关键词:
Waitangi Day
National Day
Treaty
Celebration
Commemoration
摘要:
Waitangi Day, New Zealand's official national day, is often claimed as contentious by commentators and academics. However, research analysing the wider population's opinions about Waitangi Day are lacking. We address this with two studies using national probability data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study. Most participants supported (51%), rather than opposed (8%), Waitangi Day as a national celebration of biculturalism. Study one indicated that, on average, Pakeha (N = 12390) who opposed Waitangi Day as a bicultural celebration expressed warmer attitudes towards Pakeha but colder attitudes towards Maori. Conversely, support for Waitangi Day as a bicultural celebration among Maori (N = 1928) was, on average, related to warmth towards Maori but uncorrelated with warmth towards Pakeha. Study two assessed whether socio-political attitudes changed in the weeks leading up to, during, and immediately following Waitangi Day in 2015. Contrary to narratives of divisiveness, we failed to detect reliable change in the attitudes of Maori (N = 556) and Pakeha (N = 3203) around Waitangi Day. These findings are inconsistent with anecdotal claims that Waitangi Day may be divisive.