Becoming Pakeha

A journey between two cultures

After more than 200 years of co-existence under the umbrella of a unique treaty, you might think things would be better than ever. In this perceptive and piercing book, John Bluck argues that Pākehā and Māori worlds grow ever more separate. The Aotearoa of today is a landscape of two predominant cultures, overlaid with so many others, fractured and more likely to erupt than Ruapehu. But has it always been this way?

Becoming Pākehā follows the author's life, growing up as a Pākehā in a Māori village in the 1950s, and illustrates how New Zealand used to be, the history and shared experience that shaped it. The book also discusses the discomfort of being Pākehā today, and how Pākehā might live with their past and get used to wearing the name, until they find a better one.

Looking at everything from failed models of bicultural harmony to what's likely to bring the treaty partners together—or push them further apart—Becoming Pākehā is a timely read for anyone who wants to understand Māori-Pākehā relations in Aotearoa New Zealand today.

'This is a book I've long been trying not to write. It ought to be easy, but it's not. I began under the cover of a pseudonym, because some of my friends who will read it won't stay friends. Then I decided not to worry about that. And besides, it has to be a personal story, as it is for many other unsettled Pākehā who relish the privilege of living here, and have spent a lifetime trying to belong in this land.'