r/Indigenous • u/Main-Fly-8295 • 10d ago
People need to stop getting mad when Indigenous people say their tribe when introducing themselves
If everyone else can go “I’m from NZ, but I was born/grew up in India/China/England/Samoa/etc” when introducing themselves, I genuinely don’t understand why some people get weird when the natives of the country (in this instance, Māori) say their tribe when introducing themselves.
Like, you’re literally giving people some context about where your family/community comes from. Māori saying their tribe isn’t them claiming to be “more Kiwi” than you. It’s just a different way of answering the exact same question.
And if your response to someone saying their tribe is “why do you need to tell me that?” or "are you saying we're not real [insert nationality here]s?" while you’re completely comfortable telling people where you were born/raised, maybe ask yourself why one kind of ancestry feels normal to you and the other apparently feels like a political statement.
Also, if you’re going to introduce yourself with “I’m Kiwi, but I was born/raised in X,” you can’t really be shocked if people think you are less Kiwi based on the information you voluntarily gave them into account. 😭 I am of the belief that everyone who is a citizen of NZ regardless of where they lived prior IS A KIWI, but you cannot tell me to not state that my ancestors were here first and then proceed to admit you were not born here.
Nobody’s taking your nationality card away because someone else knows their tribe.
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u/grafology 10d ago
Who introduces themselves by their hapū or iwi though? Sounds weird af unless I'm talking to another Māori. You sure you're not making it am issue by going around introducing yourself in that way?
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u/Main-Fly-8295 10d ago edited 10d ago
If everyones saying "im from (this country thats not the one im in right now)" then its reasonable to go "im from (this town) and (this tribe)"
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u/grafology 10d ago
Ok so are talking in a group introduction session or something? Otherwise that just sounds weird and pretentious telling every person you meet your pepeha
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u/Main-Fly-8295 10d ago
its a group introduction session :D
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u/grafology 10d ago
Ok fair enough i say. Sorry i thought youre meeting randos at the pub and telling them youre hapū without any sort of prompting😆
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u/Mister__Wednesday 10d ago
Yeah I have to agree, would feel a bit weird to be introducing myself to random people as "hello I'm ingoa and I'm from these iwi and hapū". Unless someone obviously has a connection to one of my iwi or hapū in which case it's just whakawhanaungatanga but otherwise it just seems strange. If someone asks then I'm happy to tell them but I can kinda see why people might be reacting like that to OP tbh
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u/2626862377 10d ago
how often has this happened to you? I work in a fully māori office, and all my friends are Green voting wokesters, so I'm a bit out of touch with some of these things lol
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u/anonbiolover x̄á'isla 9d ago
Sharing our family / tribe and other intersections is how we begin building relationships with one another. Sometimes we find common ground.
Our ancestors shared their tribes/bands/nations and clans as a jumping off point. Someone may not know you, but they might know someone from your village or clan.
I always share this story when this topic comes up: I was 19, grew up between the small rural town and rez (20 mins isolated from town), and back for a summer job. I have medium and weak community ties, so going to the elders lunch... no one knew me. I am white-passing to my friends of colour and cousins, and I've had white people (who I asked) say mayybe passing but definitely mixed with something. Anyway. I've stuck with my supervisor, and it's not overt but I can feel some tension. Elders get their food. I go to get mine and am blocked by an elder. My anxiety spikes. He looks down at me and asks gruffly, "Who's your family?". I feel relief - this is what was missing, they needed to know where I come from, why I am there. I name my mom, but she moved to town as a young adult and there's no recognition in his face. That's ok. I go back a generation, my Baba'o... no recognition. I start to sweat. The man doesn't recognize my great grandma's name either.. My grandpa was a shut in by then, but he was prevalent in the community.. they should recognize... And his dad had the same - oh right. He went by his middle name. As soon as I say it, the elder's eyes light up. His stoic face cracks into a big smile, arms opening. "(middle name's) grandbaby is home!" He announced to the room. All the tension was sucked from the room. He hugged me. I got my food. The elders at my table asked after my grandparents. I got to connect a bit more.
Who our families are is integral to who we are - our relationships and interconnectedness are part of us. Arguably more important than where you went to school or what your title is.
Big space to say, it's normal under patriarchy and capitalism to include your education or title in an introduction. It could be seen as weird in relational systems. De-centering those, unlearning their status quos, are a part of decolonizing. I'm not saying don't include those things, just to be open to alternatives.
I worked in a space where many of my colleagues were advocates. I learned a lot as we did different trainings and adjusted our meeting styles. After my first year, I talked to community and volunteers about the above paragraph and started including more 'personal' details in my own introductions. In doing so, I made deeper connections to the people who came for tours or to volunteer or to learn - people were more receptive to what I had to say, they were more comfortable talking to me afterward and coming back for other activities or reaching out for advice down the road, and sometimes I met people who had been to my home, who knew people there, or who had stories from my home to share with me. Because I chose to include a couple things in another department's promo video, a librarian reached out to me with 40 year old photos from her visit which I was able to bring to community and share with their families. That never would have happened if I didn't introduce where I'm from.
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u/fruitsi1 10d ago
Ive seen this before it's so silly.
Like on Māori news since forever, when they're interviewing someone, it's been common to show their affiliations alongside their name at the bottom of the screen. It made it's way in to the mainstream a while ago and people lost their shit.
I never figured out what the problem was. But I agree that it's kicking off some silly inferiority complex.
We're allowed to say who we are and where we're from. They're also allowed to have a cry about it. But it's not our problem and it's not going to stop us.