When it comes to integrating our Māori culture when representing New Zealand offshore, there are a couple of common traps that we tend to fall in to. Avoiding these isn’t difficult and could make all the difference when it comes to engaging your audience and leaving a positive impression.
We’re fortunate to have a rich Māori cultural heritage that is underpinned by universally-appealing values. Unfortunately, it’s not something that New Zealand is well-known for because we don’t collectively do enough to seamlessly integrate it in a way that our offshore audiences understand. This is often down to a lack of confidence so we default to the obvious. Usually a Kapa haka performance.
There is nothing wrong with Kapa haka, it can be a beautiful and powerful expression of Māori cultural heritage. But, when done in isolation, without any context for the audience, there is nothing really right with it either.
So how do we ditch the cultural clichés and integrate our Māori culture in a relevant and meaningful way that is mutually-beneficial for us and our audience? Here are a few points to consider.
Be authentic
If you have to speak in front of an audience and your grasp of Te Reo doesn’t give you the confidence to do justice to a formal mihi (greeting) then don’t do it in Māori, do it in English. Bumbling your way through a speech in Māori isn’t good for anyone. Nobody enjoys an awkward speaker or hearing a beautiful language butchered.
A simple ‘Kia ora’ followed by a greeting in the local language can be a good way to acknowledge who you are and who your audience is. Acknowledging the people and place you’re in shows respect. It’s just good manners. And it’s certainly more impactful than starting your speech off with ‘a few housekeeping matters’ – one of my pet peeves!
In life we’re all looking to find common ground and make connections - cultural connections are no different. But we sometimes make the mistake of trying to change our behaviour to mirror the culture of the offshore country we’re operating in. This can come across as insincere and insulting. Whilst it’s important to do your best to appeal to your audience, don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. There’s nothing more unappealing than that. Be authentic. It’s the best way to be.
Make it meaningful
It seems simple but is often overlooked when incorporating cultural elements. You need to provide context for your audience, otherwise it will be meaningless. If you speak in Māori, it makes sense to then translate it into English or a common language. If a Kapa haka group is about to perform – introduce them by giving a quick explanation of who they are and why they’re here, how many songs they’re going to perform and roughly what they mean. It’s important that your audience understands what’s going on. You don’t want to leave them with no clue as to what’s about to happen, or what just happened. It’s disrespectful and the audience will lose interest.
As Kiwis, we’re likely to enjoy seeing a familiar Haka or hearing a bit of Tūtira Mai Ngā Iwi belted out. But, whilst many of us can recite the words, not all of us actually understand what they mean. If we don’t understand what the words mean, then how could we expect an offshore audience to understand them? It’s no different to a New Zealand audience watching a cultural performance in an unfamiliar language. Think about what information you would need to understand it, and feel genuinely interested in it, rather than feeling amused, confused or unenthused.
Without context, Kapa haka is possibly entertaining at best, frightening at worst and certainly a missed opportunity to genuinely connect with people through our culture. So do provide context for your audience to make it meaningful for them - it really will make a difference to their experience, like it would to yours if you were in their shoes.
Make it memorable
Making it memorable for your audience is something to aspire to. Of course you need to think about what you’re going to say, show and do but, in order to be truly memorable, you really need to think about how you want your audience to feel.
At the NZ Story Group, we often reference American poet, author and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou, who so beautifully said;
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
From a cultural perspective, what can you do to make your audience feel emotionally connected to you? How can you integrate Māori culture in a contemporary way that doesn’t just reinforce what we’re already known for? How can you make your audience feel like they’ve experienced something so special that they’ll want to hear more from you and want to tell others about it?
Let’s collectively pull our cultural socks up
Let’s make a conscious effort to ditch the cultural clichés and integrate our Māori culture in a relevant and meaningful way. Be authentic. Make it meaningful. Make it memorable. Make an effort to understand what it means if it doesn’t come naturally to you. Think about why you’re doing it and if it doesn’t add value, don’t do it. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience and really think about the impression you’re giving them about who we are as a people, what we stand for and what we offer them.
If we collectively commit to pulling up our cultural socks, giving those we engage with a better understanding of the values that sit behind our Māori cultural heritage and how these are relevant to them, it can only be a good thing. Kia ora everyone!