A history of intergroup relations in New Zealand : a trade-off between Māori agency and inclusion : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
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Date
2019
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Massey University
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Abstract
This thesis examines complex intergroup processes as manifested in New Zealand’s
governing discourses, with a focus on discourses of the colonial era. This investigation is
divided into the two following parts - 1) a quantitative examination of racial bias in New
Zealand’s governing discourses and 2) a qualitative examination of rhetorical strategies used
by past Governors of New Zealand, to justify colonization.
In the first study, an automated language tool called NarrCat is applied to New
Zealand’s ‘Speeches from the Throne’, which are political speeches representing the
incoming government’s legislative agenda (163 Speeches from 1854-2014), with the aim of
uncovering patterns of an intergroup bias. In this analysis, the narrative categories of
cognition, intention and emotion were employed to analyze patterns of psychological
perspective attributed to different groups in the texts (Māori, European settlers, and British
governing elites). Results showed that British governing elites were consistently attributed
the most psychological perspective, positioning them with more agency and moral
responsibility than other actors in society. However, contrary to expectations, Māori were
attributed more psychological perspective than European settlers. Implications are discussed
through the lenses of infrahumanization theory and elitism, grounded in New Zealand’s
historical context.
This leads the paper to the second study, where a thematic analysis is conducted on a
specific selection of Speeches from the Throne (10 speeches, from 1860-1899), to examine
how past Governors defined ingroup identity in ways that justified certain beliefs and actions
favourable to the colonization of New Zealand. The derived themes indicated that a shared
ingroup category of British citizenship was defined by prescribing certain emotions, more
specifically emotional relationships, between the people (both Māori and settlers) and
governing elites. These emotional relationships were used by Governors in their rhetorical attempts to mobilize members of the shared ingroup category towards supporting the British
hierarchical social order and its political agendas. These interpretations are discussed through
theoretical frameworks of identity entrepreneurship and emotional climate, again situated
within the historical context of New Zealand.
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Keywords
Intergroup relations, New Zealand, History, Group identity, Political oratory, Maori (New Zealand people), Social classes, Politics and government, 19th century, Agent (Philosophy)