The portrayal of Auckland as a super diverse city with an exciting and vibrant ethnic mix may be a myth.
Cultural separation is remarkably high in super-diverse Auckland says Dr Toeolesulssulu Damon Salesa in an 11 minute interview with Newsroom.
Salesa is Associate Professor of Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland.
He says residential separation in Auckland is not far behind what you would find in South Africa or parts of the American South.
It is now not uncommon to find south Aucklanders who have never been into the city or crossed the Auckland Harbour Bridge he says.
And conversely, there are Pākehā residents of the North Shore and Remuera who have never been to Ōtara or Māngere.
“People are going to make personal and political decisions based on a really slanted, and not accurate, experience. It is one of Auckland’s great problems.” he says.
The most segregated population is actually European New Zealanders in Auckland.
“These people have no window or vision on the rest of Auckland…. the city many European New Zealanders live in is not diverse at all,” Salsa says.
Salesa was the first person of Pacific Island descent to become a Rhodes scholar to Oxford.
Earlier in 2012, his book Racial Crossings: Race, Intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire won the coveted international Ernest Scott prize.
Damon is the husband of Labour MP Jenny Salesa.
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