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Not on our street: New urban spaces of interracial intimacy in 1950s and 1960s New Zealand.

Author Category Source

Journal of New Zealand Studies, 14, 67-86

Published Year Read Publication

This article examines the complexities of racial relationships in suburban New Zealand.

The author examines the post-war period’s domestic life, revealing tensions, conflicts, and prejudices that arose from new forms of racial intimacy in suburban settings. This intimacy, characterised by proximity rather than familial or sexual closeness, was often uncomfortable and uninvited, reflecting the complex social dynamics of the time. The article also delves into the broader societal trends of the era, where Māori and other ethnic groups were encouraged to integrate into a Pākehā-dominated suburban lifestyle, symbolised by home-ownership and a particular standard of family life. The article also addresses how these suburban racial intimacies, influenced by government policies of the 1950s and 1960s, marked a shift from assimilation to integration, reflecting a change from colonial to post-colonial attitudes. The author argues for a deeper understanding of these historical patterns of interracial intimacy by examining material and visual sources, thereby enriching the scholarship beyond traditional archival research.

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