New Zealand's Marketplace Multiculturalism: Justifying a New Approach to Citizenship

In light of biculturalism's place in New Zealand's history, any attempts to establish a state-sponsored project of multiculturalism have always been treated with suspicion and controversy. This article provides a contemporary understanding of the conceptual ambiguities found in the country's configuration of multiculturalism that governs cultural diversity through the market. As a prelude to establishing the need for a new citizenship research agenda through cosmopolitanism developed in consultation with Maori, it is argued that the strictures of New Zealand's unofficial policy of commercial multiculturalism need to be transcended before Asians and other non-European migrants to the country can contribute successfully.