We shouldn’t have to sacrifice our identities

Opinion: I’ve been thinking about how come so many people in Aotearoa seem to want such a monochrome, one-dimensional society.
During the pandemic we were urged to be kind. I sort of liked it at the time though it seemed to annoy some. But that never really meant, surely, that we should all be the same and not have lots of differences. Maybe “kind” was tolerance with condescension, not inclusion.
It seems to me in retrospect that we were too intolerant of mandate rejection and vaccine hesitancy. We are living with a legacy of that still. The dominant culture seemed to care more about such views when they posed a danger, than we care now when access and adoption of vital public health measures has reverted to being inequitable.
We do not have to be mean to each other, or abusive, in a society that honours and encourages difference. A lot of the negativity and harm we see comes from being uncertain and lacking confidence in our differences. Better to strengthen them than ignore or repress them.
Last week we had the AUT winter graduation ceremonies, awarding qualifications to about 2000 graduates from our wide range of courses. These are always rewarding events with real joy and enthusiasm evident among the graduates and their whānau and friends.
For a couple of days it drags me out of my jeans and t-shirt into something a bit more formal, with elaborate cap and gown to be part of the pageant. The ceremonies themselves mix some traditional European academic tradition with unique Aotearoa themes, language and song. The stars of the day are the graduates, an amazing array of diversity of language, ethnicity, culture, dress, age, religion, gender expression and more, all with a common experience of tertiary education and the possibilities it has opened up for them. A common experience not experienced in exactly the same way.
It can’t help but make you wonder what sort of world those people live in who see promotion and celebrations of waiata, haka, mātauranga and karakia as divisive. And why on earth they would want to live there? I’m very glad our students learn about respect for and integrity of different cultures and ways of understanding and learning within a Tiriti-led university and that all of us are learning that together, exploring its value and potential.
Our overseas students and the large number of students from recent migrant families make a real difference to that experience, and typically embrace it as an important reason for being in Aotearoa. In that sense it is a microcosm of how our society is evolving, most prominently in Tāmaki Makau Rau. One of the great opportunities of a university education is opening people up to knowledge and experience based on research and testing of boundaries. It is a shame we make this so hard to access for so many potential students. The opportunity for tertiary education is not one open to all. That compounds and entrenches many existing inequities.
We see AUT as a university of opportunity for a full range of backgrounds, opportunity to pursue a full range of approaches and subjects, and opportunity to build satisfying and positive roles in life. A place where excellence, not elitism, prevails. To be this we have to fully embrace differences. That is a challenge, a wero, in a society that too often likes to smooth them over, or repress them, or at best pay lip service to them.
Hopefully we are building people who will not see taking equity differences off hospital assessment lists as solving anything. People who will see addressing the causes of crime as more important than punishment for both victim and perpetrator. Who regard upholding a treaty as more appropriate than evading its implications. Who see value in well-researched and tested regulations that increase safety, health and the environment, not only costs. See the world in its real complexity, not simply traditional military alliances. Have a passion for technology based on what it can do, not simply what profit it can make. See design and creation of physical assets as expressions of culture, accessibility, sustainability and utility. Who will exercise business, government or social roles with rigour and equity as allies, not opposites.
And who will not allow themselves to be forced into moulds which are based on one culture or one class.
So when I observe these graduations it makes me think those who complain about “identity politics” being asserted have it completely wrong. We are our identities and do not have to sacrifice them to succeed.