Paper short abstract:

Drawing on interviews and focus groups with New Zealand-born Gujaratis, this paper explores participants’ narratives of selectively appropriating aspects of the local cultures and identities of both India and New Zealand in order to position themselves as ‘appropriate’ local New Zealand ‘others’.

Paper long abstract:

Multicultural discourses currently prevalent in New Zealand encourage ethnic 'others' to maintain distinctive, highly idealised and depoliticised 'ethnic cultures'. Unable to fade into a majority backcloth, it is only as sanctioned or acceptable 'others' that members of minority ethnic groupings are able to claim status as 'Kiwis'. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with New Zealand-born Gujarati Indians, this paper explores the ways in which participants described themselves as selectively appropriating aspects of the local cultures and identities of both India and New Zealand in order to position themselves as 'appropriate' local New Zealand 'others'. After briefly discussing the particular constructions of 'culture' that this process entails, I examine the ways participants' descriptions of being Indian in New Zealand differed from their descriptions of being Indian in India. The disjuncture between the two was particularly evident in participants' discussions of visiting family in India and of recent immigrants from India. This is followed by examination of the ways in which participants talked about negotiating their dual identities as both Indians and New Zealanders. These narratives suggest that participants' claims to New Zealandness are fundamentally intertwined with their claims to Indianness, and that the construction of a Kiwi Indian identity involves not just the appropriation certain aspects of 'New Zealand culture', but also the subordination of certain Indian cultural elements (such as caste and 'traditional' gender roles) to others (such as food, festivals, dress and language).