What's it like to identify as Māori when you also identify with another ethnicity? For this episode Myjanne speaks to Māori academic Dr Tess Moeke-Maxwell who did her PhD on that very topic. Myjanne also speaks to her dear friend, Mikkeline Olsen, about her experience very similar experience of growing up in Australia, to a Danish dad and Māori-Pakeha mum.

What's it like to identify as Māori when you also identify with another ethnicity? For this episode Myjanne speaks to Māori academic Dr Tess Moeke-Maxwell who did her PhD on that very topic. Myjanne also speaks to her dear friend, Mikkeline Olsen, about her experience very similar experience of growing up in Australia, to a Danish dad and Māori-Pakeha mum.

Growing up in Australia with a Danish father and a Māori-Pakeha mother, Myjanne Jensen always had this sense of not feeling Māori "enough". After moving back to Te Hiku o Te Ika – the Far North – in 2021, she started her journey of coming home and trying to better connect to her roots.

Over seven episodes, Myjanne will kōrero with a number of incredible people about their own stories of what it means to be Māori, making that cultural connection, and the complexity of being mixed-race. All this with the hope of turning the conversation away from not "feeling enough" to instead, understanding how to connect with the Māoritanga already living inside you.

New episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

Growing up in Australia with a Danish father and a Māori-Pakeha mother, Myjanne Jensen always had this sense of not feeling Māori "enough". After moving back to Te Hiku o Te Ika – the Far North – in 2021, she started her journey of coming home and trying to better connect to her roots.
Over seven episodes, Myjanne will kōrero with a number of incredible people about their own stories of what it means to be Māori, making that cultural connection, and the complexity of being mixed-race. All this with the hope of turning the conversation away from not "feeling enough" to instead, understanding how to connect with the Māoritanga already living inside you.
New episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

The Māori in Me

Life as a mixed race wāhine

For those people on the journey of reconnecting with their Māori roots, a big part of that process is healing parts of us that don't feel 'enough'. For this episode, Myjanne speaks to Erica McCreedy, a wāhine Māori living in Australia who created her own podcast, 'Healing our Identity', on this very topic. The episode then finishes with a conversation with Australian-Māori Dr Melissa Carey who talked about her own healing journey through her autoethnographic PhD, 'A transformative journey of cultural recovery, Te Ao Maori'.

For those people on the journey of reconnecting with their Māori roots, a big part of that process is healing parts of us that don't feel 'enough'. For this episode, Myjanne speaks to Erica McCreedy, a wāhine Māori living in Australia who created her own podcast, 'Healing our Identity', on this very topic. The episode then finishes with a conversation with Australian-Māori Dr Melissa Carey who talked about her own healing journey through her autoethnographic PhD, 'A transformative journey of cultural recovery, Te Ao Maori'.

How do we heal our identity?

As part of Myjanne's exploration into the topic of Māori identity and indigeneity more broadly, Myjanne says she came across a phenomenon called 'pretendians' (Pretend Indians). According to Anishnaabe man and native filmmaker Drew Hayden Taylor, the past decade in Canada has seen a flood of white people being outed as 'pretendians', after claiming to be native when they weren't. He's now created a documentary on the topic and speaks to Myjanne about it. Dr Margaret Mutu also shares her take on the issue and what she feels defines someone as indigenous in the Māori context.

As part of Myjanne's exploration into the topic of Māori identity and indigeneity more broadly, Myjanne says she came across a phenomenon called 'pretendians' (Pretend Indians). According to Anishnaabe man and native filmmaker Drew Hayden Taylor, the past decade in Canada has seen a flood of white people being outed as 'pretendians', after claiming to be native when they weren't. He's now created a documentary on the topic and speaks to Myjanne about it. Dr Margaret Mutu also shares her take on the issue and what she feels defines someone as indigenous in the Māori context.

The rise of 'pretendians'

As someone of Māori descent growing up in Australia in the 1980s, Myjanne says the opportunity to connect to her culture was limited. In this episode she makes the journey back to Brisbane to interview a number of Māori living in Queensland and to hear about their experiences living away from Aotearoa. She also speaks to the  Queensland Māori Society about an interesting kaupapa they run called, "Am I Māori Enough?".

As someone of Māori descent growing up in Australia in the 1980s, Myjanne says the opportunity to connect to her culture was limited. In this episode she makes the journey back to Brisbane to interview a number of Māori living in Queensland and to hear about their experiences living away from Aotearoa. She also speaks to the  Queensland Māori Society about an interesting kaupapa they run called, "Am I Māori Enough?".

Life as a mixed race wāhine

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