ESPANSIONI DI TESTO

MODULE E - New Zealand's Multiethnic Society: the Pacific Peoples (p. 240)

TASK
a. Highlight the names of the groups of Pacific Islanders mentioned in the text.
b. Complete the sentences below.

1 ______ came from across the Pacific over 1,000 years ago.
2 ______ represent 6.5 percent of New Zealand's population.
3 Half of the pacific Islanders are from ________ .
4 Several good rugby players in New Zealand are _____ .
5 Most Pacific Islanders live in _______ .
6 Many _____ work in the forest industry.
7 ______ are celebrated story-tellers.
8 More people have recently arrived from ______ .

The first great Polynesian migration to this country took place over 1,000 years ago, when Maori began arriving after epic canoe journeys across the Pacific. The second wave of migration was Polynesians from homelands scattered across the Pacific from Tonga in the west to the Cook Islands in the east. Maori, Pacific Islanders and Pakeha are currently evolving a culture that is distinctively New Zealand in character.
Pacific Islanders now represent 6.5 percent of the population. Most of the immigrants have arrived since the 1960s, their numbers jumping from 14,000 in 1961 to 200,000 in 1996. Western Samoans make up almost half the numbers of Pacific Islanders here; the Cook Islanders, who have New Zealand citizenship, make up a fifth. In the case of Niue and Tokelaus, more live in New Zealand than on their home island. Two-thirds of the Pacific Islanders live in Auckland, many congregated in the southern suburbs, which, together with its Maori numbers, makes the city the world's biggest Polynesian settlement.
As well as being the largest Island group in New Zealand, the Samoans have maintained a stronger church and extended family system than the Cook Islanders. All of Sunday is given over to church attendances, whether Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregationalist, Assembly of God, Seventh Day Adventist or Mormon. One problem of adjustment in New Zealand has been the workplace, which has reversed the traditional Island role by promoting young people and rejecting the older, respected matai (chiefs). The problem has been compounded by a vigorous work ethic, the man of the house toiling during the day and on any shift work available, the woman at night. This pays much more than the rent, with tithes to the church and money remitted to the extended family back home. Half of Samoa's foreign exchange comes from cash payments from relatives abroad. Samoan rugby players and netballers excel in their sport in New Zealand.
Many New Zealanders have trouble distinguishing Cook Islanders from indigenous Maori. To see the distinctive language, culture and dance of the 27,000 resident here, you would have to attend Cook Island church services or social gatherings in such places as Otara, Porirua, Napier and Hastings, or Rotorua and Tokoroa, where many work in the forest industry. Of course, the Cook Islanders might well remind you that several of the great migrating canoes came from the Cooks to New Zealand and that Maori is but a dialect of the parent Cooks language.
Although the United Nations helped nudge New Zealand into giving Niue independence in 1974, the majority of Niueans choose to live in New Zealand, because their island is too small to support them. The 10,000 Niueans retain their language and identity largely within their church congregations.
The low-lying Tokelaus have been almost wiped out by hurricanes several times, and New Zealand has been their sanctuary. The Tokelauans are among the most celebrated story-tellers in the Pacific, which has sustained their morale amidst fragile atoll life.
The largely Melanesian Fijians have been more recent arrivals to New Zealand. Small communities have become established in Auckland and Wellington, doubling to almost 3,000 in the last five years. Fiji Day is a good time to see their celebrated dancing.
Successive governments have taken different attitudes towards immigration from the Pacific Islands, but government projections expect a doubling of Pacific Peoples in the next thirty years.

(Abridged from Insight Guide New Zealand, APA Publications GmbH&Co., Singapore 2001.)