Dismantling Cook’s legacy: Science, migration, and colonialism in Aotearoa - Rata, Arama (New Zealand Science Review, 2020)
I Aotearoa nei, ko te tau 2019 tērā i tohu mai kua 250 tau i te taunga mai o Kāpene James Cook, i runga i te Endeavour, i tana haerenga ki te ‘rapu mātauranga pūtaiao’. Kia whakanuia ai taua kaupapa, i tuku ngā kāwanatanga, ā-motu, ā-rohe anō hoki, i te $23 mïriona neke atu hei whāngai i ētahi anō kaupapa, ko tētahi ko te kāhui waka i haere ai ki ngā wāhi hirahira o te motu. Hākoa te hiahia o ngā kaiwhakahaere kia maumaharatia ngā ‘hononga tuku iho’, otirā ko ngā tūtakihanga o mua a te Māori me te Pākehā (Manatū Taonga 2018), tino kore nei te nuinga o ngā hapori Māori i hurō i te kitenga ake o te tāruatanga o te Endeavour i te paerangi. I kaha te whakahēngia o te kaupapa whakamaumahara i tōna wairua whakatarapï, ka mutu i ngā mahi kino rawa atu a Cook nōna i konei (arā, ko te kahaki, me te kōhuru i ētahi Māori; tirohia tā Ranford 2018). Ko tō Cook noho ki Aotearoa tētahi tino wānanga mō te whakakotahitanga mai o te pūtaiao, o te nuku tangata, o te whānako whenua anō hoki i tēnei motu. Mā tēnei tuhinga, ka taki ahau i te hïtori o te pūtaiao me te nuku tangata i Aotearoa (mai i te taunga mai o ō ngā Māori o nāianei tūpuna tae noa ki te taunga mai o te Pākehā, ā neke atu), ka kōrero hoki he pēhea ngā kaupapa here me te pūtaiao o nāianei, ā-nuku tangata nei, i te inenga o ngā hua ki te ōhanga i tēnā o ngā tūraru e whakapaengia nei ka puta i ngā rāwaho kua whakaiwingia, me te huna tonu i ngā hanganga kaikiri whānako whenua nei i tūāpapa ai i a Niu Tïreni, ka mutu ka tohu i ētahi huarahi hou o te rangahau ā-pūtaiao i te nuku tangata ā haere ake nei. In Aotearoa, 2019 marked the 250th anniversary of the arrival of Captain James Cook, aboard the Endeavour, on its voyage of ‘scientific discovery’. To mark the occasion, central and local governments committed over $23 million to fund events including a flotilla that travelled to sites of significance around the country. While organisers intended to commemorate our ‘dual heritage’ and in particular the early ‘encounters’ of Māori and European peoples (Ministry of Culture and Heritage 2018), the sight of a replica Endeavour on the horizon was not a cause for celebration for many Māori communities. Strong objections to the commemorations were raised because of the imperial intentions and violent actions of Cook while here (which included abducting and murdering Māori; see Ranford 2018). Cook’s presence in Aotearoa is an interesting case study of how science, migration, and colonialism have converged in this country. In this essay, I sketch a history of science and migration in Aotearoa (from the arrival of the ancestors of modern Māori through to the advent of the European and beyond), and outline how migration policy and contemporary migration science weigh economic benefits against the presumed ‘risk’ posed by racialised migrants while obscuring the racist settler–colonial structures New Zealand was founded on. I suggest new pathways for the scientific study of migration to move forward.