Wyatt Carnes

Auckland is the economic heart of New Zealand. This economic dynamism has drawn both educated professional immigrants as well as working class immigrants. You can see the influence in the diversity of restaurants and languages along Queen Street and the surrounding streets headed towards the harbor. In terms of assimilation, it’s my perception that both the immigrants and locals have started to create a cosmopolitan culture that lies somewhere in between.

On our last day in Auckland before heading onto Hobbiton, I made a stop at Cafe Habibi, a local hookah bar off Queen Street. At first, I sat alone and watched the locals wander by along the street. The first thing that struck me was the diversity of street dress — modern Asian influences on silhouettes mixed with traditional Western styles to create a unique dress.

Secondly, the cafe boasted a robust blend of cultures. For instance, the cafe was in the traditional arabic style and was worked by Chinese immigrants. The clientele was equally diverse.

I spent the evening having conversations with three locals — Maya, Livia, and Melissa who were all Auckland locals that had driven in from the suburbs. They were respectively a film grad student, TSA worker, and a retail clerk. They lived in mixed suburbs in terms of ethnicity, but none of them were plugged into their local communities. Their social groups revolved around old University and childhood friends; however, their main form of communication centered around social media — primarily Snapchat. Their friends were from a variety of backgrounds, but they also, first in foremost, self identified as Kiwis. Their only focus on their own ethnicity was after I asked about it; however, culturally, they considered themselves Kiwi. In terms of authenticity, it’s hard to pin down what it means to be Kiwi. From an outsider’s perspective before arriving, my conception of a “Kiwi” was of English descent — those who ate a lot of lamb and liked rugby. These girls didn’t fit that model, but they were definitively Kiwi. They spoke their own slang (which they were eager to teach me), loved New Zealand musicians, and were proud to rep New Zealand directors and movies (they hated Peter Jackson though).

I saw the same traits reflected in the University students that we Honors students met on the second day. Despite all of them being either immigrants or second generation immigrants, their main form of communication is social media within other University students. Whether these immigrants classified as Kiwis goes back to my comments on authenticity. You can’t write off these immigrants as non authentic. You can say they aren’t white, or European, or whatever your arbitrary classifier you want, but they talk like Kiwis, they follow Kiwi culture, and they self identify as Kiwis. Everything else is window dressing and outsider’s projecting what they think a kiwi is like upon these kids. It is of my personal opinion that these immigrants, provided they self identify as Kiwis first and foremost, are as Kiwi as anyone with family who immigrated here with the Maori in the 1300’s.

Christchurch it’s very much a town stuck in it’s own nostalgia, tentative to step forward into the future. It’s was settled by the English, and it retains that identity. From the name of the province, Canterbury, to the types of tourist attractions recommended in the city guides. They were respectively: Punting on the Avon (riverboat tours on a river named after a river in England), Botanic Garden in the English style, the Canterbury museum (done in the traditional English Nobleman style, they literally had a stolen mummy they bought for 24 pounds), and a historic tram that follows the historic district. Their accent is very English.

Christchurch was stuck by an earthquake 7 years ago, and the city has pretty much embraced it as their identity. Every tour guide and citizen we met brought it up within the first 5 minutes of conversation, and if you didn’t know better, you would’ve thought it happened last week. The city has yet to be rebuilt, and empty lots and ruined buildings still dot downtown. They’ve placed art installations throughout the city, appropriately (or not, depending on how you look at it) named gap fillers. They were meant to be liminal, transitory installations to fill downtown while rebuilding, but you get the sense they’ve turned into something more permanent. In a way they reflect the nature of the rebuild. During the initial disasters there was a huge outflow of public unity and support, but after that, it seems that there has been a tentativeness to push forward into the future.

The locals often refer to the whole province in which Christchurch lies as the name of the city, they call it Canterbury. This probably related to the way the city works transit wise. The central business district is staffed by workers who travel into the city for work, but live in the suburbs. The same can be said for Auckland, except workers in Auckland who commute into the city often stay all week and then return to home for the weekend, while in Christchurch works much like an American city. If you walk around downtown at night, you’re unlikely to see anyone out and about. In this way Christchurch distinctly lacks a city community that Auckland and Wellington have. This break up between city and suburb is also reflected in the ethnic and socio economic divides within the suburbs.

From people I talked to, specifically Selwyn, a Kiwi of Tongan descent, informed me that schools are often of the same ethnicity, and residents of Christchurch often ask where you went to school as a way of decoding several social markers relatively quickly. Ethnic, class, and geographic distinctions can be assessed quickly by determining where someone went to school, and while I couldn’t divine how those distinctions played out in social interactions, I informally observed that those of the same ethnicity and class tended to congregate together. When juxtaposed to Auckland, the difference is rather stark. In Auckland I did see cliques of people of the same ethnicity among immigrants, but among the youth it wasn’t uncommon to see people from a variety of backgrounds going out to eat or walk the city, whereas in Christchurch that same diversity was lacking.

Christchurch is not a bad place, it was a beautiful city, the people I met were friendly, and while economic development hasn’t picked up since the earthquake, the gap fillers & now booming street art scene reflect a vibrant culture of people trying to revitalize their city with the resources they have. But if they wish to take the leap into the future and really attempt to bring back the prominence of Christchurch as one of the premier cities in New Zealand, they will need to make plans to move forward. In my opinion, they are close to slipping and becoming second class city compared to their peers of Auckland & Wellington on the North island. The nostalgia that gives the city it’s charm is holding them back. They have to make a concerted effort to pick a plan of action and run with it.

This is most starkly seen with the Christchurch cathedral. It sits at the center of downtown, and is one of the crown jewels of the city. It still lies ruined, with arguments about what to be done with the restoration still racking the local government. Whether they tear it down or rebuild it, they should pick, or risk the psychological wound of the earthquake continuing to fester. The longer they wait, the deeper the psychological wound will scar the city. This is all in my personal opinion, I’m not a sociologist, psychologist, urban planner, or policy wonk. It is simply the mental impression I left with after a very short time in the city talking to a limited number of people, and seeing limited parts of the city, but I confident that if that is the impression it leaves me with as a traveler, I cannot imagine how demoralizing it must be to be a resident.

Wellington is a city on the up & up. It’s the capital of New Zealand, and the downtown reflects that. Unlike Auckland, it’s not entirely economically dependent on the private sector and trade, so while it attracts people from all over New Zealand, it isn’t overly traditional Kiwi. It still attracts migrants from overseas, but not the way you might see in Auckland. In a way it straddles the line between Auckland and Christchurch, not a totally international city, but not entirely provincial. This also reflects it’s natural geography. Wellington lies in the dead center of New Zealand, so it very much feels like a blend between North & South.

Wellington feels like a place that is still happening. It’s not self defined and nostalgic, but also it’s not totally without it’s own sense of self. The streets are vibrant at all hours and constantly teeming with people. This especially true once the sun goes down. Despite it being the windiest city in the world, and the weather being rather nasty at times, the streets were always packed. The masses churned in and out of restaurants and bars.Trying to find a place with enough seating to seat our whole group was never as difficult as it was here. In a way this is another reflection of its geography, Wellington’s waterfront is hemmed in by mountains in every direction, which results in the most densely populated city in New Zealand.

All this leads to my actual point. While staying here I became good friends with the bouncer at our local bar, and spent a couple nights out with him and his friends. In that time, I talked to an army chap who loved Trump, two local Maori construction workers, a conservation worker, a top theater student at the University of Victoria (great conversations on Brecht), a physics PHD student who builds semiconductors, and every bouncer for at least three blocks. I have never had a set of more diverse conversations or hung out with such a diverse group of people in such a short time. Some of this is because of the personality of my friend, Simba, who truly is one of the most interesting and friendly people I’ve ever encountered. But also I think it’s a reflection of the city. Everyone has to come work in the city, and almost every job is going to require dealing with a diverse set of coworkers and clients, and you cannot avoid it. You can’t go anywhere in terms of new construction because the city is boxed in on all sides.

We’ve talked in class about how communities interact and react in times of crisis and whether or not they will respond effectively or shatter. Wellington will be fine. They are a forward looking city, aware of their problems. They realize that they are sitting on a fault line, and they’ve prepared accordingly. Most structures in the city have been prepared, and disaster plans are well known. I’m speaking as if I actually know for sure, which I cannot say I do. But I did spend time with a guy named Tom, the theater major, who used to manage the appropriately named bar, Danger Danger. In general, he said the city was prepared because the chance of an earthquake is 100%. It is purely a matter of when it’s going to strike. Danger Danger has been built specifically to stay open when everything else fails. And furthermore this is a community that talks. You can’t avoid it, the pure amount of people around you all the time somewhat demands it, and that’s why I think if and when crisis strikes Wellington, they as a city will not waste time responding.

Wellington is a city on the up & up. It’s the capital of New Zealand, and the downtown reflects that. Unlike Auckland, it’s not entirely economically dependent on the private sector and trade, so while it attracts people from all over New Zealand, it isn’t overly traditional Kiwi. It still attracts migrants from overseas, but not the way you might see in Auckland. In a way it straddles the line between Auckland and Christchurch, not a totally international city, but not entirely provincial. This also reflects it’s natural geography. Wellington lies in the dead center of New Zealand, so it very much feels like a blend between North & South.

Wellington feels like a place that is still happening. It’s not self defined and nostalgic, but also it’s not totally without it’s own sense of self. The streets are vibrant at all hours and constantly teeming with people. This especially true once the sun goes down. Despite it being the windiest city in the world, and the weather being rather nasty at times, the streets were always packed. The masses churned in and out of restaurants and bars.Trying to find a place with enough seating to seat our whole group was never as difficult as it was here. In a way this is another reflection of its geography, Wellington’s waterfront is hemmed in by mountains in every direction, which results in the most densely populated city in New Zealand.

All this leads to my actual point. While staying here I became good friends with the bouncer at our local bar, and spent a couple nights out with him and his friends. In that time, I talked to an army chap who loved Trump, two local Maori construction workers, a conservation worker, a top theater student at the University of Victoria (great conversations on Brecht), a physics PHD student who builds semiconductors, and every bouncer for at least three blocks. I have never had a set of more diverse conversations or hung out with such a diverse group of people in such a short time. Some of this is because of the personality of my friend, Simba, who truly is one of the most interesting and friendly people I’ve ever encountered. But also I think it’s a reflection of the city. Everyone has to come work in the city, and almost every job is going to require dealing with a diverse set of coworkers and clients, and you cannot avoid it. You can’t go anywhere in terms of new construction because the city is boxed in on all sides.

We’ve talked in class about how communities interact and react in times of crisis and whether or not they will respond effectively or shatter. Wellington will be fine. They are a forward looking city, aware of their problems. They realize that they are sitting on a fault line, and they’ve prepared accordingly. Most structures in the city have been prepared, and disaster plans are well known. I’m speaking as if I actually know for sure, which I cannot say I do. But I did spend time with a guy named Tom, the theater major, who used to manage the appropriately named bar, Danger Danger. In general, he said the city was prepared because the chance of an earthquake is 100%. It is purely a matter of when it’s going to strike. Danger Danger has been built specifically to stay open when everything else fails. And furthermore this is a community that talks. You can’t avoid it, the pure amount of people around you all the time somewhat demands it, and that’s why I think if and when crisis strikes Wellington, they as a city will not waste time responding.