Whose citizenship anyway?

Who gets to define belonging? The nation state or its citizens? The government or civil society? This article argues that, for Māori, citizenship is and has been contested and conditional. It examines the history of belonging in New Zealand, from the Treaty of Waitangi to the Citizenship Act 1977, and recommends a framework for teaching belonging and citizenship to Māori students. The idea underpinning the framework is that teaching citizenship means teaching history, or the relationship between the postcolonial state and its indigenous citizens.