“The similarities between Polynesian cultures often outweigh the differences.”
To celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, we’re throwing it back to this special episode of Tagata Pasifika from 1993.
Director/reporter Iulia Leilua celebrates the mingling of Polynesian cultures in Aotearoa, through similarities (language, spirituality, land, extended family) and differences (clothes, food). Among those interviewed are Samoan Beau Rasmussen, who married Moana on the East Coast; Niuean Toa Luka, who married a Māori woman from Northland; and Tongan/Māori lawyer Kahungunu Barron-Afeaki, who married actor Whetu Fala. Fala grew up in Whanganui, with a Samoan father and Māori mother.
