Horis, neffs and aunties: Social media, language and identity for young Ma-ori in Australia

With more than 140,000 ‘Mozzies’ (Ma-ori Aussies) living in Australia, people of Ma-ori ancestry constitute Australia’s largest Polynesian ethnic group. One in six of all Ma-ori leave New Zealand (Aotearoa) indefinitely to live and work in Australia. Ma-ori who make this journey encounter difficulties in maintaining cultural traditions, missing extended family (whanau), feelings of difference with both the general population of Australia and Ma-ori back at home, and a variation of expectations of returning home. Many of these issues are expressed in the New Zealand television series The GC (2012) – a Jersey-shore type docu-drama covering the lives of several young Ma-ori based on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. A closer analysis of the members of The GC highlights the diversity of life experiences and cultural understanding amongst them, with agreement not even reached on their self-definition as Mozzies. Similarly, the social media language of young Ma-ori in Australia, when deconstructed, provides a veritable melting-pot of ‘flavours’ and influences. I argue that young Ma-ori Australians provide an important view into the Mozzie experience as they are a large part of the Mozzie population in Australia. Furthermore, they are more likely to experience and question elements of belonging and identity in relation to their Ma-oritanga/culture in the context of an Australian upbringing. Based on a survey of twelve Mozzie participants, I found that Ma-ori language use in social media among them incorporated a mix of English, Ma-ori te reo/Ma-ori language), text-speak and slang, which reflected a similar hybridization of language to that adopted by the young Ma-ori Australian actors on The GC. The aim of this article is to examine this social media language and explore the cultural, generational, technological and social factors influencing its organic growth amongst users. I suggest that this social media language is revealing of the range of experiences of young Ma-ori in Australia – expressing their attempts to maintain close links with Ma-ori culture (Ma-oritanga) and whanau from home, while also establishing a hybridized identity in Australia.