Arts: Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Shuffling bull, roaring tiger : an analysis of the EU and China in Pacific media.
(2024) Lee, Kathryn
In light of growing geopolitical contestation in the Indo-Pacific and increased tensions from multiple actors, the European Union (EU) released the 2021 Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. The Strategy emphasised security and development in the Asia-Pacific region. While the Indo-Pacific has been subjected to rising interest in academic research (Kassab, 2023; Zhu, 2023; Wilkins & Kim, 2022) few studies have investigated Pacific perspectives of this tension. This thesis uses two different actors, China and the EU, both in values and approaches to development and security in the Pacific region. To achieve an insight into an accurate analysis of the regional tension a period following the 2021 release of the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the 2022 Solomon Islands and China security agreement. To achieve this, this research uses media content analysis for the period 1 October – 31 December 2022, then analyses and compares both actors, through the lens of security and development. By comparing these portrayals in Pacific media this thesis argues that the EU is portrayed in Pacific media primarily as an environmental and development actor in the Pacific and that China is portrayed as a significant but contested security actor in the Pacific.
Open Access
Youth-led political socialisation for relational climate justice : understanding young people’s experiences of the school strike for Climate NZ Movement in Aotearoa New Zealand.
(2024) Woods, Amelia
This thesis examines the climate protests in Aotearoa New Zealand between 2019 and 2021, known as School Strike 4 Climate NZ. That wave of youth-led climate activism was part of a significant global protest movement demanding climate justice. However, climate justice a contestable term. Furthermore, we know little about how young people come to learn about climate justice because political socialisation within movements is currently inadequately understood from a youth perspective. This thesis takes a constructionist perspective to draw on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 26 young climate justice activists aged 13 – 20 and publicly available documents, including public submissions, social media posts and news media reports, to examine how young climate activists in Aotearoa think about climate justice and make sense of their own political socialisation through the strikes. The sample was predominantly female (n=24), and Pākehā (n=22). The analysis supports the thesis argument that youth participation exemplifies a situated socio-cultural learning process where young people are both learning and generating knowledge through their participation in the climate movement. It also highlights the significance of emotions or ‘affective’ dimensions of this situated political socialisation. Young people’s initial experiences of participation can be understood as creating a youth-led community of practice, where young people are forging a collective politicised youth identity for climate justice claims-making, which centres on equity and fairness. In turn, these supportive relationships and affective learning experiences foster relational understandings of climate justice characterised by nuance, intersectionality and a language of care. The thesis argues that not only are affective dimensions are significant aspects of young people’s political socialisation, but they also contribute to strengthening relationships which in turn support climate justice learning. The thesis findings have implications for adults and teachers who support young people learning about climate justice. The research demonstrates the importance of recognising complex emotions experienced by young people in relation to climate and building supportive relationships. Adults can play a crucial role by respecting the autonomy and agency of young activists while providing mentorship and guidance through an ethic of care.
Open Access
Inequality in access to tertiary education: a capabilities approach to assessing the New Zealand “Fees-Free” tertiary policy, 2018-2023
(2024) Alabaster, Wendy Ann
This thesis considers the equity implications of the New Zealand fees-free policy introduced in 2018 through the lens of the capabilities approach. To date, the fees-free policy has had little or no impact on the enrolments of students from low-income backgrounds or first-in- family students. Students from low-income backgrounds are under-represented at tertiary level study and significantly under-represented at university level study. This inequality of access and participation is particularly problematic as students from disadvantaged backgrounds miss out on the benefits that tertiary education can provide. The experiences of ten students from low-income or first-in-family backgrounds were examined through semi-structured interviews conducted at three intervals: the academic year's beginning, middle, and end. These longitudinal interviews provided rich insights into numerous barriers to accessing and participating in university study, including financial stress, transitioning from secondary to tertiary education, health and wellbeing, the pressure of COVID-19 and lockdowns, navigating information and application forms, and workload. The research points to a paradox in that while the fees-free policy has had no observable impact on national enrolment for under-represented groups, five of the ten students interviewed in this study stated that they would not have enrolled without the first-year courses being fees-free. Three themes were developed from the analysis of interviews using reflexive thematic analysis. The themes were based on the student’s experiences of accessing and participating in tertiary study and shed light on what these tertiary students valued about their study and what conditions influenced their opportunities to achieve these valued outcomes. The students reported valuing having a “Sense of Direction” (including a sense of self, agency and purpose, often expressed as a desire to help others) and also reported valuing a “Sense of Connection” (a feeling of belonging). Students also identified Barriers (including experiences underpinned by systemic injustices) they felt impacted their opportunities to do things they valued and be the people they could be. These three themes were discussed through the lens of the capabilities approach, particularly as developed by Martha Nussbaum, to evaluate the impact of the fees-free policy. Discussion highlights the value of the capabilities approach in shedding light on the conditions that enable student opportunities (or capabilities) and the constraints on their experience of outcomes (functionings). In conclusion, the study offers a new framework for applying the capability approach to evaluate equitable access and participation in tertiary education afforded by the fees-free policies in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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.