{"id":65249,"date":"2024-08-09T16:24:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T04:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=65249"},"modified":"2024-08-20T17:11:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T05:11:41","slug":"my-complex-feelings-about-cook-islands-language-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/my-complex-feelings-about-cook-islands-language-week\/","title":{"rendered":"My complex feelings about Cook Islands Language Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Teia te \u2018Epetoma o te reo M\u0101ori K\u016bki ‘Airani. It\u2019s almost the end of Cook Islands Language Week, and I am deep in reflection.<\/p>\n\n

My dear Nanna and Grandad were born and raised in Rarotonga. My Nan, a Paitai from Tupapa and my Grandad, although he carried his Tahitian father\u2019s name, was a Va\u2019atau from Ngatangiia. <\/p>\n\n

For me, this week is fraught with complex feelings about my heritage, what this week means, and how it sits in my puku to be a non-speaking, diasporic Rarotongan M\u0101ori in T\u0101maki Makaurau. Not to mention the discomfort of writing something for our language week, in English!<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Deep sea mining campaigner Juressa Lee’s Nan made this ei katu for their 21st birthday.
\u00a9 Photo supplied<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Colonisation did a real number on my ancestors. They internalised a belief, then raised my mother and her siblings upon that belief, that their English language competency should be prioritised over M\u0101ori, because job opportunities would prefer it and because of judgement and ridicule from white people. Every day after school my mother would have to read some pages in her dictionary, and my grandfather would test her. Growing up, I also had a grammar jar, where I could lose some of my pocket money.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Funnily enough, my grandparents themselves spoke Rarotongan M\u0101ori all the time! The reo I do have is all around commands, chores, family life, food, conversational basics\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Our language week has been tied to the anniversary of when the Constitution took effect on 4 August 1965, when Cook Islands became a self-governing state \u2018in free association\u2019 with New Zealand. I often wonder if there is a more appropriate event in our history that we could memorialise with the celebrations that happen in this week, every year. Something that celebrates our culture and resilience, or perhaps marks great accomplishments of our ancestors. Something that is not so influenced by colonialism, where another culture isn\u2019t casting shadows over our own.<\/p>\n\n

I am so proud to be a descendant of Tupapa, and Ngatangiia. But the regret and sadness of not having my reo is ever present. I lived some months in Rarotonga with my Nan, and the second I stepped off the plane she began homestyle immersion lessons! I\u2019ve also done more formal learning, evening classes with my brothers, and classes with a much bigger group of my \u2018anau. Mum, my aunties and some cousins… these were all joyful, healing experiences. But it is likely I will be a beginner level learner for the rest of my life. And I am constantly making amends with myself that even without my reo, I am enough.<\/p>\n\n

I\u2019m a parent now, of tamariki who are also non-speakers but with ties back to Rarotonga nonetheless. And the pull on these ties is always felt. A while ago I wrote about honouring Te Wiki o te Reo M\u0101ori,<\/a> about how reclamation of language can be a pathway to protecting Te Taiao. I stand by every word! Our language, customs and the ways we see the world, are connected. And learning my heritage languages teaches me so much about who I am, who my ancestors are, where I come from, and how we think, believe and act.<\/p>\n\n

But I believe the reverse can be true, too, and if I can look after my k\u0101inga (home): that is, the \u2018enua (land), the moana (ocean), I am providing a pathway – a sense of duty but also a right – through which my kids can feel that connection to Rarotonga, always, and will go back. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

We understand that our k\u0101inga is more ocean than land. And we\u2019ve learned enough about ourselves and our history to know that the moana has been the scene, the centre, the conduit of Pacific philosophy and Pacific Indigenous knowledge. The moana is a treasure and is key to who we are. The moana needs protection, and we must be the ones leading this protection.<\/p>\n\n

Right now Pacific civil society groups in the islands as well as Pacific Peoples in the diaspora are fighting to protect the ocean and all the life it holds and supports from deep sea mining<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

The Cook Islands are currently in the third year of a five-year exploration phase, to see if mining is viable and if the government should approve mining licences to wannabe mining companies. That the Cook Islands has the sovereign right to do so, is a fair statement. And it\u2019s also fair to consider the local economy. But so many depend on the health of the moana to survive – human and wildlife – for food, habitat, livelihoods. Tourism and fisheries. <\/p>\n\n

Colonial, extractive industries throughout the world for hundreds of years now have proven mining to be unsustainable, unjust, racist, dangerous and benefitting just a few with short term profits with impacts that are often irreversible. There are better ways to look after our people. We can\u2019t listen to industry greenwash that we need to mine the seafloor to a low carbon future, or to save problematic mining elsewhere. We must stop deep sea mining before it starts. <\/p>\n\n

This year\u2019s overarching theme for Pacific Language Weeks is \u2018sustainability\u2019. Cook Islands Language Week theme is: \u201c\u0100tui\u2019ia au ki te vaka o t\u014dku matakeinanga – bind me to the vaka (canoe) of my people.\u201d This is the perfect challenge for my \u2018anau, to ensure those bonds keep us connected to a healthy k\u0101inga for many generations into the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teia te \u2018Epetoma o te reo M\u0101ori K\u016bki ‘Airani. It\u2019s almost the end of Cook Islands Language Week, and I am deep in reflection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":65253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[109,25],"p4-page-type":[6],"class_list":["post-65249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-seabed-mining","tag-oceans","p4-page-type-story"],"yoast_head":"\nMy complex feelings about Cook Islands Language Week<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/my-complex-feelings-about-cook-islands-language-week\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My complex feelings about Cook Islands Language Week\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teia te \u2018Epetoma o te reo M\u0101ori K\u016bki ‘Airani. 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The whakapapa of my wh\u0101nau is a journey through Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. From the Whangape Harbour to Rawhiti via Ngawha, down to Tauranga Moana, over to Tupapa and Ngatangiia in Rarotonga, and north again to Tahiti. My tamariki, through their p\u0101p\u0101, also whakapapa to Toi village in Niue. I was raised by a frugal mother who was always mindful of her impact on the planet, and navigated it accordingly. My dad has always enjoyed nature and instilled in us that there were responsibilities we had to be able to keep enjoying it. This was my very first influence. When I became an adult and then a mother myself, decolonising my life became a priority to raise my tamariki with an unapologetic, Indigenous worldview. Along the way and without realising, my whakaaro around kaitiakitanga began to shift, or rather, return. I felt more responsible, but also more empowered. I connect the dots between 160+ years of colonisation, extractivism, social and environmental harms and injustices and a worldview that sees the environment as separate to people. That people are somehow entitled to take, own, throw away, destroy and degrade. We are witnessing the impacts from living in a system rooted in colonialism and racism and extractive industries are devastating the planet and furthering the climate crisis. Now, wannabe miners are eyeing up the seabed in the South Taranaki Bight, and also seeking to plunder the deep seas. This problem is colossal, but so is our fight to protect te taiao. There are solutions to these issues. We must stop seabed mining before it starts.","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/juressa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65249"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65263,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65249\/revisions\/65263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65249"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=65249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}