{"id":2280,"date":"2025-09-29T15:09:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T02:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/?p=2280"},"modified":"2025-09-29T15:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T02:09:16","slug":"unsettled-bliss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2025\/09\/29\/unsettled-bliss\/","title":{"rendered":"Unsettled Bliss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Elizabeth Ann Cook<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mary Egan Publishing<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Otago Daily Times, July 19th 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the lives of M\u0101ori are to improve, non-M\u0101ori need to alter their assumptions and daily practices\u2026there is not a \u2018M\u0101ori problem. Rather, there is a \u2018white people problem\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the challenge sociologist Elizabeth Anne Cook seeks to address in her brief but hard-hitting analysis of the attitudes and power structures that marginalise M\u0101ori in their own county and relegate them to the bottom of our social, economic and health indices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central to her thesis is that we, as p\u0101keh\u0101 in a world shaped by and for the white majority, unthinkingly accept our ways of knowing and doing as the \u2018universal norm.\u2019 This, Cook argues, is white supremacy in action. As such, it is an ideology practiced as much by the \u2018colourblind\u2019 liberal\/left as the alt right, and until we can move beyond this mindset, any attempt by M\u0101ori to enact the partnership promised in Te Tiriti will be perceived as an existential threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is extremely challenging assertion, particularly for those who consider themselves supportive of M\u0101ori rights and aspirations, and Cook spends some time exploring how we can decentre our \u2018white\u2019 identity, reposition ourselves alongside Indigenous perspectives and experiences and \u201cstop drawing attention back to [our]selves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At an intellectual level it involves, among other things, learning about the history of British colonisation and its ongoing impacts on M\u0101ori today; understanding what M\u0101ori who signed Te Titiri (and not all did) actually<\/em> agreed to; recognising racism as operates in our everyday lives, institutions, and political structures; challenging the cruelties inherent in our patriarchal, individualistic, and exploitative capitalist system; and engaging in a meaningful rather than tokenistic way with Te Reo and Te Ao M\u0101ori.  Unsettled Bliss<\/em> provides a good starting point for this re-education. In addition to proving an overview of key issues, its extensive endnotes and references \u2013 which make up nearly half of its 200-odd pages \u2013 are a rich resource for further exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other half of the equation is emotional and involves finding a way of putting oneself in another\u2019s shoes. Whilst Cook suggests some ways of finding empathic connection (for example using our discomfort as outsiders at M\u0101ori-centric events to gain insight into the everyday lived reality of M\u0101ori in a society designed by and for \u2018white people\u2019), her primary purpose is to \u201creveal and clarify the daily assumptions and practices of \u2018whiteness\u2019 that contributes towards [their] oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the book\u2019s general tone and use of emotionally charged terms such as \u2018white supremacy\u2019 and \u2018cultural genocide\u2019 may alienate readers, its confrontational approach is a deliberate (and brave) choice. Cook points out that \u201cidentifying cruel practices is not violence\u201d, and until we recognise and name our privilege it remains unseen, unquestioned and unchallenged. It is not the responsibility of M\u0101ori to fix the problem of \u2018whiteness\u2019, but our own. As she so eloquently puts it: \u201cI am not a mouthpiece for Tangata Whenua\u2026.I am a p\u0101keh\u0101 writing about p\u0101keh\u0101, specifically for p\u0101keh\u0101 in no uncertain terms\u201d. It is up to us to listen.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth Ann Cook Mary Egan Publishing Otago Daily Times, July 19th 2025 \u201cIf the lives of M\u0101ori are to improve, non-M\u0101ori need to alter their assumptions and daily practices\u2026there is not a \u2018M\u0101ori problem. Rather, there is a \u2018white people problem\u2019.\u201d This is the challenge sociologist Elizabeth Anne Cook seeks to address in her brief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[498,511,368,500,18],"class_list":["post-2280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-498","tag-elizabeth-ann-cook","tag-non-fiction","tag-nz-author","tag-odt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2281,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cushla.spooky-possum.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}