Simon, Hemopereki2025-01-142025-01-142022Simon, H. (2022). The Critical Juncture in Aotearoa New Zealand and The Collective Future: Policy Issues in Settler/Invader Colonial Zombiism Found in “Biculturalism”. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 15(2), 119-142. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcis.23291837-0144https://hdl.handle.net/10289/17115This theoretical Kaupapa Māori writing inquiry study seeks to explore the settler colonial nature of Aotearoa New Zealand. The research finds that biculturalism, as a neo-liberal and settler-colonial construct does not provide for either tino rangatiratanga or mana motuhake. Indeed, biculturalism fails to provide for indigenous inclusion and actively suppresses the recognition of mana motuhake. Biculturalism is found to fit Beck’s definition of Zombie Concepts. These are social concepts that are dead and yet kept alive in their use by scholars and society to describe the growing fiction of traditional social institutions and in being kept alive maintain, in this case, settler colonial and colonial power structures. The main argument is that Biculturalism is neoliberal and settler colonial public discourse, that needs to be unpacked and then discarded because it does not provide for tino rangatiranga or mana motuhake.enThis is an open access article, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Journal Article10.5204/ijcis.23291837-01444407 Policy and Administration44 Human Society451123 Ngā mahi tōrangapū Māori (Māori politics)440809 New Zealand government and politics470207 Cultural theory470212 Multicultural, intercultural and cross-cultural studies4410 Sociology441008 Sociology of culture440709 Public policy440712 Social policy451130 Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi)430313 History of empires, imperialism and colonialism430320 New Zealand history4511 Ngā tāngata, te porihanga me ngā hapori o te Māori (Māori peoples, society and community)480405 Law and society and socio-legal research4408 Political science45 Indigenous studies