Seeya Buzzy Bee, later hokey pokey: Kiwiana could change as New Zealand becomes more diverse and global

AUT Lecturer Lindsay Neill is conducting a study on Kiwiana. Photo / Doug Sherring

Goodbye Buzzy Bee, hello beckoning cat?

An academic reckons stuff we call Kiwiana, from Buzzy Bees to pavlova to Swandris, could disappear within a couple of generations as New Zealand grows more diverse and further away from the closed economy of the past.

Auckland University of Technology senior lecturer in hospitality management Lindsay Neill
is launching a nationwide research project to find out what material items Kiwis aged between 18 and 40 believe symbolise our national identity.

The survey starts next Sunday and will be followed by a second one a month later inviting people to upload a photo and explanation of what they consider Kiwiana.

Neill was inspired to run the surveys, the results of which will be available at the end of the year, after hearing from participants in his PhD investigating Kiwiana and Kiwi identity in three migrant groups.

Those groups - 30 people from the Chinese, Latin American and Pacific Island communities - had shown him people's views of Kiwiana was changing.

"What they think it is is a million miles from the [Crown Lynn] swan, hokey pokey and buzzy bee. What constitutes Kiwi identity will change and migrant communities will have a say in that … will the beckoning cat be seen as a bit of Kiwiana?"

There was no reason why not, given other Kiwiana originated overseas before being adapted to New Zealand - the patent for the buzzy bee was originally held by US company Fisher Price, pavlova is based on meringue originally from France and jandals are an adaption of Japanese sandals.

Other objects-turned-Kiwiana emerged at a time when the New Zealand economy was closed and imports restricted.

People had to make do, Neill said.

"Crown Lynn started with drain pipes and then diversified into the swans they're famous for, and the teacups ... because you couldn't get them from [overseas], you had to buy local.

"Crown Lynn were in every home - whether a swan, a tea cup or the drainage to take your sewage away."

The majority of existing Kiwiana reflected being a male, such as the saying ''She'll be right", and symbols reflecting male values were in decline in the Western Hemisphere, he said.

"Existing Kiwiana might be coming to an end. You could argue Kiwiana has hit a void. We need things to reflect today … in the future it will reflect the migration trends."

For example, maneki-neko (beckoning cat), originally from Japan but widely adopted by Chinese merchants, could take on its own Kiwi flavour with generations to come, Neill said.

Based on what he'd heard from his own PhD participants about what they saw as Kiwiana, that could be focused around foods such as raw fish and cheese, and New Zealand wine.

Fish and chips were still mentioned as Kiwi as, but they no longer necessarily came from the local takeaway - they were more likely to be those freshly caught by the person planning to eat them.

Raw fish was a Pacific Island favourite, and that could also eventually become part of what Kiwis see as Kiwi.

"It could figure on the menu in future times."

Another participant had identified New Zealand wine as her Kiwiana - she kept the empty bottles to look at again later.

"The bottles were a narrative for her life in New Zealand."