Ko Rowan Simpson toku ingoa.
No Te Whanganui-a-Tara ahau. Kei te noho ahau i Te Tau Ihu.
I was born in Wellington, and grew up there, facing Antarctica. Now I live in the sun, near Motueka.
I love Aotearoa New Zealand; the mountains and rivers. But I cannot claim any of them as ancestors.
Nō Ireland/Scotland ōku tīpuna.
My family came here originally from Europe. However in Europe they no longer consider me to be European. So, I am Pākehā.
Nō reira tēnā koutou katoa
I went to Rongotai College in Wellington. I remember, as a new student, being taught the school haka and being told by the senior students who were leading:
Learn to do it properly, or don’t do it.
We are all being encouraged to learn to give a pepeha now. I think it’s great that so many people giving this a go. But I worry that those who just fall back on the paint-by-numbers versions which are common advice online are the equivalent of the 70’s All Blacks standing in a line and awkwardly rushing through the haka before a game, without really understanding the meaning or purpose.
I’m grateful to Tim Kong who shifted my thinking on this, including getting comfortable with expressing some of the ideas in English.
Also to Te Miri Rangi, who shared this comment in a workshop I attended last year:
You can’t be a Pākehā anywhere else in the world - that identity only exists because of the close relationship and partnership shared with Māori.