Day 2: A jolt challenge

New day! New mission!

I never shy away from a good discussion. Nothing fires me up and satisfies my intellectual cravings like a well-reasoned, well-argued debate. I was lucky to be invited to a panel discussion organized by Ying at Jolt Challenge focused on self and identity, particularly discussing “what or who is a kiwi?” This is a topic very close to my heart and I’ve often had some fiery discussions with people, both in the virtual and real world, centring around this topic. The panel comprised of some super impressive bunch of people ranging from academics to film directors to renowned people in the media. They were not only diverse in their cultural and professional backgrounds but each of them offered a very unique perspective into the topic. I was glad I attended as it not only helped me do “one new thing” for that day but also triggered more pondering and musing.

This took me back to earlier this year. It was the Norwegian National Day and I was hanging out with a bunch of Norwegians in Prague who were talking about a private party being held for some of the Norwegian student community in Prague. We weren’t on the guest list and weren’t sure how to get in. I just casually mentioned how it would be way easier for them to get in than me since I look nothing like a Norwegian (yes I was referring to the tall, blonde, blue eyed stereotype), to which my friend replied “This is the 21st century, I don’t think we can really say what a Norwegian looks like”. At that moment I was impressed by his progressive way of thinking and it really made me wonder...it is the 21st century, with all the globalization, wide spread immigration, mixing and mingling that’s happening around the world, can we really say what a (insert nationality here) looks like?

Who is a kiwi? What does he or she look like? How does this person talk, act, behave? What is a typical prototype of our culture? What exactly did Paul Henry mean when he made that extremely cringeworthy, bigoted statement about our Governor General? What is a NZer really supposed to look and sound like? I think within the first 10 minutes of the discussion, it was established that this is not a black/white issue but more of a grey area...it is something that is often discussed, rarely defined. One of the panellists, an actor and member of the group "Naked Samoans", compared our country to a 15 year old teenager who was still trying to find himself in the world. We are a young, dynamic (or dinimic as our PM would say it) country that is constantly evolving and changing and is therefore hard to define and establish our identity at this stage. You cannot define who a kiwi is by ticking boxes in a check list or determine it solely based on ethnicity or the number of years one has spent in the country. Besides the ethnic dilemma, other socio-economic factors need to be taken into consideration too when discussing the identity of our country. As one of the panellists, an International and Islamic law lecturer at the University of Auckland, pointed out, can we really saywhich one of these is more kiwi - a student in a low decile school in Mangere or a student at a private school in Remuera? There are also the regional differences...I remember meeting an ex-Navy guy from Gisborne in a small town of Bunol in Spain and while we were talking to a group of other travellers abour our country, we realised how his portrayal of NZ was so different from mine. He joked how he was more kiwi as JAFAs (people from Auckland) are not real NZers. Different people, different realities, one umbrella term: “Kiwi”.

I have always advocated that culture is subjective. Home is where you want it to be. It is all about a sense of belonging. I had a rant about it in one of my Facebook notes but I do feel that even if I don’t look or speak like a “typical” kiwi (whatever that means), I do feel like one and I try to be an ambassador for the country and its awesomeness wherever I go and will continue to do so wherever I go. I think by trying to label, categorize and classify our national identity, we will miss out on the bigger picture, a stereotype will overshadow the unity in diversity the country offers, one typical story would overpower all the other much needed untold stories.

We are a salad bowl of cultures at the moment, distinct , diverse yet somewhat blended with everything else in the bowl , but if there’s anything the rugby world cup has shown us, it is that all we need is a little (in this case)black dressing of passion, nationalism, a common cause to bring it together and make it more exciting! We may all have had various flags waving on our cars and dawned various jerseys and colours during the duration of the world cup, but when it came down to the finals, the nation was wrapped in one colour! This is what reflected the spirit of NZ to me. As I walked down Queen Street, the night we won the world cup, high-fiving and hugging a hundred different people from different walks of life, I felt euphoric and I felt that euphoria resonated with everyone that night, regardless of what they looked like, sounded like, what their citizenship status was, what their socioeconomic background was. That to me is NZ, unity in diversity.

I’m glad I went to this invigorating discussion and would be happy to continue it further virtually or over a beverage of some sort. One major take away from the event was the importance of asking questions. The host of the evening quoted a famous line from Oscar Wilde, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”, I think we are all somewhat peacefully coexisting in this country but some of us need to ask questions to drive this discussion forward.