Notes

New Zealand's Pacific futures
Damon Salesa
256 pages
Contents: The Pacific future has already happened -- A tale of two cities: racial segregation in Auckland -- Building different cities -- The Pacific economy -- Future economy, future work -- New Zealand's Pacific way: Pacific politics in New Zealand -- Pacific politics 2.0: fragmenting Pacific politics -- The rain from Manu'a
Summary: The task of living in modern New Zealand - and especially in modern Auckland - is not just to understand how to live with different peoples, but how to adapt to the future that has already happened. New Zealand is a nation that exists on Pacific islands, but does not, will not, perhaps cannot, see itself as a Pacific Island nation. Yet turning to the Pacific, argues Damon Salesa, enables us to grasp a fuller understanding of what life is really like on these shores. After all, Salesa argues, in many ways New Zealand's Pacific future has already happened. Setting a course through the 'islands' of Pacific life in New Zealand - Ōtara, Tokoroa, Porirua, Ōamaru and beyond - he charts a country becoming 'even more Pacific by the hour'. What would it mean, this far-sighted book asks, for New Zealand to recognise its Pacific talent and finally act like a Pacific nation? (Back cover)
BWB texts