Arts: Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Queering adaptation in global cinema.
(2024) Daniel, Mathew
The following thesis elucidates my conception of queer adaptation, a theoretical formulation that reads the process of adaptation itself as queer. Queerness and adaptation share several characteristics, chief among them a sense of inclusivity and the tendency to be perceived as secondary. While both fields are individually productive, together they offer a wider range of theoretical possibilities. My conception of queer adaptation is founded in the navigation of various dichotomies: between adaptations and “original” text, between high and low culture, between dominant culture and its subversion. Rather than defining queer adaptation oppositionally, my conception centres an interplay between repetition and transformation. The queerness of a given adaptation, then, is not derived exclusively from its subversion of the text it adapts. Rather, I position these texts alongside one another as intertexts rather than within a hierarchical relationship, allowing for greater insight into adaptations and the texts they adapt. Queer adaptation, then, destabilises textual and cultural dichotomies. In order to establish my conception of queer adaptation, I begin by tracing the discourses that have animated adaptation theory. The most prominent of these discourses are fidelity and anti-fidelity, which have structured understandings of adaptation. I complement that discussion with an account of cinematic queerness. That account foregrounds depictions of queerness, but it also draws attention to queer reading strategies. These strategies are positioned as their own kind of adaptation, allowing queer viewers to read queerness in any number of texts. The discourses and reading strategies outlined in these chapters inform the arguments that follow, wherein I analyse a number of adaptations – specifically a literary adaptation, a remake, and a multimedia adaptation - in terms of their repetition and transformation of the texts they adapt. Ultimately, queer adaptation is a democratic mode of textuality that perceives every text as potentially incomplete, as suggesting any number of creative avenues to any number of possible adapters.
Open Access
Lotu and Felupe : reimagining a new and unifying approach to climate resilience in Tonga.
(2024) Liava‘a, Laiseni Fanon Charisma
Pacific islands are on the frontline of the climate crisis, and Tonga is the second most vulnerable nation on the globe to be affected by natural disasters and effects of climate change. While churches play a fundamental role in Pacific cultures, very little is written on their role in relation to climate change. This research explores and analyses churches’ response to climate change, in the context of the notion of felupe, as a new and unifying approach towards climate resilience in Tonga. Research data were collected using qualitative methods. These included; interviews of 27 participants from 9 different church denominations in Nuku‘alofa, Tonga and 5 focus-group discussions with 29 Tongans from different suburbs in Auckland, New Zealand. Data were gathered and analysed using Mullet’s General Critical Discourse Analysis Framework (GCDAF) for Educational Research. The findings revealed the diversity of beliefs and values which have underpinned the churches’ approach to climate issues. They include stewardship and responsibility to God’s creation, power of prayers, end times, God’s providence and sovereignty and linking climate change to sin. The research also emphasises the sociotheological features of felupe and how felupe is an appropriate unifying approach for churches’ climate issues in Tonga. Some features of felupe include; grabbling, gathering and holding things together, fevahevahe‘aki, and a call for women to lead. The thesis argues that Felupe is relevant in the Tongan context, because it is communal, mutual and reciprocal.
Open Access
Rehearsing and performing contemporary Chinese choral music from the early 21st century.
(2024) Wei, Changmuwei
This thesis examines the rehearsal and interpretation of contemporary Chinese choral works. It unveils the motivations behind Chinese young conductors' selection of Chinese choral pieces and investigates the common challenges encountered during the rehearsals of contemporary Chinese choral music, as well as how conductors can rehearse these pieces more effectively. Utilising surveys and sample pieces provided by numerous young Chinese choral conductors, participants responded to two research inquiries based on the samples: 1) The choice of pieces and their reasons for selection. 2) The challenges presented in rehearsal and performance of these pieces. Data collection methods included thematic analysis and categorisation of the feedback from survey questionnaires, explored within a thematic research methodological framework. The study reveals that Chinese conductors select their repertoire of contemporary Chinese choral works, thinking about the lyrics, traditional culture, musical qualities, and performance challenges. The challenges faced and potentially developed or further improved within the rehearsal environment include the challenges of rehearsal, ensemble, singing ability, conducting, piano accompaniment, rhythm, language, voice connection, and dynamics. To address these, a representative selection of sample pieces was chosen for action research with choirs in New Zealand and China, providing specific and effective rehearsal techniques through frequent observation and comparison of rehearsal outcomes before and after. The findings of this thesis contribute to the exploration of contemporary Chinese choral music, especially by providing experiences and academic literature for contemporary Western and Chinese conductors to understand Chinese contemporary choral works and rehearsal techniques. Offering further insights into contemporary Chinese choral music facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of this art form in China and reveals its multifaceted nature. This thesis also provides a comprehensive literature review that contributes to the practice and future research of Chinese choral music.
Open Access
Non-Māori-speaking New Zealanders’ implicit auditory and orthographic knowledge of te reo Māori.
(2024) Osborne, Alexandria
Recent research has shown that non-Māori-speaking New Zealanders (NMS) have a te reo Māori proto-lexicon: an implicit store of Māori word forms and part-words acquired largely via ambient language exposure (Oh et al., 2020; Panther et al., 2023). While NMS are exposed to both written and spoken Māori, this research has only used orthographic stimuli, assuming that NMS can straightforwardly map between written and spoken forms. This assumption, and NMS’ responses to auditory stimuli, have not been examined directly, however. To address these gaps, this thesis combines old, new, and previously unexamined data from Māori nonword spelling and Māori nonword wellformedness rating tasks. Using spelling data, it was found that NMS did not robustly map between spoken and written modalities, but transcriptions nevertheless aligned with Māori constraints. Wellformedness data were used in ordinal regression models to investigate NMS’ phonotactic and orthotactic knowledge in both modalities. Ultimately, NMS were sensitive to Māori phonotactics and orthotactics in orthographic stimuli, but for auditory stimuli they were only sensitive to phonotactics. I argue that NMS automatically combine information from across language domains and modalities in a mutually-reinforcing manner, though this knowledge is more robustly accessed via orthography due to perceptual interference auditorily. These findings contribute to a growing body of research showing that automatic statistical learning mechanisms (Aslin et al., 2017) persist into adulthood. Furthermore, while my findings support the use of orthographic stimuli when measuring implicit knowledge, I emphasise the need to simultaneously account for various types of information when doing so, including phonotactics, orthotactics, and language-specific features.
Open Access
Navigating politics and trade : how New Zealand's Free Trade Agreements with the United Kingdom and European Union impact Māori economic agents.
(2024) Russell, Cassidy
The nature of the relationship between trade and politics is an area of extensive discussion within academic literature. Trade is often seen as a beneficial agreement between parties; however, what impact, if any, does the political climate impose on trading partnerships? With this in mind, it is essential to understand how this relationship may impact smaller economies, such as Indigenous economic agents, who are subjected to the changes made in the international trade landscape by more significant political and economic powers. Māori, the focus group of this research, are the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand. To date, limited scholarly research has been conducted on political decisions affecting Māori economic agents, presenting a relatively unexplored area of literature. This thesis aims to help fill this void and establish to what extent political or politicised trade decisions shape Māori economic agents’ ability to trade. Two independent approaches are used: a critical discourse analysis employing Fairclough’s framework and an analysis of interviews conducted with the political and academic elite in this field. Qualitative and quantitative research techniques are used within these frameworks to answer the research objective. Interestingly, the impact of politicised trade on Māori economic agents differed depending on the context in which it was examined. At a domestic level, politicised trade is found to positively impact Māori trade outcomes, while from an international perspective, there are concerns their trading opportunities will be harmed. However, this research highlights that greater inclusion of Māori voices in trade decisions will limit these negative impacts and create further opportunities for beneficial growth in trade. This thesis aims to bring the Māori economy into the spotlight, showcasing the attention this area of exploration deserves and to provide discourse that may positively affect Māori economic agents and their wider community.
Open Access
Connecting Canterbury : the role of economic networks linking pastoral Canterbury and the colonial world.
(2024) Pattie, Jock
Colonial Canterbury is characterised by its association with New Zealand’s wool industry in its earliest days, and the wealth that grew from this industry is the foundation upon which modern Canterbury has built its sense of identity. Sheep farms in Canterbury predate even the arrival of the Canterbury Association in the region, as in the 1840s a few dozen Europeans leasing land directly from Ngai Tahu established farms and sheep runs on Banks Peninsula and around what would become Christchurch. After organised settlement began following the establishment of Christchurch in 1850, European settlers established hundreds of farms across the region, kickstarting an agricultural and pastoral industry that has persisted to this day. The economic networks that facilitated the establishment of this industry had many levels, encompassing everything from the roads and railways that linked the interior of the region to the ports, to the agents who organised the shipping, insurance and sale of wool in London. By supplementing the array of scholarship in existence with a selection of primary material, this thesis will seek to show how the varied facets of colonial Canterbury’s economy were connected to the demands and influences of the wider Imperial economy within which it was set. This thesis does not attempt to explain specific methods by which Cantabrian colonial industries were organised and run, nor does it try to determine how successful these industries were in creating wealth for individuals. Rather, this paper seeks to link together many disparate aspects of the economy that acted to facilitate the continued expansion of the colony, the steady flow of produce out of it into the imperial market, and the supply of necessary supplies from the Imperial centre to the colonial periphery. Particular attention will be given to the impact various parts of the network had on influencing each other, Detailing how the demand for raw materials to fuel the Industrial Revolution kickstarted the expansion of sheep farming to Australasia, which in turn demanded infrastructure to move wool out of the colony, and finally how stock agents and finance supplied the necessary capital to have made the development of Canterbury possible.
Open Access
The Thai military’s political education and its resistance : the case of the Reserve Officer Training Corps Programme (หลักสูตรรักษาดินแดน) 2014-2023.
(2024) Wongngamdee, Pasit
For decades, the Thai military has played a vital role in politics, and has also tried to convince Thai civilian society to accept their political involvement through various forms of political education. One of the most important—yet overlooked—channels of political education is the “Reserve Officer Training Corp Programme” (ROTC programme—หลักสูตร รักษาดินแดน [ร.ด.]), which recruits 300,000 civilian high school students annually. These civilian students spend 3-5 years with the military, receiving both military training and political education, and being encouraged by the military to disseminate what they are taught to other civilians. The ROTC programme reflects the military’s attempt to shape Thai youth’s ideologies and to employ the youth to influence the wider public. The thesis examines whether the ROTC programme succeeds in getting Thai civilians to accept the military’s political involvement or not. The thesis has three primary questions: (a) how has the Thai military indoctrinated ROTC students to accept the military’s involvement in politics? (b) how has such indoctrination been resisted by those involved in the ROTC programme? and (c) how effective has such indoctrination been? The main research method employed by the thesis was unstructured in-depth interviews with ROTC students, ROTC advisers, and military personnel. The thesis found that the programme teaches ROTC students to accept the military’s role in both warfare and politics. For the military’s role in warfare, the programme encourages students to have a masculine-warrior character. This includes physical and mental strength, as well as being disciplined, obedient, patriotic, and loyal to the monarchy. Regarding the military’s political role, the programme teaches students that it is natural for the military to be involved in internal security, public policy, leadership selection, and determination of political order. However, the thesis also found that ROTC indoctrination has faced widespread resistance from those involved in the programme: ROTC students, ROTC instructors, and ROTC advisers. These resisters cannot openly resist ROTC indoctrination, but when they are beyond the observation of the military, they seek to form an informal alliance with other resisters by sharing their dissent towards the military and the ROTC programme. These resisters also employ everyday resistance and the arts of resistance to make their life more bearable and sabotage ROTC indoctrination. Such resistance is frequently in the forms of half-baked work, window dressing, escape strategies, gossiping, slandering, joking, nicknaming, and mocking. Because of resistance in the programme, the thesis concluded that the effectiveness of ROTC indoctrination has been quite limited. Even though the ROTC lessons about the military’s role in warfare has been fairly accepted by those in the programme; the lessons which justify the armed forces’ political involvement encounter widespread resistance. Among them, lessons which legitimise the military’s role in public policy, leadership selection, and determination of political order even face counter-hegemonic resistance. This indicates the lack of success in using the ROTC programme to shape the students’ ideologies. The ineffectiveness of ROTC indoctrination reflects the ongoing struggle to redefine the civil-military relations in Thailand. While the military has attempted to maintain their hegemony through indoctrination, society has resisted and fought back by proposing alternative civil-military relations models.
Open Access
War and Empire : Britain, New Zealand and the First World War in the Middle East.
(2024) Steel, Daniel
The First World War in the Middle East is a subject of enduring political salience and increasing scholarly interest, but public responses to it in Britain and, more especially, New Zealand are underexplored. This thesis fills that gap by examining a vast array of published material, supplemented by archival sources, and exploring the breadth of imperial issues it raised. This includes not only the campaigns in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Gallipoli, but broader issues of jihad, genocide, nationalism, ‘liberation’ and imperial aggrandisement. These were issues at the heart of the war in the Middle East and, it was believed, the wider war with Germany. By examining them collectively, a conception of the war emerges that is decidedly imperial. It therefore contributes not only to scholarship of the First World War, empire and the Middle East, but ongoing debates about what, if anything, empire meant to ordinary people.
Open Access
The concept of the group mind : a critical examination
(1937) Gibb, David Stewart
The purpose of this brief thesis is to examine the concept of the group mind, in order to determine its validity. And, in the light of the analysis made, to attempt a decision as to whether or no it is a useful concept. To a large extent an inquiry of this nature is essentially historical. The various theories embodying the concept, which have been held by numerous thinkers, must be examined in turn. Such an inquiry is not of merely theoretical significance. If the notion of the group mind be proved valid, it must largely determine the whole orientation of the social sciences, of economics, of history, of politics, of sociology and social psychology. All these sciences are intimately related to the everyday life of the social animal, man. The question is probably more vital today than ever in the past, for never has a true interpretation of the facts of national life and of social life in general ben more urgent. During the last few years, in several quarters of the civilized world, political creeds and practices have come into force which make an inquiry such as it is proposed to undertake here, a matter of outstanding interest and importance.
Open Access
History of the Otira Tunnel in the Southern Alps.
(1927) Newton, Ngare Elaine Becket
It has always been recognized that the construction of the Otira Tunnel was one of the most stupendous engineering tasks ever performed in the history of the Railways of New Zealand. Being the seventh longest tunnel in the world, and the fifth highest of those seven, it is quite permissible for the people in New Zealand to take pride in their achievement. Although the popular name for the tunnel is Otira, in the Governmental transactions and the surveying and engineering world it is officially designated as the Arthur's Pass Tunnel. It is Arthur's Pass which connects the Bealey and Otira Valleys, on either side of the range. During the research for information I have come into contact with material which it is not permissible to use, as the secrets of engineers and contractors would thereby be encroached upon. But my grateful thanks are due to all those whom I approached in the quest for facts and who did everything in their power to help me. Especially would I thank Mr .W. Kennedy who has been closely as associated with the tunnel from start to finish and was one of those on the electric train which broke the ribbon on the opening day of the tunnel. That the tunnel has been and is a great boon to the community has never been for an instant doubted, although from the Railway Department's point of view it may not be an unqualified success. But it has conferred untold benefits on the country. The West Coast was in a primitive, undeveloped condition, and the railway, magic thread through the mountains, has unlocked the door and set the tide of prosperity flowing. The result is that today Westland can take her place with the other provinces of New Zealand. For many years before the "hole through the hill" was commenced, many and great disappointments had to be patiently borne by those who persistently agitated for a tunnel, many and great difficulties had to be circumvented in the political world, and it is that devoted army of men, many of whom have long been dead, who with undiminished enthusiasm drove to procure this great benefit for their country to whom we owe the great completed achievement. In one sense they have disproved Kipling's couplet: "East is East and West is West And never the twain shall meet. "
Open Access
Dilemmas of Chinese aid and the challenges of development in Bougainville : a critical exploration.
(2024) Kolova, Steven
This thesis explores the relationship between China’s aid policy and Bougainville’s development needs as well as some of the political, economic and technical challenges encountered. Bougainville, an autonomous territory within the state of Papua New Guinea, faces significant development issues. This thesis examines these and provides assessment on how they can be addressed, including the provision of external aid. As a growing aid donor in the territory, China’s aid is explored in more detail, in particular its interests in Bougainville and the MOUs it has signed with the Bougainville Government. The study situates development against the backdrop of two major historical contexts, the destructive conflicts of 1989—98 and the optimism generated by the 2019 referendum, where 97.7% of the people voted for independence. Apart from identifying and critically examining Bougainville’s development challenges and constraints, the study also examines the prospects and opportunities for resource utilization and people-based socio-economic growth. A number of interconnected theoretical approaches are utilised in the study. The post-development theory used in the study proposes a framework that supports holistic transformation of development processes so as to avoid claims of serial exploitation by donors. The constructivism approach frames the distinctive diversity of interests in the development and aid space; on the one hand is China’s global economic ambitions, on the other hand is Bougainville’s internal development needs. Where the two different sets of interests meet is the focus of this thesis: What are some of the economic, political, social and environmental challenges and prospects encountered as a global power engages with a small and new Pacific territory?
Open Access
Conquest using the weaponry of moral justification : narratives at the intersection of foreign policy and climate chanqe in the small island states of Kiribati and Tuvalu.
(2018) Willis, Jeffrey Dean
This dissertation examines the climate change narratives of the Pacific small island states of Kiribati and Tuvalu. As two of the lowest lying states in the world, Kiribati and Tuvalu face existential threats resultant from a range of climate change impacts, notably rising sea levels (Nurse et al., 2014). Nonetheless, in the 21st Century, the governments of the two states have projected climate change narratives on the international stage that appear to diverge significantly from one another. In the period from 2003-2016, the Government of Kiribati frequently spoke of a policy of ‘migration with dignity’ as one possible response to the impacts of climate change. At the same time, the Government of Tuvalu became known for suggesting that international discussions of climate-induced relocations were irresponsible (Smith & McNamara, 2014). This dissertation seeks to understand both how and why the climate change narratives of Kiribati and Tuvalu diverged from each other, particularly in the 2003-2016 period. In mainstream international relations (IR) literature, small states are often treated as marginal actors with very few foreign policy options open to them (Keohane, 1969). In answering the questions of how and why Kiribati and Tuvalu’s narratives have diverged, this dissertation develops a new theoretical framework through which to analyse the foreign policy behaviour of small states. This framework understands narratives as key tools of foreign policy and it contends that effective analysis of small state foreign policy issues demands analysis across multiple political levels, from the level of the international system to the level of individual politicians. This new framework challenges and extends dominant theoretical explanations of small state issues within the field of IR, and it provides a lens through which to analyse case studies of Kiribati and Tuvalu’s foreign policy histories, which make up the bulk of this dissertation. Ultimately, this dissertation finds that Kiribati and Tuvalu’s climate change narratives cannot be understood without reference to domestic political dynamics and the outlooks of political leaders in each state. More broadly, it finds that small states are not the peripheral actors in international politics that IR often assumes. Rather, they are active, and even influential, players on the global stage whose narratives can help to shape the perceptions of other, more materially powerful, states.
Open Access
Wretched men on the fatal tree: emotions, masculinity and crime in England, 1800-1868
(2024) Martinka, Rebeka
Modes of ideal masculinity were highly contradictory in nineteenth-century Britain. As middle-class Evangelical values became dominant in society, domesticity’s increasing importance gave rise to new, pacific models of manliness. Older, martial modes of masculinity continued to hold relevance as well and were particularly important in homosocial spaces and military engagements. These coexistent and contradictory ideals caused immense difficulty for men’s ability to conform to the emotional regime of the time and could result in their engagement in criminal activities. This thesis uses execution broadsides to examine the emotional regimes, styles, communities, practices and performances that affected men’s lives between 1800 and 1868 in England. Although both emotions history and gender studies are well-established fields, historians have yet to examine the emotional lives of men in the nineteenth century in any great detail. This thesis is situated at the intersection of men’s studies, the history of emotions, and the history of crime in order to begin filling that gap by focusing on the representation of male convicts who received death sentences. It examines broadsides about domestic violence and the murder of women and children in domestic settings in order to highlight how significantly the emotional practices and styles of lower- and upper-class men could differ from the emotional regime of pacific masculinity. It also analyses cases concerning soldiers and landowners to illustrate the challenges faced by men belonging to emotional communities that encouraged and accepted excessive forms of martial masculine values such as overt aggression and drinking. And finally, it focuses on broadsides about the execution of lower-class men for property crimes, forgery and assault to demonstrate the restrictive nature of the emotional regimes of both pacific and martial masculinity for a group that altered their emotional styles and communities to respond to their everyday realities in a more flexible and opportunistic way.
Open Access
The price of peace : a narrative study of two Aotearoa New Zealand civil society activists for nuclear disarmament.
(2024) Coll, Marcus James
This thesis investigates how the personal narratives of activists shape nuclear disarmament efforts, arguing for the transformative potential of a narrative approach in International Relations scholarship. Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, nuclear weapons have posed an existential threat to the survival of our world. Civil society has consistently challenged the notion that nuclear weapons provide security and has been behind many international initiatives calling for global nuclear disarmament. While impactful, little is known about the personal experiences and perspectives of the anti-nuclear activists who make up this larger collective. Using a narrative approach, this study explores the experiences of two individuals within a small grassroots non-governmental organisation, the Disarmament and Security Centre (DSC), run from their home in Christchurch, New Zealand. This husband-and-wife team formed a unique partnership; a music teacher turned peace campaigner, and a retired British Royal Navy Commander who once operated nuclear weapons. In advocating for nuclear disarmament, these two reached positions of significant influence at home, abroad, and at the United Nations. This research delves into how the DSC’s actions mirrored the intertwining of the personal and public lives of its founders within the context of a small state, New Zealand, the only Western-allied nation to formally legislate against nuclear weapons. The theoretical and methodological framework of this narrative study required extensive fieldwork and immersion into the participants lives and backgrounds. Investigation of civil society at this most granular level generated a deeper understanding of the complexities and dynamics of the lives of activists in the peace and anti-nuclear movement. Using narratives as a vehicle, a complex interplay of politics, gender, dissidence, spirituality, and cross-cultural engagement is revealed. Exploration of how anti-nuclear activists perceive themselves, and impact others, also demonstrated the challenges, successes, and motivations of individuals within social movements. Through in-depth storytelling, this thesis argues for a more holistic, nuanced view of how activists shape and are shaped by the movements they lead, offering a transformative perspective on the role of personal narratives in International Relations.
Open Access
Indigenous conflict resolution in a contemporary post-conflict state : the case of the Luqa community in Solomon Islands.
(2023) Tekulu, Karlyn
Indigenous methods of conflict resolution and conflict management in the South Pacific region are still widely used but are only sparsely covered in academic literature. This research seeks to understand and contribute to the knowledge surrounding post-conflict peacebuilding, in Solomon Islands specifically. There are strong systems of conflict resolution embedded in the traditional cultures of the country. These local systems of resolving conflict have been used widely in the various local communities but these local approaches were largely ignored by the international peacebuilding and statebuilding agencies when intervening in this post-conflict state. This research seeks to explore the perceptions and beliefs of the Luqa people in Solomon Islands on approaches to peace and conflict resolution. Indigenous research methodologies were employed in a vavakato (conversational) form, along with thematic analysis and reflexivity on the part of the researcher to make sense of the knowledge gathered. The knowledge gathered in the community narratives seek to understand the phenomenon of conflict resolution in a Solomon Islands indigenous community. The first main contribution of this thesis to the discourse of indigenous conflict ontology and epistemology is the stipulation of how the Luqa people address community conflict. The second contribution is the newly developed indigenous conflict resolution and maintenance of harmony theoretical framework – the Kame framework. The Kame framework can be respectfully utilised as a critical lens through which to analyse external mechanisms of peacebuilding from a local standpoint.
Open Access
The real and the simulation: the promotion of digital gaming as community. Insights from the first-person shooter video gamer.
(2024) Munro, Ana M.
This thesis examines the suggestion that the digital gaming community is the simulation of a real community. I argue that the digital game community is more than a mode of relations and shared circumstances, it is a recognisable place of community culture. I analyse my own socio-anthropological engagement as a first-person shooter video game player to examine the concept of the video game community and apply thematic analysis to survey responses from a group of digital game players regarding their thoughts on community. I use Jean Baudrillard’s (1981/1994) theory of communication to argue that massive, online-only digital gaming is more than a hyperreal form of market logic. Participation as a community is the central theme of video game play; the forms of participation are not static but fluid due to the frequent shifts in technology. Therefore, emerging technologies and their adoption into practice are central to how we understand the ways in which the gaming community manifest and are then normalised through our use of this technology. Although digital gaming is a space where the commercial mediation of textual and semiotic imagery occurs, digital gaming engages the social gaze of the player, as well as the time factor of participation together in activities and importantly, it is also a place of verbal intimacy. I do not find that participation in the digital game community is inclusive, but rather, reflects the embodied world in themes of exclusion, stereotypes, and toxicity. The sociality experienced therefore is not equal for everyone.
Open Access
The problematic self : groundwork for a new existentialist approach to ethics.
(2023) McBride, Lance
The foundational premise of this work is that the concept of individual moral agency that underlies contemporary ethical discourse rests on a flawed model of selfhood inherited, in most cases unwittingly, from the Enlightenment; particularly from the efforts of the German Idealists to rebuild moral theory upon the cornerstone of human reason. The model of selfhood they provide carries with it a number of conceptual difficulties that prove fatal to any attempt to construct a unified and comprehensive theory of ethics – specifically the problems of relating the subjective to an objective reality, the nature of temporal existence, the challenge of nihilism, and a seemingly inevitable doctrine of conflict between self and Other. However, these problems did not escape the notice of those philosophers of the phenomenological tradition that we now identify as existentialists. Unfortunately, none of the existentialists, either, met with any greater success in finding a way from the existent self to a working theory of intersubjective ethics. Indeed, their unique awareness of, and focus on, the specific difficulties confronting that project has often resulted in a far clearer sense of failure than we are accustomed to admitting to in contemporary ethics. My primary contention is that, by observing the treatment of selfhood through the works of a selection of the most prominent existentialists – Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre – and examining both the manner in which each stumbles in reaching towards intersubjective ethics and the solutions they offer to the failures that precede them, we might identify a set of desiderata that would helpfully inform any new theory of existentialist ethics. For the most part, the metaphysical commitments of each theorist are drawn directly from their primary works, but, in the case of the infamously obscurantist Nietzsche, no clear statement exists in the primary literature. We will, therefore, rely on a promising contemporary analysis drawn principally from the discourse between John Richardson and Paul Katsafanas. I will argue that, viewed together, these desiderata may at least suggest a possible path forward in the form of a shift away from the substance ontology that underlies the Idealist position towards a form of process phenomenology.
Open Access
‘Akarongo, ‘Āpi‘i, Arataki Listen, Learn, Lead. Exploring the lived experiences and perspectives of Pacific peoples within climate change spaces : an Aotearoa context.
(2023) Timoteo, MahMah
Complex, nuanced, and devastating, the impacts of climate change are being felt on levels never experienced before in human history. Whilst many parts of the world are slowly, yet painfully becoming more exposed and familiar to the harmful and ever more destructive realities of the climate crisis, Pacific peoples and their communities have continued to be at the forefront of this global issue. Although much research has investigated the impact of climate change on Pacific Island nations, there is a lack of research that considers the multifaceted and intersectional lived experiences and voices of Pacific peoples and their navigation of the climate emergency, specifically within climate change spaces throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. This research aimed to explore the lived experiences of Pacific peoples in climate spaces within Aotearoa New Zealand and sought to identify the challenges Pacific peoples face whilst navigating these spaces. In doing so, this research sought to address such challenges by suggesting potential ways forward that can be implemented to aid the amplification and safety of Pacific peoples and their communities. An intersectional postcolonial approach was employed which provided a lens in which systemic and institutional oppression, marginalisation, and discrimination could be identified and understood. It is through the analysis of power dynamics and roles within climate spaces and discussions that we revealed the significance of decentring whiteness, dismantling of Eurocentrism, and colonial domination within such climate spaces. The following research involved ten Pacific participants throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Guiding the research was the implementation of the Cook Island ‘Tivaevae Methodology’. The ‘akaruru (data collection) method carried out was an interweaving of semi-structured interviews, participant-observations, and talanoa. Stitched throughout the key stages of Tivaevae were five core values of the tivaevae model: taokotai (collaboration), tu akangateitei (respect), uriuri kite (reciprocity), tu inangaro (relationships), and akairi kite (shared vision). These values laid the foundation for how this research was carried out, centering the prosperity and wellbeing of those involved in this research and nurturing the vā between us. The key findings indicated that Pacific peoples and their community’s experiences of climate change spaces and discussions within Aotearoa New Zealand are dynamic, multifaceted, and complex. The talanoa sessions revealed that some Pacific peoples face various forms of discrimination and challenges within these spaces, with varying degrees of hardships brought about by oppressive systems and institutions upheld within Aotearoa New Zealand, which in turn negatively impacts their current livelihoods and futures. Informed by the lived experiences and perspectives shared by the participants involved, this research emphasises the imperative need for Pacific voices to be centred and amplified within climate change spaces and discussion. Furthermore, possible ways forward involve the decolonisation and indigenisation of systems and institutions that directly influence and impact climate spaces and beyond. Ways forward must be led by Pacific people and their communities to ensure the protection of their mana, safety, and future generations.
Open Access
Making sense of Jane’s life and experiences as a woman farmer: the transformation of gender in agriculture
(2024) Mason-Sievers, Joanne
The farming industry in Aotearoa New Zealand has been predominantly patriarchal and women have traditionally played a support role to their farming husbands. Therefore, women have struggled to be recognised in their own right as farmers and is this still the case in 2023 to a considerable extent. In order to discover what changes are occurring for women in farming and what continuities there are, I collected a life history/story by a women farmer Jane, who owns and runs a large dairy farm in Southland, as the sole farmer. This story of her life outlines the farming capital she gained over many years of farming in fields of masculine domination. During the 35 years Jane has been farming many obstacles had to be overcome allowing her to firmly establish herself as a successful woman farmer today. Janes life history demonstrates some changes to the gender order of farming and these changes are highlighted in the narrative of Janes life. Key events in Jane’s life include surviving the death of her husband, becoming the sole farmer, managing public scrutiny, overcoming mental health issues, interacting with farming professionals, managing a biological disaster, navigating family dynamics, planning for farming succession, and finally succeeding as a farmer in the male dominated industry of farming. Jane’s story shines light on what was traditionally a patriarchal farming industry and how women are disrupting the gender order in farming today. However, there do appear to still be barriers in place for women to succeed in their own right and they are discussed throughout the life story, highlighting that not everything is changing for women in the farming sector and there is still some work to do around gender bias and the dominant discourse of patriarchal farming. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, I argue that Jane’s habitus is informed by the social spaces/fields she finds herself positioned in throughout her life. Additionally, the farming capitals she has gained over many years has shaped her experiences and perceived capabilities as a woman farmer.
Open Access
Feminine identity in New Zealand : the Girl Peace Scout movement 1908-1925
(2000) McCurdy, Diana
This is a study of feminine identity in early twentieth-century New Zealand through the life and work of Lieutenant-Colonel David Cossgrove (1852 - 1920). In 1908, Cossgrove established Peace Scouting, New Zealand's first adult-sponsored youth movement for girls. Peace Scouting was a character-training scheme that Cossgrove adapted directly from Robert Baden-Powell's Boy Scout movement. He developed and organised it independently from Girl Guiding, which was Britain's official "feminised" adaptation of Scouting. For most of the movement's 17 years, Cossgrove acted as Peace Scouting's figurehead, and was the central source of its unique identity. Unlike the Guide movement, which constructed femininity within the broad western ideals of population ideology, the Peace Scout movement appealed to a distinctly New Zealand construction of femininity. It brought into the same pioneering ideology that historians have identified as a foundation of New Zealand's masculine identity. In doing so, the scheme assumed a more equal, connatural relationship between male and female than that accepted in traditional western ideology. Despite the imperial origins of its activities, the Peace Scout scheme identified New Zealand's physical and ideological indigenes - whether physical or ideological - not just as a source of difference, but as a sign of unique ideology that should be celebrated. As such, it provides a site of complex interplay between nationalism, colonialism and imperialism in the construction of New Zealand femininity.