive-date=28 January 2018 |doi=10.11157/sites-vol10iss2id223|doi-access=free }} There is no etymological support for this notion—like all Polynesian languages, Māori is generally very conservative in terms of vowels; it would be extremely unusual for pā- to derive from {{Lang|mi|poaka}}. The word {{Lang|mi|poaka}} itself may come from the proto-Polynesian root puaka, known in every Polynesian language ({{Lang|to|puaka}} in Tongan, Uvean, Futunian, Rapa, Marquisian, Niuean, Rarotongan, Tokelauan, and Tuvaluan; it evolved to the later form {{Lang|sm|puaʻa|italic=yes}} in Samoan, Tahitian, some Rapa dialects, and Hawaiian); or it might be borrowed or mixed with the English 'porker'. It is hard to say, since Polynesian peoples populated their islands bringing pigs with them from East Asia, but did not bring pigs to New Zealand. The more common Māori word for flea is {{Lang|mi|puruhi}}. It is also sometimes claimed that {{Lang|mi|Pākehā}} means 'white pig' or 'unwelcome white stranger'. However, no part of the word signifies 'pig', 'white', 'unwelcome', or 'stranger'.(1) Williams, H. W. (1971). A dictionary of the Maori language (7th ed.). Wellington, New Zealand: Government Printer. (2) Ngata, H. M. (1993). English-Maori dictionary. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media. (3) Ryan, P. (1997). The Reed dictionary of modern Maori (2nd ed.). Auckland, New Zealand: Reed. (4) Biggs, B. (1981). Complete English–Maori dictionary. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press.

The term was in use by the late 18th century. In December 1814, the Māori children at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands were "no less eager to see the packaha than the grown folks".{{cite web

| first = John Liddiard | last = Nicholas

| url = https://archive.org/stream/narrativeavoyag00nichgoog#page/n305/mode/2up

| title = Narrative of a voyage to New Zealand, performed in the years 1814 and 1815, in company with the Rev. Samuel Marsden

| publisher = J. Black and son, London

| date = 1817

| access-date = 25 September 2015}}

The Oxford Dictionary of English (2011) defines 'Pakeha' as 'a white New Zealander'.{{Cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of English |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Stevenson |editor-first=Angus |isbn=9780199571123|edition=3rd |location=[Oxford] |oclc=729551189}} The Oxford Dictionary of New Zealandisms (2010) defines the noun Pākehā as 'a light-skinned non-Polynesian New Zealander, especially one of British birth or ancestry as distinct from a Māori; a European or white person'; and the adjective as 'of or relating to Pākehā; non-Māori; European, white'.{{Cite book|last=Deverson|first=Tony|title=The Oxford Dictionary of New Zealandisms|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-558497-4 |location=South Melbourne, Vic.|oclc=608074715}}

Māori in the Bay of Islands and surrounding districts had no doubts about the meaning of the word in the 19th century. In 1831, thirteen {{Lang|mi|rangatira}} from the Far North met at Kerikeri to compose a letter to King William IV, seeking protection from the French, "the tribe of Marion". Written in Māori, the letter used the word {{Lang|mi|Pākehā}} to mean 'British European', and the words {{Lang|mi|tau iwi}} to mean 'strangers (non-British)'—as shown in the translation that year of the letter from Māori to English by the missionary William Yate.Binney, Judith (2007). Te Kerikeri 1770–1850, The Meeting Pool, Bridget Williams Books (Wellington) in association with Craig Potton Publishing (Nelson). {{ISBN|978-1-877242-38-0}} . Chapter 13, "The Māori Leaders' Assembly, Kororipo Pā, 1831", by Manuka Henare, pp 114–116. To this day, the Māori term for the English language is {{Lang|mi|reo Pākehā}}. Māori also used other terms such as {{Lang|mi|tupua}} (supernatural, or object of fear, strange being),{{Citation |url=http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?dictionaryKeywords=tupua&n=1&idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&search.x=0&search.y=0 |title=Māori Dictionary |publisher=Maoridictionary.co.nz |access-date=31 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429135233/http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?dictionaryKeywords=tupua&n=1&idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&search.x=0&search.y=0 |archive-date=29 April 2013 }} {{Lang|mi|kehua}} (ghosts),{{Citation |url=http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?dictionaryKeywords=kehua&n=1&idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&search.x=0&search.y=0 |title=Māori Dictionary |publisher=Maoridictionary.co.nz |access-date=31 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429131600/http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?dictionaryKeywords=kehua&n=1&idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&search.x=0&search.y=0 |archive-date=29 April 2013 }} and {{Lang|mi|maitai}} (metal or referring to persons foreign){{Citation |url=http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?dictionaryKeywords=metal&n=1&idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&search.x=0&search.y=0 |title=Māori Dictionary |publisher=Maoridictionary.co.nz |date=30 June 1903 |access-date=31 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429135854/http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?dictionaryKeywords=metal&n=1&idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&search.x=0&search.y=0 |archive-date=29 April 2013 }} to refer to some of the earliest visitors.{{Cite journal |title=The First Pakehas to Visit The Bay of Islands |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TAH196506.2.8 |journal=Te Ao Hou |date=June 1965 |publisher=Māori Affairs Department |via=Papers Past |access-date=18 May 2024}}

However, The Concise Māori Dictionary (Kāretu, 1990) defines the word {{Lang|mi|Pākehā}} as 'foreign, foreigner (usually applied to white person)', while the English–Māori, Māori–English Dictionary (Biggs, 1990) defines it as 'white (person)'. Sometimes the term applies more widely to include all non-Māori.Orsman, Elizabeth and Harry (1994). The New Zealand Dictionary, Educational Edition. New House Publishers, Auckland. {{ISBN|1-86946-949-6}}. Page 193, second meaning. No Māori dictionary cites {{Lang|mi|Pākehā}} as derogatory. Some early European settlers who lived among Māori and adopted aspects of Māoritanga became known as 'Pākehā Māori'.{{Cite book |title=Pakeha Maori: The Extraordinary Story of the Europeans Who Lived as Maori in Early New Zealand|first=Trevor|last=Bentley |isbn=9780143007838 |date=3 September 2007|publisher=Penguin }}

In Māori, plural noun-phrases of the term include {{Lang|mi|ngā Pākehā}} (the definite article) and {{Lang|mi|he Pākehā}} (the indefinite article). When the word was first adopted into English, the usual plural was 'Pakehas'. However, speakers of New Zealand English are increasingly removing the terminal 's' and treating the term as a plural noun.[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pakeha 'pakeha noun']. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pakeha 'plural Pākehā or Pākehās']. Dictionary: Cambridge University Press. There is also evidence Māori coined the term in the plural as well as in the singular on first encounter with Europeans:

{{blockquote|When the Māori heard the soft and loud sounds of the language of Captain Cook and his sailors the Māori called them 'Pakepakehā', which was shortened to 'Pākehā'. The Māori created this name, which is still used. I tētahi whawhaitanga i muri mai, ka riro tētahi o ngā pū repo a te Pākehā i te Māori, nō muri mai ka tuomakia mai e tētahi Pākehā nō Amerika, he kaupoai (TP 7/1900:8). / In a later fight, one of the cannons of the Pākehā^(plural) was taken by the Māori, and later on, a Pākehā^(singular) from America, a cowboy, came hurrying up.[https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/4997 'Pākehā'].Te Aka Māori dictionary. official website: maoridictionary.co.nz.}}

A survey of 6,507 New Zealanders in 2009 showed no support for the claim that it is associated with a negative evaluation;{{cite journal |last1=Sibley |first1=Chris G. |author-link=Chris Sibley |last2=Houkamau |first2=Carla A. |author-link2=Carla Houkamau |last3=Hoverd |first3=William James |date=2011 |title=Ethnic Group Labels and Intergroup Attitudes in New Zealand: Naming Preferences Predict Distinct Ingroup and Outgroup Biases |journal=Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=201–220 |doi=10.1111/j.1530-2415.2011.01244.x}} however, some reject it on the ground that they claim it is offensive,Mulgan, R.G. and Aimer, P. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=4zteAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT34 Politics in New Zealand] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170915070931/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4zteAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT34 |date= 15 September 2017 }}" 3rd ed., Auckland University Press pp.29–31 or they object to being named in a language other than their own. In 2013, the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study carried out by the University of Auckland found no evidence that the word was widely considered to be derogatory; however, only 12 per cent of New Zealanders of European descent actively chose to be identified by the term, with the remainder preferring 'New Zealander' (53 per cent), 'New Zealand European' (25 per cent) or 'Kiwi' (17 per cent).{{Cite news |title= Research busts myth that 'Pākehā' is a derogatory term |url= https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1302/S00022/research-busts-myth-that-pakeha-is-a-derogatory-term.htm |publisher=University of Auckland |date=5 February 2013 |via=Scoop |access-date= 19 May 2024}}{{Cite news |title= 'Pakeha' not a dirty word – survey |url= https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/pakeha-not-a-dirty-word-survey/WS2O3CJCJYFITT5SICG2PM2IFM/ |newspaper= NZ Herald|date= 5 February 2013 |access-date= 19 May 2024}}

European New Zealanders vary in their attitudes toward the word when it is applied to themselves.{{cite book |last=Bell |first=Avril |date=1996 |chapter='We're just New Zealanders': Pakeha identity politics |chapter-url= https://www.academia.edu/1284437 |editor-last1=Spoonley |editor-first1=Paul |editor-last2=Pearson |editor-first2=David G. |editor-last3=Macpherson |editor-first3=Cluny |title=Nga Patai: Racism and Ethnic Relations in Aotearoa/New Zealand |location=Palmerston North |publisher=Dunmore |pages=144–158, 280–281 |access-date=20 December 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180506214900/http://www.academia.edu/1284437/Were_just_New_Zealanders_Pakeha_identity_politics |archive-date=6 May 2018 }} Some embrace it while others object to the word, sometimes strongly, saying it is offensive or derogatory, carrying implications of being an outsider, although this is often based on false information about the meaning of the term.{{cite web

| first = Tapu | last = Misa

| url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10371473

| archive-url = https://archive.today/20120628231307/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10371473

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = 28 June 2012

| title = Ethnic Census status tells the whole truth

| work = New Zealand Herald

| publisher = APN Holdings

| date = 8 March 2006

| access-date = 15 July 2010}} Some believe being labelled Pākehā compromises their status and their birthright links to New Zealand.[http://www.hrc.co.nz/hrc_new/hrc/cms/files/documents/18-Jan-2007_10-43-41_Whitiwhiti_korero__05_-_Mar_06.doc 'Pakeha' Identity] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031145026/http://www.hrc.co.nz/hrc_new/hrc/cms/files/documents/18-Jan-2007_10-43-41_Whitiwhiti_korero__05_-_Mar_06.doc |date=31 October 2007 }}, Whitiwhiti Korero, issue 5, March 2006. Human Rights Commission. In the 1986 census, over 36,000 respondents ignored the ethnicities offered, including Pākehā, writing-in their ethnicity as 'New Zealander', or ignoring the question completely. A joint response code of 'NZ European or Pakeha' was tried in the 1996 census, but was replaced by "New Zealand European" in later censuses because it drew what Statistics New Zealand described as a "significant adverse reaction from some respondents".Statistics New Zealand. (2009). [http://www.stats.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/213CBD4E-56C4-4419-85FC-5A1C010B7859/41187/DraftReportofaReviewoftheOfficialEthnicityStatisti.pdf Draft report of a review of the official ethnicity statistical standard: proposals to address issues relating to the 'New Zealander' response] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704143742/http://www.stats.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/213CBD4E-56C4-4419-85FC-5A1C010B7859/41187/DraftReportofaReviewoftheOfficialEthnicityStatisti.pdf |date=4 July 2009 }}. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand. {{ISBN|978-0-478-31583-7}}. Accessed 27 April 2009. Sociologist Paul Spoonley criticised the new version, saying that many Pākehā would not identify as European.

{{cite web

| url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/census-poses-a-38m-question/VHDGGKRNEJX6N3IXJ6DHUW63HY/

| title = Census poses a $38m question

| work = New Zealand Herald

| publisher = APN Holdings

| date = 10 March 2001

| access-date = 15 July 2010}}

The term Pākehā is also sometimes used among New Zealanders of European ancestry in distinction to the Māori term {{Lang|mi|tauiwi}} (foreigner), as an act of emphasising their claims of belonging to the space of New Zealand in contrast to more recent arrivals.{{cite book|last1=Wedde|first1=Ian|last2=Burke|first2=Gregory|title=Now See Hear!: Art, Language, and Translation|date=1990|publisher=Victoria University Press|isbn=9780864730961|page=33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wdq4f__clK0C&pg=PA33|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917075640/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wdq4f__clK0C&pg=PA33|archive-date=17 September 2017}} Those who prefer to emphasise nationality rather than ethnicity in relating to others living in New Zealand may refer to all New Zealand citizens only as 'New Zealanders' or by the colloquial term 'Kiwis'.

Historian Judith Binney called herself a Pākehā and said, "I think it is the most simple and practical term. It is a name given to us by Māori. It has no pejorative associations like people think it does—it's a descriptive term. I think it's nice to have a name the people who live here gave you, because that's what I am."{{cite web

|first = Chris

|last = Barton

|url = https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/its-history-but-not-as-we-know-it/FLX6Q5KVBYYJ233S2WGFQQS3A4/

|title = It's history, but not as we know it (interview with Judith Binney)

|work = New Zealand Herald

|publisher = APN Holdings

|date = 18 June 2005

|access-date = 15 July 2010

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130223204717/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10331290

|archive-date = 23 February 2013

|df = dmy-all

}}

New Zealand writer and historian Michael King wrote in 1985: "To say something is Pakeha in character is not to diminish its New Zealand-ness, as some people imply. It is to emphasise it."King, Michael (1985), Being Pakeha: An Encounter with New Zealand and the Maori Renaissance, Auckland: Hodder and Stoughton.

{{Portal|New Zealand}}

• Europeans in Oceania
• Pākehā privilege
• Pākehā guilt

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Hoani Nahe, [http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_3_1894/Volume_3%2C_No.4%2C_December_1894/The_origin_of_the_words_%26%2339%3BPakeha%26%2339%3B_and_%26%2339%3BKaipuke%26%2339%3B_by_Hoani_Nahe%2C_p_235-236/p1?action=null "The Origins of the Words 'Pakeha' and 'Kaipuke{{'"}}], Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 3, December 1894

{{White people terms}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakeha}}

Category:Māori words and phrases

Category:Ethno-cultural designations

Category:European diaspora in New Zealand