scholarly journals A comparative study of the fa'afafine of Samoa and the whakawahine of Aotearoa/New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ashleigh McFall

<p>This study explores the meaning of the fa’afafine of Samoa and the whakawahine of Aotearoa/New Zealand. I compare and contrast the experiences of six fa’afafine and four whakawahine. I also examine the historical evidence for the existence of fa’afafine in Samoa and whakawahine in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The theoretical approaches underlying this research incorporate feminist, indigenous, and queer aspects but oral history is the primary theory and method used. As a fa’afafine who researched her own identity and whakawahine, the complexities of insider and outsider are explored.  This thesis discusses how narrators understand and/or make meaning of western categories of identification such as gay, transgender, drag queen and/or transsexual. These categories are largely rejected; preference for the culturally specific terms fa’afafine (Samoan) and whakawahine (Maori) are demonstrated. Narrators take issue with western researchers’ focus on sexual aspects of fa’afafine and whakawahine. For them, gender role, specifically feminine dress, behaviour and activities more accurately characterise their identities.  This thesis argues that fa’afafine and whakawahine are fluid identities. How one behaves as a woman varies, but narrators insist that fa’afafine and whakawahine are born not made that way, and ‘feel’ like women. The meaning of fa’afafine and whakawahine is not static; westernisation, colonization and the availability of gender reassignment treatment have all impacted on how each narrator defines her identity.  By focusing on the experiences of fa’afafine, most of whom live outside of Samoa, and whakawahine this thesis adds to the body of knowledge about gender variation.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ashleigh McFall

<p>This study explores the meaning of the fa’afafine of Samoa and the whakawahine of Aotearoa/New Zealand. I compare and contrast the experiences of six fa’afafine and four whakawahine. I also examine the historical evidence for the existence of fa’afafine in Samoa and whakawahine in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The theoretical approaches underlying this research incorporate feminist, indigenous, and queer aspects but oral history is the primary theory and method used. As a fa’afafine who researched her own identity and whakawahine, the complexities of insider and outsider are explored.  This thesis discusses how narrators understand and/or make meaning of western categories of identification such as gay, transgender, drag queen and/or transsexual. These categories are largely rejected; preference for the culturally specific terms fa’afafine (Samoan) and whakawahine (Maori) are demonstrated. Narrators take issue with western researchers’ focus on sexual aspects of fa’afafine and whakawahine. For them, gender role, specifically feminine dress, behaviour and activities more accurately characterise their identities.  This thesis argues that fa’afafine and whakawahine are fluid identities. How one behaves as a woman varies, but narrators insist that fa’afafine and whakawahine are born not made that way, and ‘feel’ like women. The meaning of fa’afafine and whakawahine is not static; westernisation, colonization and the availability of gender reassignment treatment have all impacted on how each narrator defines her identity.  By focusing on the experiences of fa’afafine, most of whom live outside of Samoa, and whakawahine this thesis adds to the body of knowledge about gender variation.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerryn Palmer

<b>This thesis investigates intergenerational collaborative theatre with and for young people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It researches current practices in theatre for, by, and with young people (henceforth referred to as TYA), in New Zealand, and standards by which quality TYA can be recognised. Utilising an arts research methodology, this thesis identifies practical strategies for engaging a young audience and explores an intergenerational, collaborative devising theatre model for and with young people. It examines how theatre practitioners can work with young people to increase their sense of agency and empowerment in the work. </b><p>The purpose of this research is to contribute to an under-researched body of knowledge within New Zealand theatre, and enhance the current practice and status of TYA in Aotearoa and beyond. It critically analyses the way TYA is created, raising awareness of the body of work in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and contributes to academic and practitioner-based publications about TYA. This investigation aspires to create a pathway for directors and teachers, and to empower practitioners to create great TYA and view it as a valid and valuable career option, not just as a stepping stone to making adult theatre. </p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerryn Palmer

<b>This thesis investigates intergenerational collaborative theatre with and for young people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It researches current practices in theatre for, by, and with young people (henceforth referred to as TYA), in New Zealand, and standards by which quality TYA can be recognised. Utilising an arts research methodology, this thesis identifies practical strategies for engaging a young audience and explores an intergenerational, collaborative devising theatre model for and with young people. It examines how theatre practitioners can work with young people to increase their sense of agency and empowerment in the work. </b><p>The purpose of this research is to contribute to an under-researched body of knowledge within New Zealand theatre, and enhance the current practice and status of TYA in Aotearoa and beyond. It critically analyses the way TYA is created, raising awareness of the body of work in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and contributes to academic and practitioner-based publications about TYA. This investigation aspires to create a pathway for directors and teachers, and to empower practitioners to create great TYA and view it as a valid and valuable career option, not just as a stepping stone to making adult theatre. </p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerryn Palmer

<b>This thesis investigates intergenerational collaborative theatre with and for young people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It researches current practices in theatre for, by, and with young people (henceforth referred to as TYA), in New Zealand, and standards by which quality TYA can be recognised. Utilising an arts research methodology, this thesis identifies practical strategies for engaging a young audience and explores an intergenerational, collaborative devising theatre model for and with young people. It examines how theatre practitioners can work with young people to increase their sense of agency and empowerment in the work. </b><p>The purpose of this research is to contribute to an under-researched body of knowledge within New Zealand theatre, and enhance the current practice and status of TYA in Aotearoa and beyond. It critically analyses the way TYA is created, raising awareness of the body of work in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and contributes to academic and practitioner-based publications about TYA. This investigation aspires to create a pathway for directors and teachers, and to empower practitioners to create great TYA and view it as a valid and valuable career option, not just as a stepping stone to making adult theatre. </p>


2021 ◽  
pp. medhum-2020-012038
Author(s):  
Rhonda Shaw ◽  
Robert Webb

In this article, we refer to the separation of solid organs from the body as bio-objects. We suggest that the transfer of these bio-objects is connected to emotions and affects that carry a range of different social and cultural meanings specific to the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. The discussion draws on research findings from a series of qualitative indepth interview studies conducted from 2008 to 2013 with Māori (the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) and Pākehā (European settler New Zealanders) concerning their views on organ donation and transplantation. Our findings show both differences and similarities between Māori and Pākehā understandings of transplantation. Nevertheless, while many Māori draw on traditional principles, values and beliefs to reflect on their experiences in relation to embodiment, gift-giving, identity and well-being, Pākehā tend to subscribe to more Western understandings of identity in terms of health and well-being, in line with international literature on the topic. Rather than reflecting individualistic notions of the body and transplantation as the endpoint of healthcare as do Pākehā, Māori views are linked to wider conceptions of family, ancestry and belonging, demonstrating how different rationalities and ontologies affect practices and understandings surrounding organ transfer technology. In the article, we focus predominantly on Māori perspectives of organ transfer, contextualising the accounts and experiences of our research participants against the backdrop of a long history of settler colonialism and health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-78
Author(s):  
Linda Claire Warner ◽  
Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen ◽  
Kai Hakkarainen

The research study focuses on the phenomenon of informal learning and teaching, as it materializes through the quiltmakers’ engagement in idiosyncratic community practices. The present study considers the construction of craft knowledge from a sociocultural perspective, focusing on social and material mediation, and embodiment as a form of meaning-making for quiltmakers. The ethnographic data were collected from two quilting communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and in total 66 quilters volunteered to participate. The fieldwork extended over an eight-month period with data consisting of interviews, observations, fieldnotes and reflective diaries including the visualization of interactive happenings in situ. Chronological content logs were created, and data were analysed by qualitative content analysis. The primary interest was on the verbal (i.e. social), non-verbal (i.e. embodied) and material (inter)actions that were central to the quilters’ meaning-making processes. This praxis and process of informal learning usually make it invisible because it is a ubiquitous element embedded in the quilting community context. Identifying different aspects of multimodal making foregrounds how the quilters’ learning is socially interactive, with ‘hands on’ and ‘minds on’ processes tied to their bodily experiences and material world. This study demonstrates the significance of the ongoing communicative (inter)actions for meaning-making, highlighting the role of the body, mind and environment in shaping quilting practices and appropriating craft knowledge.


Author(s):  
Dale Richard Buchanan ◽  
David Franklin Swink

The Psychodrama Program at Saint Elizabeths Hospital (SEH) was founded by J. L. Moreno, MD, and contributed to the profession for 65 years. A strong case can be made that, next to the Moreno Institute, the SEH psychodrama program was the most influential center for psychodrama in the United States and the world. This article describes those contributions, including training 16% of all certified psychodramatists; enhancing and advancing the body of knowledge base through more than 50 peer-reviewed published articles or book chapters; pioneering the use of psychodrama in law enforcement and criminal justice; and its trainees making significant contributions to the theory and practice of psychodrama including but not limited to founding psychodrama in Australia and New Zealand.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bronwyn Torrance

<p>In New Zealand women choose their place of birth in partnership with their Lead Maternity Care (case loading) midwife, with most choosing a hospital regardless of their lack of risk factors. The reasons why most women in western countries choose to birth in hospital have been widely investigated. Risk aversity is most commonly implicated. For both women and health professionals this powerful discourse persists despite consistent research findings indicating higher rates of normal birth, and lower rates of maternal morbidity associated with interventions for healthy women who birth in out-of-hospital (primary) maternity units, with no difference in neonatal outcomes. There is however a gap in the literature regarding what is known about how midwives might positively influence the choice to birth in a primary unit.   A qualitative descriptive design through an appreciative inquiry lens enabled insight from 12 midwives who have a higher ratio of women within their caseload who choose to birth in a primary unit. Four focus groups were formed with these midwives to explore their perspectives and approaches as they assist women to make their place of birth decisions. From thematically analysed data, five themes emerged, Ways of knowing: woman, art, science and research; Trusting in you, me, and the process of childbirth; Setting boundaries as a ‘primary birth midwife’; and Delaying and diverting, a malleable approach, centered around the theme When it matters what we say: reframing safety and risk.   Alongside supporting current research, this study adds to the body of knowledge about birthplace choice by bringing to the fore the notion of paradox in practice, setting boundaries whilst remaining malleable for example. In a contemporary maternity context, these midwives dance between two worlds fundamentally at odds with one another, effectively managing contradiction, complexity and uncertainty to achieve a high primary unit caseload. The experience of what works to promote the primary unit for a cohort of New Zealand midwives is uncovered in this research.   The social recalibrations needed to adjust the hospital birth norm are much broader issues than midwives alone can change, but in this study, we see they are staying the course in order to protect and promote normal birth. How midwives might inform decision-making for place of birth choice is described.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kyro Selket

<p>Within the hidden space of the embalmer's room the most abject of objects comes to rest. Embalming rooms, and the funeral homes that house them, are liminal zones, and the dead and decaying bodies that come to occupy them are, for many outside the funeral service industry, objects and spaces of mystification. Situated within contradictory discourses, the dead body is understood as an object/subject to be revered, whilst at the same time bringing to the living a degree of discomfort and fear. The body's decomposition reminds us that nothing can bring the dead back, thus representing the ultimate human fear - one's inevitable annihilation. It is therefore deemed necessary to remove this destabilising object/subject to a safe and contained space. This thesis opens up and explores such a space: the contemporary funeral home, with particular attention given to the principles and practices of embalming rooms, as these rooms represent possibly the most abject space of the funeral home. In doing so it excavates the historical, social and cultural constructs that have come to underpin contemporary funeral service provision and embalming practices, uncovering the various intrinsic dualisms that operate within the spaces of the funeral home - such as the public/private, contaminated/contained, life/death, inside/outside. The central question of the thesis asks: what can an exploration of the abject spaces and bodies of the funeral home in Aotearoa New Zealand offer to understandings about embodied geographies? For even as many geographers increasingly challenge the marginalisation of certain bodies and the spaces they inhabit, little attention is given to the dead body. Employing primarily the theoretical perspectives of emotional/psycho-geography and feminist geography, the thesis brings a reading of the ways in which death, decaying bodies, and the spaces within which they are separated, marginalised, and othered come to be understood by those within the funeral industry, and thus those who utilise its services. These theoretical approaches also challenge many of the dichotomies that form a major basis for the justification of contemporary funeral practices such as embalming. Through interviews with a variety of key stakeholders in both the traditional and alternative funeral sectors in Aotearoa New Zealand, and close readings of funeral industry texts, it is found that the dead body, embedded within totalising discourses on death, and contained and closeted away in the back rooms of funeral homes, is forced to undergo extensive, invasive practices that sanitise and transform it in order to eradicate any obvious traces that it is now a dead body. In the spaces of the funeral home the material and symbolic manifestations of death are continually regulated, contained, and referred to euphemistically, all the while retaining clear distinctions between what has been constructed as sacred and profane, public and private, clean and unclean. Ultimately, it is the contention of this thesis that the liminal spaces of the funeral home preserve certain knowledges and practices that ensure that the contemporary Westernbased funeral industry retains a monopoly over the bodies of the dead.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sonja Peñafiel Bermudez

<p>This study integrates paleonotology and geochemistry to provide a paleoclimatic analysis of cyclic sedimentation in the Lower Marl at Mead Stream in Marlborough, Aotearoa/New Zealand. The alternating marl and limestone bedding in this outcrop coincide with the warmest period in the Paleogene, the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO).  An acetic acid leaching method was refined and used successfully to extract microfossils from the indurated limestones and marls from two intervals of the Lower Marl. The technique resulted in foraminiferal tests with improved surface ornament in comparison with samples that were processed using standard washing methodology.  The resulting paleontological assessment of leached foraminiferal and radiolarian assemblages coupled with XRF and stable isotope analysis revised the position and detailed the faunal response to the J hyperthermal at the initiation of the EECO. Microfossil assemblages and carbon isotopic data suggest that the J carbon isotopic excursion (CIE) may be a two-stage event. A new L-3 CIE and possible hyperthermal event was identified within the body of the EECO. Both the J and L-3 events contained acmes where Morozovella made up a quarter of the planktic foraminiferal specimens, suggesting the southern expansion of subtropical waters. Fluctuations of Acarinina and Subbotina foraminifera coinciding with the marl and limestone alternations may indicate climate cycles within these hyperthermals.</p>


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