Alta vistas : an analysis of New Zealand children's cultural knowledges of 'rurality'

Abstract

This thesis presents a cultural analysis of children's constructions of 'rurality'. Drawing on academic research within contemporary cultural, rural and children's geography the study focuses on issues of social construction, diversity and negotiation of power relations. Specifically, through exploration of children's alta vistas of 'rurality', this thesis responds to recent academic concern for othered groups in society. Children's constructions of 'rurality' are explored to identify, first, the varied content of such constructions, and second, the process of negotiation involved in their generation.

The thesis employs an interpretive perspective but also places emphasis on aspects of the critical paradigm. A multi-method approach was used to gather and analyse both children's constructions and contextual information regarding knowledge acquisition, negotiation and production. One 'rural' and one 'urban' case study site was chosen, allowing exploration of children's varied experiences and consequent knowledges of 'rurality'. The content of children's constructions indicated a dominance of agriculture-based understandings of 'rurality'. This reflected the dominance of agricultural images of 'rurality' circulating adult discourses. However, children not only perpetuated this construction, they also generated their own understandings. For example, 'nature' and recreation based images were also prominent features within children's constructions.

Children's diverse images of 'rurality' were linked to a number of determinants: first, children's location of residence; second, the lifestyle and values of their parents and most importantly, the varied lived and discursive experiences of 'rurality' they acquired. These factors combined to provide children with diverse cultural knowledges of 'rurality'. However, across this diversity four distinct cultural knowledge relations were identified. These relations typified the process of negotiation through which children acquired and reproduced understandings of 'rurality'. This thesis provides one example of children's diversity - their varied cultural knowledges of 'rurality'. The study also highlights children's ability to act as cultural producers, whether through negotiation of adult structures or independently in their own right.