ELLEN ALLERTON
BIO
Ellen Allerton studied Government and Performance and Communication Arts at St. Lawrence University. She is originally from St. Albans, Vermont. Ellen spent Fall 2018 studying abroad in Dunedin, New Zealand, where she got to kayak with seals on the ocean and visit the set of the Hobbit films, a dream of hers since she was a kid. She also took a week long solo trip to Sydney, Australia, and loves all things down under.
By Ellen Allerton
Ellen Allerton explores the complex cultural politics and public debates surrounding Māori Language Week, part of a larger effort to grapple with New Zealand’s history of colonization. While the promotion of te reo Māori (the Māori language) has generated both expressions of cultural pride and conservative backlash, it also involves troubling examples of what Allerton calls “commodification of the culture through performances and feasts that are meant purely to attract tourists.”