History
This chapter examines the ways in which migrants made sense of their surroundings and considers their impressions of New Zealand's Maori population. It is important to recognise that the historiography of Maori-migrant engagement generally neglects to distinguish the views about Maori held by different ethnic groups. Facial characteristics of the Maori even prompted some migrants to remark on the comparisons of Maori and Native Americans. A major representation of Maori by the Irish and Scots related to warfare and rebellions. Twentieth-century correspondents differed little in drawing comparisons between home and abroad. The naming of new houses and properties in New Zealand was influenced by the memories of home and demonstrated an ongoing sense of ethnic identity among migrants. The flip side of negative impressions of Maori engagement in warfare was appreciation of their martial skills.
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that discrimination, even when experienced, was not a precondition for the ethnic consciousness felt by and ascribed to the Irish and Scots in New Zealand. It explores the aspects that insiders and outsiders perceived as distinctive of Scottish and Irish (Catholic and Protestant) ethnicities in New Zealand. The book examines the issue of language and accent of the Irish and Scots. It also examines the material tokens of Irish and Scottish ethnicity, traversing a range of elements including music, festivals, food and drink, and dress. The book acknowledges the existence and continuity of visible signs of ethnic affiliation, what has been termed a 'constellation of symbols, rituals, and rhetoric'. It also explores the extent to which Irish identity was conceptualised in political terms while Scottish identity was cultural.
This chapter focuses on the studies concerned with exploring representations of Irish and Scottish ethnic identities. Within the broader historiography, scholars have posited a range of reasons for migration from Ireland and Scotland. Unlike the Irish, 'the interpretation of Scottish emigration as an unwilling and self-conscious diaspora, which belonged primarily to a traumatic era in west Highland emigration came to be misleadingly applied to the entire Scottish exodus'. Twentieth-century conceptualisations of Irishness have utilised questionnaires and interviews to gain an understanding of ethnic consciousness. A key consideration of Scottishness, apart from homeland conceptualisations of identity, is the way such identities were expressed at sea. Consideration of a British identity is also important in any exploration of Scottishness. Ancestry has been highlighted as a major element of Scottish societies in the United States given the dominance of clan societies.
An Irish accent remained a consistent identifier of Irishness in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The reproduction of accent continued to be a key component in New Zealand cinema for representing Irish migrants. Dymphna Lonergan points to connections between the Irish language and politics. Unlike depictions of Irish migrants in New Zealand cinema, however, a Scottish accent was not in early years emphasised for humorous reasons, and subtitles do not reflect the Scottish way of speaking English. By contrast with evidence about the Irish and Ulster Scots languages, more references appeared in sources utilised in the study of Scottish Gaelic being spoken in New Zealand. While Gaelic has attracted some attention by historians in studies of the Scots abroad, the Scots language has attracted little investigation. The Scots language also appeared in poetry in the ethnic press throughout the twentieth century.
This chapter explores the material tokens of ethnic identity for the Irish and the Scots in New Zealand that they or the others perceived as Irish or Scottish. Scottish music and dancing were also connected with formal societies such as the Caledonian Society. Irish music took a prominent role in various festivals in New Zealand. Dress and music were linked in Andrew Kinross' poem for the second annual gathering of the Highland Society of Southland. If migrants from Scotland and Northern Ireland were seen to share the festivity of Halloween, New Year was the festive occasion which set Scots apart from their fellow migrants. The connection of food with the celebration of important festivals and events has been identified by Mary C. Waters in her study of the descent group in the United States.
This chapter examines the range of national traits associated with the Irish and the Scots who settled in New Zealand. National characteristics are assigned to the Irish and the Scots, often emanating from visitors to Ireland and Scotland. The national characteristic of frugality served as a way to connect all Scots, regardless of origin, gender, and class, and seemingly suggested a Scottish ability to succeed financially. If clannishness was at times more likely to be associated with Highland origins, thriftiness, the most frequently cited national characteristic of the Scots, was linked to the entire Scottish national group. Superstition was a charge associated with the Irish but was restricted to an Irish Catholic national character. Comments from those outside the Scottish ethnic group convey recognition of a strong networking element to Scottish migration and settlement throughout New Zealand. The Irish ethnic press also engaged in good-natured banter about Scottish fiscal prudency.
This chapter considers the ways in which the religious beliefs of Irish and Scottish migrants reflected their homeland origins. It explores the ethnic societies established by the Irish and the Scots, arguing that the political issues preoccupied a number of Irish societies in New Zealand. While the poetry of Scots in New Zealand contained references to historical personages in Scotland, most mention was found in the Scottish ethnic press published in New Zealand. A good deal of discussion about Irish politics appears in the records of Irish ethnic associations and the Irish ethnic press (the Green Ray and Tribune) rather than in personal testimonies. The depiction of Scottish history in the ethnic press sets it apart from the manifestations of Scottishness evident in other sources such as personal correspondence and shipboard journals.
Recent studies of the Irish and the Scots in New Zealand have pointed to the prevalence of social networks for migrants. This book argues that discrimination, even when experienced, was not a precondition for the ethnic consciousness felt by and ascribed to the Irish and Scots in New Zealand. Rather, most aspects of their ethnic identities were positively constructed and articulated. It contends that overarching narratives of exile had little significance in the development of Irish and Scottish ethnic identities in New Zealand. The book looks at the ways in which Irish and Scottish migrants and their sense of Irishness and Scottishness been examined in studies of the diaspora. A sense of being Irish or Scottish is explored, along with identifications such as Highlander, Lowlander, Northern Irish, and Southern Irish, Britishness; New Zealand identities are also considered. The book highlights the range of sources from which we can obtain some insight into the use of and attitudes towards the Irish and Scottish languages and accents in New Zealand. A range of elements including music, festivals, food and drink, and dress is considered to examine the material tokens of Irish and Scottish ethnicity. Religious and political identities were also important aspects of Scottishness and Irishness. A range of national characteristics is examined among the migrants and their descendants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Views of New Zealand and its indigenous Maori population are further ways in which Irish and Scottish migrants conveyed aspects of their identities.