Pacific Islands Studieshttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/46132024-02-20T05:26:42Z2024-02-20T05:26:42ZThrough their eyes: A Samoan perspective on child wellbeingDunlop-Bennett, Emmahttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/92422022-09-01T03:29:35Z2019-04-11T23:32:38ZThrough their eyes: A Samoan perspective on child wellbeing
2019
Dunlop-Bennett, Emma
Child wellbeing is the subject of a considerable body of research and policy making globally, and in New Zealand today. Despite its extensive use, the concept of child wellbeing is used differently across disciplines and across diverse social and cultural contexts. Little of the extant literature recognises the influence of ‘other’ worldviews, cultural beliefs, values, and ways of knowing. Further, the voices of children are largely missing in the child wellbeing debates, despite the fact that children are able to offer authoritative knowledge of their world and of their experiences. A review of the literature on Pasifika, children and childhoods, and wellbeing, highlights that there is currently no literature in New Zealand that connects these three areas together. This is the gap where this research contributes new knowledge to understanding - from the standpoint of Samoan children and their parents living in Wellington - how they conceptualise child wellbeing. The Samoan diaspora is the focus of this research given the diversity that exists within Pasifika.
Guided by the Talanoa ile i’a (Faleolo, 2009), this exploratory research positions children as ‘experts’ on their wellbeing and creates the space for them to share their knowledge. The Samoan children do so through combining Samoan (talanoaga) and Western (photovoice) research methods. The Samoan children took 10 photos of what made them feel ‘happy, safe, and loved’, which they used to guide their talanoa. The views of their parents were elicited through talanoaga.
From the talanoaga, the Samoan children defined their wellbeing as “a bunch of stuff that has good bits and bad bits”. This definition picks up the relational aspect of wellbeing as well as resilience. Four factors are important to their wellbeing, which are: social connections, not having to worry, feeling valued and included, and being a good person. Connecting with people, particularly their family, stands out as being of overwhelming importance to their wellbeing. The Samoan children bring these ideas together conceptually as a seesaw in a playground. Parents conceptualise the wellbeing of their children as ola manaia or the beautiful life. They see their main role as laying the foundations on which their children could have a beautiful life. For many parents, they are drawing on the fa’asamoa and the way in which they have been raised, but ‘tweaking’ this to account for shifts in the broader context. Of note, parents view wellbeing in terms of their children being happy and emotionally stable, being good people, having values, and that they do something meaningful with their lives that they were passionate about. The talanoa from the parents are woven together as the Ola Manaia model that captures the importance of resilience and the relational aspect of wellbeing.
This research has significance in terms of adding to the community, national and global body of knowledge on child wellbeing. This is the first New Zealand study of the wellbeing of Samoan children that gives priority to the voices of children. In doing so, it adds the child’s voice as well as the ‘other’ to the child wellbeing literature, and does this in a holistic way that takes account of the multi-dimensional aspect of child wellbeing. Further, this research reinforces that, when given the opportunity, children are able to make an incredible contribution to issues that affect them.
2019-04-11T23:32:38ZBeginning a conversation: writing a history about MangaiaReilly, Michaelhttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/51702018-02-27T12:22:32Z2014-11-10T20:16:45ZBeginning a conversation: writing a history about Mangaia
2005
Reilly, Michael
Imagine the following scene: Rarotonga International Airport, the date 26 April 1988. A young Pacific historian is standing in front of a weighing machine at the domestic check in. About to place his bags on the tray, he is told that the counter staff must first weigh him. Has he heard right? But they insist and reluctantly, in front of the other passengers, his weight is carefully recorded, before his bags are checked through. The plane is finally called, and being impatient to be off he is the first passenger to arrive at the plane. But he is told off to the side by the crew, so that two students from the local theological college can enter first. Finally, after the other passengers board, he is allowed on. Forty minutes in a small two engined turbo prop high above the dark blue green sea of the Pacific, and he cannot see an island in sight. Then as the plane banks, there to the right a solid triangle of land suddenly emerges on the horizon, its coastline lapped by the rolling waves of the ocean. As the plane descends the young Pacific historian looks out of the window at the land. This is the island of Mangaia, famed amongst Pacific scholars for the learned ethnographies written about it since the nineteenth century. But the island fails to impress the historian: the land seems to comprise barren grey rocks rising up from the seas; there are no sandy inviting beaches, no coconut trees bathed by the waters in the lagoon, not even a sign of life, no habitations, no houses, nothing. Just bush and rock. Amongst the anxieties of arrival, he also experiences disappointment: the land seems desolate and forbidding.
2014-11-10T20:16:45ZPacific Island women, body image and sportSchaaf, Michelle Rhttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/51342018-02-27T12:22:29Z2014-11-10T20:16:21ZPacific Island women, body image and sport
2005
Schaaf, Michelle R
This article analyses the representation of Pacific women from an Orientalist theoretical framework. The analysis traces prominent representations of Pacific women within early colonial and Christian discourses, and dominant representations since colonisation. Included in this analysis is a discussion of the fantasy of Western men, that is, of the ‘easy’ Pacific women. One of the central arguments of this article is that the reality of the ideal Pacific female body-shape from a Pacific perspective is not only in stark contrast to the Western ideal, but is also in variance with the imagined erotic archetype of Western men. To locate this analysis within the contemporary diasporic milieu, case-studies of Pacific women in the sport of netball will be used to determine the impact of Orientalist-like representations of body-shape and erotic fantasy on Pacific women now residing in New Zealand, and to highlight the differences between the Pacific and Western body-shape ideals.
2014-11-10T20:16:21ZThe Art of Peace: Performative and Arts Based Peace Practices in Contemporary FijiClery, Tui Nicolahttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/37392022-09-01T03:25:19Z2013-02-17T22:13:29ZThe Art of Peace: Performative and Arts Based Peace Practices in Contemporary Fiji
2013
Clery, Tui Nicola
This thesis seeks to address the relative absence of literature about grounded and localised approaches to peacebuilding in contemporary Fiji. It documents how and why Fiji artists, activists and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are increasingly using participatory, storying and arts-based approaches to engage communities in creative processes of imagining possibilities for peace. The case studies offered explore how arts-based methods were being used as both pedagogy and process for peace work within Fiji’s diverse communities; to communicate messages of peace, and to create safe spaces for dialogue in contemporary Fiji. This thesis focuses on arts-based peacebuilding practices which were being undertaken by Fiji CSOs between July 2009 and August 2010. These stories of creative praxis contribute a better understanding of the relationships between peace, education, and the arts in contemporary Fiji.
These arts-based approaches to peacebuilding include creative activism on intersecting themes such as; family and gender-based violence, religious and interdenominational conflict, racism, homophobia, and issues of stigma surrounding mental health and wellbeing. Arts-based processes are presented as a way of engaging with social, cultural and political conflicts in contemporary Fiji. Through the arts people can explore issues playfully and creatively, develop empathy with others, and learn about themselves.
Teu le va (Anae 2007; Anae 2010) is the grounding conceptual framework which unifies the diverse qualitative research methods used within this thesis. To teu le va is to attend to, care for and nurture the relationships and relational spaces among and between people, to ensure that the quality of relationships and the process of research are recognised and respected. This research extends talanoa and tiko (Nabobo-Baba 2006) as methodological tools for research in multi-cultural Fiji, offering performative methods and processes as necessary tools for peace research which seeks to support communication, empathy and dialogue as key constituents of peace. Performative research methods complement the talanoa and tiko by helping ensure that understandings and insights gained within research can be communicated across Fiji’s diverse multi-cultural communities.
These stories about peacebuilding in Fiji reveal the creativity, diversity and dynamism of grounded and creative peace education practices. Moving away from dominant militarised stories of conflict and war, the thesis celebrates and explores alternative stories; stories of peace praxis and peacebuilding, feminist stories, and the stories of women and girls. I argue that there is a need to become aware of the gendered and conflict-centred narratives that tend to be told about the past, and how these stories can continue to powerfully impact on our understandings in the present. Creative possibilities and visions for peace generated by writers and artists through storytelling are offered as a pathway for ensuring that there is balance between the need to remember, the need to heal past traumas and conflicts, and the need to look hopefully and creatively towards the future.
2013-02-17T22:13:29ZPacific participation in Aotearoa/Niu Sila Netball: Body image, family, church, culture, education and physical education.Schaaf, Rosaline Michelle Joycehttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/19792022-09-01T03:59:10Z2011-11-14T01:54:51ZPacific participation in Aotearoa/Niu Sila Netball: Body image, family, church, culture, education and physical education.
2011
Schaaf, Rosaline Michelle Joyce
This thesis explores the netball experiences of a selection of people residing in Aotearoa/Niu Sila who have participated or continued to participate in netball. Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach, it sheds a light on the broader socio-cultural and political factors that have influenced and shaped Pacific women’s experiences of netball. In particular, this research investigates how Pacific women negotiate and grapple with the following aspects of their lived experiences: family, church, culture, education, physical education, sport and body image in relation to their participation in the sport of netball. The information for this study was gleaned from primary and secondary sources and in-depth interviews with 18 current and former netball participants. Case studies of media representation of the body shape alongside the participants’ voices were utilised to illustrate the ways Pacific women have begun to mirror Western norms for beauty, the contingent nature of normative body ideals, and the ways non-normative bodies are regarded as ‘projects of remediation and the minimal currency that strong muscular women’s bodies’ hold within a Western aesthetic. The participants’ words have been integrated throughout from Chapter Four onwards because I wanted to move away from the traditional literature review, method, results, and discussion structure. As a result, the participants’ testimonies have been brought alongside current literature, as opposed to being used as a ‘results to add’ to current literature in a positivistic sense. Exploring Pacific women’s netball experiences in relation to family, church, culture, education, physical education, sport and body image, provides unique insights into the nature and dynamics of netball in Aotearoa/Niu Sila, shifting social constructions of femininity and Pacific women’s sporting identities, as well as Pacific women’s unique and diverse experiences and understandings of their participation.
2011-11-14T01:54:51ZThe development of theatre in Easter Island: Hakararama i Te A'amu o Rapa NuiFortin, Moirahttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/4672022-09-01T03:32:20Z2011-01-18T23:18:35ZThe development of theatre in Easter Island: Hakararama i Te A'amu o Rapa Nui
2009
Fortin, Moira
Hakararama i Te A’amu o Rapa Nui means to show Rapa Nui stories. Easter Island has a unique way of presenting their stories; they use different types of performances throughout the show, such as kai kai (string figures), takona (body painting), riu and ute (songs), pata’u ta’u (recitations) and a’amu (the narrative itself in te re’o, Rapa Nui language). The combination of all these s results in a dynamic show that contains not only the verbal text, but also the visual text, using kai kai and takona, for instance, as an aid for the understanding of the story.
The language and the narrative created by each civilization give primacy to cultural identity which transcends time. This core value can be applied to oral tradition, as a way of showing, presenting, performing, telling and teaching the knowledge from generation to generation. Language is one of the key aspects in which Rapa Nui people perform, using te re’o during the entire show. Performing their oral traditions and histories might be one way in which their culture is preserved, and continues to live and develop.
This is the first research that has been undertaken about Theatre in Easter Island. This research will contribute to clarifying some concepts of Rapa Nui performing arts, explaining the background behind each presentation, as well as outlining the rules and features that this type of theatre has.
2011-01-18T23:18:35ZHalau Education: A review of hula, haka and siva education strategies in Hawai’i and New ZealandHosoda, Mara Kawehiwehihttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/4362022-09-01T03:37:31Z2010-12-02T20:35:45ZHalau Education: A review of hula, haka and siva education strategies in Hawai’i and New Zealand
2010
Hosoda, Mara Kawehiwehi
The primary objective of this thesis is to place the pedagogies and practices of Halau Hula O Maiki, as expressed by a number of halau students, in the context of Hawaiian Education. The thesis begins by reviewing the pre-contact, colonial and indigenous education movements in Hawai'i mainstream public schools. it then places halau, hula schools, and Halau Hula O Maiki in particular within the Hawaiian Education context. Generally halau are characterized as emerging from the Hawaiian Renaissance period. While halau gained popular public recognition during the Hawaiian Renaissance, they nevertheless always were valued and cherished by the Hawaiian people as a source of education and way of knowing from earliest times. This research places the authors experience in Halau Hula O Maiki in relation to other students' experiences in hula, kapa haka and siva. It utilizes the Hawaiian epistemological themes of Meyer (2003) to organize, compare and analyze the anti-colonial pedagogies and practices of Halau Hula O Maiki relative to others. Hula, always was and continues to be a traditional and contemporary form of education that teaches the student more than physical dance movement but rather spirituality, relationships, nature of the senses, utility and discipline.
2010-12-02T20:35:45Z