REVIEW: Crucial Pasifika achievement in an era of intense political conciousness

Abstract

Review of Polynesian Panthers by Melani Anae, Lautofa Luli, Leilani Burgoyne. Auckland: Reed Books, 2006. This book is the story of the Polynesian Panther Party, a political group of inner city Pacific Island and Maori youth brought together through the shared experience of racism and more importantly, the shared determination to fight it and the marginalisation in its wake. Edited by ex-Polynesian Panther Melani Anae (director of Pacific Studies at Auckland University) and contributed to by a number of fellow members and friends of the party, Polynesian Panthers depicts an era of awakening political conciousness among New Zealand's newest migrants— in particular, through the eyes of their NZ-born children.

Keywords

• Polynesian Panthers
• marginalisation
• New Zealand history
• pacific history
• reviews