scholarly journals The Mythology of the Gap in the Work of James K. Baxter

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Gregory J Martin
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Creative Process ◽  
Personal Mythology ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
Creation Myth ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Crucial Part ◽  
Opening Up

<p>In 1967, New Zealand poet James K. Baxter reflected on his beginning as a poet with the statement that 'what happens is either meaningless to me, or else it is mythology' and that in his personal mythology 'first there was the gap, the void'. While the first of these comments has been frequently cited in connection to Baxter‘s work, few critics have taken its extreme implications seriously. This thesis also takes the second statement as crucial to understanding Baxter‘s creative process and the links his poetry makes between otherwise disparate experiences. These statements are a starting point for a study which maps out the consistencies and continuities underlying Baxter's vast literar output throughout his career as a poet. It considers Baxter's poetry alongside his published prose and unpublished papers in order to demonstrate the underlying patterns which characterise Baxter‘s output throughout his diverse career. The thesis first develops a framework for identifying the presence of gaps in Baxter‘s writing, tracing a network of symbolic and mythic relationships that comprise his evolving personal mythology of the gap. Having established this framework, I show how Baxter's engagement with 'the gap' evolves throughout his work. The thesis demonstrates the significance of gaps not only as central motifs in Baxter‘s work, but as a crucial part of the poet‘s creative process. Baxter‘s purposeful approach to poetic mythologising relies on notions of absence, division and descent: the 'gaps' out of which poems emerge. These gaps simultaneously create and are created by the temporary 'mythologising self' at the centre of the creative process. This is the poet as creator, shaping 'chaos' into 'cosmos' through the use of ordering tools. In Baxter's case these include the consistent use of three main mythic paradigms which address the imperatives of desire created by these gaps. As well as this parallel with the pattern of creation myth, Baxter's creative process is suggestive of the mythic 'journey to the centre' which is in turn recurrent throughout his poetry. In applying the 'chaos-ordering-cosmos' framework to Baxter's mythology, I reveal the consistent elements of his work on the underlying level of myth, symbol, origins and method, thus opening up new possibilities in the critical response to his work.</p>

scholarly journals The Mythology of the Gap in the Work of James K. Baxter

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Gregory J Martin
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Creative Process ◽  
Personal Mythology ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
Creation Myth ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Crucial Part ◽  
Opening Up

<p>In 1967, New Zealand poet James K. Baxter reflected on his beginning as a poet with the statement that 'what happens is either meaningless to me, or else it is mythology' and that in his personal mythology 'first there was the gap, the void'. While the first of these comments has been frequently cited in connection to Baxter‘s work, few critics have taken its extreme implications seriously. This thesis also takes the second statement as crucial to understanding Baxter‘s creative process and the links his poetry makes between otherwise disparate experiences. These statements are a starting point for a study which maps out the consistencies and continuities underlying Baxter's vast literar output throughout his career as a poet. It considers Baxter's poetry alongside his published prose and unpublished papers in order to demonstrate the underlying patterns which characterise Baxter‘s output throughout his diverse career. The thesis first develops a framework for identifying the presence of gaps in Baxter‘s writing, tracing a network of symbolic and mythic relationships that comprise his evolving personal mythology of the gap. Having established this framework, I show how Baxter's engagement with 'the gap' evolves throughout his work. The thesis demonstrates the significance of gaps not only as central motifs in Baxter‘s work, but as a crucial part of the poet‘s creative process. Baxter‘s purposeful approach to poetic mythologising relies on notions of absence, division and descent: the 'gaps' out of which poems emerge. These gaps simultaneously create and are created by the temporary 'mythologising self' at the centre of the creative process. This is the poet as creator, shaping 'chaos' into 'cosmos' through the use of ordering tools. In Baxter's case these include the consistent use of three main mythic paradigms which address the imperatives of desire created by these gaps. As well as this parallel with the pattern of creation myth, Baxter's creative process is suggestive of the mythic 'journey to the centre' which is in turn recurrent throughout his poetry. In applying the 'chaos-ordering-cosmos' framework to Baxter's mythology, I reveal the consistent elements of his work on the underlying level of myth, symbol, origins and method, thus opening up new possibilities in the critical response to his work.</p>

Criss-Cross: Identity and Transformation in Re-reading Billy Elliot

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 536-551
Author(s):  
Jacqui Miller
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Central Character ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Liberal Politics ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Opening Up

Billy Elliot (2000) has been widely recognised as an important British film of the post-Thatcher period. It has been analysed using multiple disciplinary methodologies, but almost always from the theoretical frameworks of class and gender/sexuality. The film has sometimes been used not so much as a focus of analysis itself but as a conduit for exploring issues such as class deprivation or neo-liberal politics and economics. Such studies tend to use the film's perceived shortcomings as a starting point to critique society's wider failings to interrogate constructions of gender and sexuality. This article argues that an examination of the identity formation of some of the film's subsidiary characters shows how fluidity and transformation are key to the film's opening up of a jouissance which is enabled by but goes beyond its central character.

Book Review: In the Footsteps of Ethel Benjamin by Janet November

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Morris
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Woman Lawyer

This article is a book review of Janet November In the footsteps of Ethel Benjamin, New Zealand's first woman lawyer (Victoria University Press / Law Foundation, Wellington, 2009) 260 + xi pages, $50. Morris describes the book as the biography of a remarkable woman who was not only the first woman lawyer in New Zealand, but also a "poster girl" for proponents of opening up the legal profession to women in England. Morris notes that Benjamin's achievements still remind the reader of the work that needs to be done for women in law. However, the private life of Benjamin is difficult to decipher from this book due to a lack of private papers kept by Benjamin. The article concludes that in Janet November's book, we have a fitting testament to the achievements and legacy of Ethel Benjamin.

Japan joining Five Eyes would mean tough compromises

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Foreign Policy Issue ◽  
Opening Up

Significance The possibility of Japan joining the alliance is now seriously discussed in Tokyo and the capitals of the Five Eyes members -- the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Joining Five Eyes would signal Japan’s even deeper integration into US alliance structures, regionally and globally, and raise expectations for Japan to act as a fuller ally in all sorts of contingencies. Impacts Japan’s greatest potential contribution to allies is probably in signals and imagery intelligence, especially vis-a-vis China. The prime minister will avoid opening up a controversial foreign policy issue so close to a general election; his successor may be bolder. Japan’s partners still run a risk of leaks due to Japan’s lag in cybersecurity and institutional arrangements, but this is decreasing.

Stigma, decriminalisation, and violence against street-based sex workers: Changing the narrative

Sexualities ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1288-1308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynzi Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Worker Safety ◽  
Worker Rights ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Multiple Risks ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
Starting Point

It is well documented that sex workers manage risks in their work – such as the potential for violence and the multiple risks associated with stigma. While sex workers are commonly understood to be a stigmatised population, few studies have considered in depth how stigma operates in different legislative contexts, how it relates to sex-worker safety, and how it may be reduced. Stigma is understood to be exacerbated by the criminalisation of sex work, which defines sex workers as deviant others and consequently renders them more vulnerable to violence. However, as full decriminalisation of sex work is still relatively rare, there has been little in-depth exploration into the relationship between this legislative approach, risks of violence, and stigma. Drawing on the findings of in-depth interviews with street-based sex workers and sex-worker rights advocates, in this article I explore the links between stigma and violence, and discuss the challenges of reducing stigma associated with sex work in New Zealand, post-decriminalisation. I argue that while decriminalisation has undoubtedly benefited sex workers in New Zealand, stigma continues to have a negative impact – particularly for street-based sex workers. Decriminalisation should therefore be considered an essential starting point. However, ongoing work must focus on countering stigmatising narratives, to enable a safer society for all sex workers.

scholarly journals In Support of a 'Living Wage': Research on International and Danish Trends and Issues of 'Working Poor'.

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erling Rasmussen ◽  
Jens Lind
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Limit State ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Working Poor ◽  
Living Wage ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Starting Point

In May 2012, a campaign started in support of a New Zealand ‘living wage’. This happened in light of many New Zealand workers receiving wages at or just above the statutory minimum wage and that several fast-growing sectors continue to establish many low paid jobs. While the paper’s starting point is the New Zealand ‘living wage’ debate, the issues discussed have been part of international debates about the existence and consequences of low paid work. These debates have highlighted that some countries have been better at containing low paid work. On this background, this paper focuses on the trends and issues surrounding ‘working poor’ in Denmark. As detailed, the Danish labour market has succeeded in having a relatively low level of ‘working poor’. This has even happened in several service sector industries renowned for their propensity to create low paying jobs. However, the paper also questions the stability of the so-called Danish Model based on an open labour market with large in- and outflows of migrants and with a reliance on collective bargaining/agreements, with limit state regulation and, in particular, no statutory minimum wage.

scholarly journals Qualities for early childhood care and education in an age of increasing superdiversity and decreasing biodiversity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Opening Up

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. In this article it is argued that notions of ‘quality’ in early childhood education have been captured by neo-liberal discourses. These discourses perpetuate the western, individualistic, normativising and exploitative attitudes and practices that are contributing to the climate crisis currently imperilling our planet. Educators may inadvertently perpetuate this situation, or they can instead consciously challenge this dominant culture, opening up spaces of divergence. Via a sequence of short scenarios or stories based within the early childhood care and education context of Aotearoa (New Zealand), readers are invited to consider alternative conceptualisations, drawing on post-humanist and Indigenous theorising, which focus on fostering dispositional qualities that holistically engage intra-actively with(in) children’s worlds.

scholarly journals A Conceptual Framework for the New Zealand Tort of Intrusion

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole A Moreham
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Starting Point

This article examines the desirable scope of the New Zealand tort of intrusion into seclusion. It begins by developing a six-part taxonomy of common law privacy interests and then, using that taxonomy as its starting point, asks which privacy interests the New Zealand intrusion tort should cover. It argues that although the intrusion tort is a very welcome addition to New Zealand common law, it is important that its parameters are clearly delineated. The best way to achieve that, it is suggested, is by recognising that unwarranted listening, watching or recording of private activities is the gravamen of the new tort. 

scholarly journals Protection of the Child’s Creative Output Including Its Legal Protection

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sokołowska
Keyword(s):  
Creative Process ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Education And Development ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
Education Process

AbstractThis paper is an attempt to analyze the necessity of defining and extending the protection of the child’s creative process. The starting point for consideration is the key role of artistic instruction in the child’s education and development which justifies providing appropriate framework for that process. The present text defines artistic output as a personal good covered by legal protection and specifies relevant legal regulations underlying the subject. It also reveals the position of the child as a creator with his/her specific characteristics and possible dangers arising from those characteristics. Another issue discussed here is the creative process and its components. In a further part, legal aspects of the child’s situation in the context of creative activity are analyzed with references to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the (Polish) Family and Guardianship Code (1964), the UN Declaration on Rights of the Child (1959) and other legal acts. Finally, the paper addresses objectives of arts education in the light of the discussed issues. Conclusions include an indication of certain similarity between some areas of interest in pedagogy and in law. The main conclusion comes down to a statement that in the education process we should take into consideration so-called creative integrity which constitutes a personal good of both the adult and the child, and which is covered by legal protection.

“Measuring up”: a systematic literature review of performance measurement in Australia and New Zealand local government

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary C. Johnsson ◽  
Matthew Pepper ◽  
Oriana Milani Price ◽  
Lauren P. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Performance Measurement ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Systematic Review Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Starting Point

Purpose Measurement practices have long been considered vital for informing the management of performance in organisations. Their application to local governments is a more recent, yet multi-decade phenomenon facilitated by New Public Management trends. This paper aims to review the landscape of publications that discuss performance measurement (PM) practices in Australian and New Zealand local government contexts and identify implications for future research. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review methodology was used to identify a shortlist of publications. Next, a rating-based researcher appraisal process was applied. Multiple iterations of search and appraisal were conducted to form the basis for inductive thematic analysis and synthesis. Findings Analysing 65 PM publications, two interrelated themes, namely, discourses of performance as efficiency, accountability or strategic growth and change were identified, which influence the adoption of local PM tools and frameworks. As demands for strategic growth and more complex service delivery increase, strategic and localised adaptation of PMs may be required to integrate learning and communicative competencies with technical and operational capabilities. Research limitations/implications The systematic review methodology has been applied to address some of the limitations of publication and reporting biases in literature. This research provides a starting point for future investigations and broadening of discourse in local government contexts. Originality/value This paper represents the first systematic review of 1995–2020 publications on performance management practices used by local governments in Australia and New Zealand.

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