1 “Everything is different now.” Memory and settler identity in Aotearoa New Zealand Jessica Terruhn, Department of Sociology, The University of Auckland, jter023@aucklanduni.ac.nz Abstract Shared representations of history are crucial for a sense of coherent social identities, societal cohesion, and political legitimation in nation states. In settler societies such as Aotearoa New Zealand, collective settler memory has often served to justify colonialism. Previous research has particularly highlighted the role forgetting has played, first in taking possession of the new country, and later in preserving the privileged position of settler descendants in a postcolonial society. In this paper, I focus on practices of remembering as one aspect of settler memory that has been neglected so far. Findings from a study with thirty-eight New Zealanders of European descent (Pākehā) suggest that memories of transformations in settler- indigenous relations play an integral role in negotiating contemporary settler identities. I will demonstrate this function of remembering through a careful examination of one exemplary narrative which allows me to trace the narrative performance of memory and to pinpoint key themes. Through practices of remembering Pākehā acknowledge the need for a break with the colonial past. However, genuine efforts to develop new post-colonial settler subjectivities are compromised by discursive redefinitions of decolonisation as the recognition and „mainstreaming‟ of indigenous culture. This culturalisation serves to obscure on-going coloniality and protect white settler privilege whilst allowing Pākehā to claim a reformed, postcolonial identity. Keywords: memory, settler identity, colonialism, culturalisation, Aotearoa New Zealand