The flat’s census forms arrived today. I see they have once again left the name of my ethnic group off the list, and I can only assume it was because some politically correct ignoramus thought it would offend somebody to read the word for what I am.
I understand how statistical surveys work, so I’ll tick the box designated for me so that the scanning machine can do its work. But I shall be crossing out the awful New Zealand European. It might have been an adequate designation for my great great grandparents, assuming that they’d have been willing to consider Great Britain part of Europe, but it is meaningless to me. Neither do I accept the odd notion that New Zealander is an ethnic group, when the context of a census form makes it perfectly clear that it isn’t. I will happily write that if asked for my nationality, but it has not been an ethnic group since the nineteenth century, when it was used to describe the people we now know as Maori.
After crossing out New Zealand European, I shall be writing Pakeha. That is the ethnicity I was raised in and the name I identify with, and I make a habit of writing it in whenever I’m required to fill in a form that doesn’t include it.
How stupid is that? Why not just include ‘NZ European/Pakeha’? Although that would be problematic for people who were born in Europe and think of themselves as European not Pakeha.
For that matter, why ‘NZ European’ and not ‘NZ Indian’ or ‘NZ Chinese’ to cover people from those ethnicities who have lived here for generations?
Thanks for mentioning this. I shall also be writing in Pakeha.
Why not just include ‘NZ European/Pakeha’?
It used to have both, but Pakeha was removed - if I remember correctly the last census didn’t have it either. I can only guess that Statistics New Zealand got too many complaints from people with various made-up etymologies purporting to show that Pakeha is a rude word.
Have you noticed, by the way, that none of these people can agree on exactly what rude meaning it’s supposed to have?
that would be problematic for people who were born in Europe and think of themselves as European
I think that’s covered by the write-in box, especially given that the text reads “other such as…” and includes Dutch as an example. If you identify with a European ethnicity, you can so.
I think Don’t Know would be a perfectly valid answer too, although I can see why it wouldn’t be good statistical practice to give it as an example - you want people to try to answer the question.
why ‘NZ European’ and not ‘NZ Indian’ or ‘NZ Chinese’
I suspect primarily because nobody has ever asked for it.