scholarly journals A Socialist Compass for Aotearoa

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Danielle Webb

In this article, I argue that both tino rangatiratanga and socialism lie at the heart of emancipatory politics in Aotearoa New Zealand. For Māori, the economy has always been a dynamic site of interaction with the state and corporate bodies, and today the Māori economy is celebrated by some as a space where tino rangatiratanga can be realised. For the most part, though, the capitalist economy has been a site of exploitation for Māori. Given the inextricable relations between capitalism and colonialism, I present the case for Māori socialism as an emancipatory response to both. To do so, I employ Erik Olin Wright’s socialist compass, a conceptual tool that points to a variety of economic pathways towards socialism. But there is a major problem with Wright’s compass: it only has three points (state power, economic power, and social power). I extend Wright’s vision for socialism by completing the compass, adding to it a much needed fourth point: tino rangatiratanga. The resulting ‘Aotearoa socialist compass’ can be used to orient us towards Māori socialism—a socialist economy in which tino rangatiratanga is realised.  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Juliet Suzanne Smith

<p>This study investigated the family as a site for literacy. The theoretical approach is that all literacy is situated in a social context. Eleven parents were interviewed about literacy use and practices both in their present families. The parents were from India, Sri Lanka, Britain and Aotearoa/ New Zealand. The study explored generational differences as well as aspects of diversity among the families. While there were similarities in the uses of literacy across the generations, diversity was evident in the differences in purpose between the Pakeha families and the others. For the Paheka the purpose of reading was for pleasure while the other parents stressed the importance of reading for moral messages and guides to behaviour. Parents spoke more often about reading than about writing, they recalled favourite books, especially those by Enid Blyton, and reported stories they told their own children. It is suggested that teachers might explore their own literacy experiences to better understand the issues of both literacy and diversity.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Juliet Suzanne Smith

<p>This study investigated the family as a site for literacy. The theoretical approach is that all literacy is situated in a social context. Eleven parents were interviewed about literacy use and practices both in their present families. The parents were from India, Sri Lanka, Britain and Aotearoa/ New Zealand. The study explored generational differences as well as aspects of diversity among the families. While there were similarities in the uses of literacy across the generations, diversity was evident in the differences in purpose between the Pakeha families and the others. For the Paheka the purpose of reading was for pleasure while the other parents stressed the importance of reading for moral messages and guides to behaviour. Parents spoke more often about reading than about writing, they recalled favourite books, especially those by Enid Blyton, and reported stories they told their own children. It is suggested that teachers might explore their own literacy experiences to better understand the issues of both literacy and diversity.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex McConville ◽  
Tim McCreanor ◽  
Margaret Wetherell ◽  
Helen Moewaka Barnes

This article explores affect, discourse and emotion in national life. Drawing on recent thinking on discourse and affect, alongside previous work on nation and communities of practice, we focus on the print media’s use of Anzac Day in Aotearoa New Zealand, as a site through which settler identity and cultural hegemony are reproduced. One hegemonic interpretive repertoire is observed throughout, that Anzac Day is a sacred day of respectful remembrance. Within this frame, a series of associated affective-discursive positions are deployed covering issues that range from inclusion and exclusion, to conformity and dissent. We argue that this repertoire and its associated positions constitute citizens engaging with the day as a homogeneous group of national subjects, bound together as a particular kind of affected community. This imagined community and the affective practices attributed to it, however, largely ignore the bicultural makeup of Aotearoa New Zealand, narrowing down the diverse range of potential emotional positions to a just a few. Popular journalism fails readers and limits debate though its thin portrayals of community, legitimate affect and engaged citizenship. National life is impoverished when print media lack the cultural competence necessary to effectively engage in broader debates and political discourse.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Gregory ◽  
Kristen Maynard

The essential elements of modern bureaucracy were identified by the German social scientist Max Weber (1864–1920) and remain central today to any understanding of how modern governmental systems work. At the core of Weber’s understanding was the insight that bureaucracies are profoundly impersonal, even dehumanised, organisations, which is a key element in their ability to carry out complex, large-scale tasks. However, this dehumanised character is also one of bureaucracy’s biggest weaknesses, since it inhibits the organisation’s ability to relate to people in ways that are in tune with lived social experiences. This article argues that in Aotearoa New Zealand it should be possible to draw upon knowledge from te ao Mäori, and especially the idea of wairua, to help fulfil aspirations for an improved public service, one that is more effective and humane for all New Zealanders. However, to do so will require a much greater appreciation of such knowledge than has so far been the case.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Dylan Taylor

The riot is positioned by some contemporary Left theorists and activists as the harbinger of a future emancipatory politics. This view has emerged in a period of political transition in which traditional modes of Left organisation are routinely dismissed as ineffective. This paper examines the history of the riot in Aotearoa New Zealand, seeking to understand what role, if any, the riot might play in this country’s future.  


2019 ◽  
pp. 146394911987376
Author(s):  
Shil Bae

This article conducts a critical analysis of the Incredible Years parenting programme through the lens of post-colonial and post-structural theories. Drawing from Foucault’s concept of ‘governmentality’ and ‘discursive normalisation’, the author questions the norms and definitions constructed by the implementation of Incredible Years in New Zealand, and attempts to disrupt taken-for-granted values and assumptions in modern parenting. The analysis of this study shows that the discourses in Incredible Years (re)produce colonising values and assumptions, reinforcing the privileged knowledge of the West in parenting. The author points out how this approach to parenting constructs those who do not fit into the norm as ‘the Other’ and normalises/reinforces conformity to the dominant culture in this context.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Juliet Suzanne Smith

<p>This study investigated the family as a site for literacy. The theoretical approach is that all literacy is situated in a social context. Eleven parents were interviewed about literacy use and practices both in their families of origin and in their present families. The parents were from India, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Britain and Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study explored generational differences as well as aspects of diversity among the families. While there were similarities in the uses of literacy across the generations, diversity was evident in the differences in purpose between the Pakeha families and the others. For the Pakeha the purpose of reading was for pleasure while the other parents stressed the importance of reading for moral messages and guides to behaviour. Parents spoke more often about reading than about writing, they recalled favourite books, especially those by Enid Blyton, and reported stories they told their own children. It is suggested that teachers might explore their own literacy experiences to better understand the issues of both literacy and diversity.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noeline Wright ◽  
Sharyn Heaton

In everyday understanding, ‘hospitality’ refers to paid work contexts; commodities and transactional tasks. Hospitality can, however, have much broader significance. It can be understood in cultural and social terms within and beyond transactional contexts. In Māori cultural knowledge and practices for example, hospitality has reciprocal, relational nuances. Perhaps both views imply that ‘hospitality’ is an act of ‘crossing boundaries […] or thresholds’ as Still (2013: 4) suggested. Relational, reciprocal, boundary-crossing practices may also infer ritual understandings of respect, kindness, generosity and harmony. Crossing thresholds is a central concept in Māori knowledge and practices and is central to this article exploring concepts and practices of hospitality in a new primary school focused on building its practices on relational and reciprocal values. In Aotearoa New Zealand educational contexts, hospitality is a cultural, social reciprocal and relational practice. Thus, through examining ‘hospitality’, ‘borders’ and ‘thresholds’ across the boundaries of education and commerce, we hope to illuminate both connections and differences. We do so through reviewing both literature about ‘hospitality’, ‘borders’ and ‘thresholds’ and interview data from a new school intentionally valuing whanaungatanga.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maree Martinussen ◽  
Margaret Wetherell ◽  
Virginia Braun

Those investigating neoliberal and postfeminist subjectivities have argued that continuous self-improvement and self-surveillance have become everyday life strategies for many women. It has been suggested that these strategies have also re-organised women’s friendships, so that this is now a significant field of practice for women to support each other in the anxiety provoking work of self-perfection. Using talk-data from a sample of women in Aotearoa New Zealand we explore these claims, and report on how our sample of women describe their friendships, not so much as a site for developing and perfecting the neoliberal self, but as a place of reprieve from conventions of relentless productivity – a site of ease, escape and refuge. We are not suggesting that accounts of postfeminist, neoliberal subjectivities are inaccurate or that these modes of self-making are not relevant to our participants, but that the discursive environment of women’s close friendships is plural, combining neoliberal emphases with potentially subversive counter-narratives.


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