‘We are One People’: Place branding and settler narrative in international communications

Reeling in the aftermath of the 2019 Mosque shootings, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responded to the shock of New Zealanders everywhere with the unifying mantra ‘We Are One People.’ New Zealand prides itself on its inclusivity, and yet the process of nation-building, sponsored by the state, has privileged the white male over every other narrative of New Zealand identity. This presentation will explore the internal forces that shaped settler identity in New Zealand. It will examine how state sponsored ideographs, played out in nation and place branding, contributed to the rise of racism and hostility towards non-white self-imagining, and continues to leave some New Zealanders marginalised in their own home.