Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / How meaning is articulated, suggested or repressed in transition processes is an inherently social phenomenon. The history of theorising about ornament bears evidence to this as much as do current practices of ornamentation. From myths, as narratives of meaning, to ‘mere ornament’ – the various signifying practices (and forms of life within which they take place) determine how meaning changes. People will perceive such change differently, depending on their perspectives and circumstances and, under certain conditions, change can be conceived of as loss. This thesis, in its theoretical part, explores issues pertaining to meaning and ornament in epistemology, philosophy, sociology, semiotics, aesthetics and psychoanalysis. In its practical part it seeks to make connections with signifying practices involving ornament in the life-worlds of users, the use of ornament in public buildings, bicultural relationships involving appropriation or misappropriation, and the education of designers in New Zealand. For that, data derived from four empirical research projects are presented and theorised. In the fourth part, theories and practices are brought together to shed light on struggles with ornamental meaning in the past and in the present. Theories, with their classification of myths, symbols and ornament, ignore wide ranges of signifying practices and privilege some form of significations at the expense of others. Because of their separation from the language- games and forms of life of ornamental practice, they often fail to grasp issues that are important to non-theorists. All the research projects demonstrated that the large majority of participants like and relate to ornament. They also showed, however, that Pakeha traditions of ornament are not only perceived to have suffered the same historical rupture as those in the West but also that the theoretical discreditation upon which they were based was used as a tool of oppression when applied to Maori art. Attempts to explain bicultural practices of appropriation or misappropriation without reference to the history of colonisation and present power configurations must fail. Whether or not a cultural image retains or loses its meaning depends on factors such as knowledge, understanding, relationality and co-operation. If culture is, however, treated as a resource for commodification – as it is by the culture industries – cultural elements are subjected to rules inherent in marketing and capitalist economies and their meaning is deliberately changed. Those who ought to be able to deal competently with these issues (designers and other cultural intermediaries) receive little in their education to prepare them for the ornamental strategies and tactics of their future clients. The academic environment is still largely determined by modernist agendas, and ornament as a topic and as practice – continues to be repressed. If a meaningful ornamental language and practice relevant to Aotearoa is to be shared, created, and sustained the divisions between theory and the life-world need to be interrogated; the distance through an assumed superiority of Pakeha to Maori history, culture and people relinquished; and a type of conversation must commence that takes seriously the Treaty of Waitangi as the founding document of this country. The partnership concept of this document facilitates conversation about differential positions and rules and can ‘take us out of our old selves by the power of strangeness, to aid us in becoming new beings’ (Rorty, 1980: 289).

Tokelauans initiated a contemporary migration from their relatively remote Pacific atolls to New Zealand around 1960 and this population movement was assisted by government resettlement schemes. The broad objectives of the ethnographic research contributing to this thesis were to study the historical context of this small-scale voluntary migration, the establishment and social organisation of culturally distinguished urban communities in North Island centres, and post-resettlement outcomes experienced by migrant and descent populations. Each of the two studies incorporated in the thesis is primarily concerned with tūpulaga ‘the younger generation’ in the New Zealand Tokelau population. One is community-based and focused on the social interactions of generation cohorts of tūpulaga and tupuna ‘elders’, the formal community associations and the national association of affiliated tūpulaga groups. The other is concerned with bunches of “detached” tūpulaga geographically scattered throughout the country, the people without voices when research includes only the migrants in urban enclaves. Background considerations include overviews of theoretical approaches to studying the population phenomenon of migration; relevant aspects of Tokelau history and the movement of Pacific peoples; New Zealand as the receiving country and continuously changing social context for Tokelau communities, and a conceptual framework derived from features of complex adaptive systems theories that was helpful in considering aspects of the contemporary migration and its outcomes. Tūpulaga leaders, through the association of affiliated groups known as the Mafutaga, revived the pre-eminent cultural principle maopoopo ‘gathered together and unified’, promoted a vision of ‘Tokelau ways in New Zealand’ and supported tūpulaga “becoming Tokelau in New Zealand” as residents of urban communities. Over a number of years, Mafutaga officials led the expansion of tūpulaga inter-community sports meetings into a four-day national gathering of Tokelauans now celebrated as an unequivocal expression of Tokelau culture in New Zealand, and guided the established urban communities through a transition from migrant to cultural communities without usurping the political roles of esteemed elders. The second study shows that intergenerational issues were pivotal or contributory in most tūpulaga decisions to “detach” from community networks and activities. “Detachment” is categorised as transient (a provisional, not necessarily long-term status), tacit (a restorative withdrawal, with subsequent reattachment) or diuternal (a considered choice and enduring status). / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

In recent years considerable emphasis has been placed upon the education of the Maori. This is not in itself a new development, but instead, one which has been accentuated by the rapid growth in Maori population, the marked drift to the cities which has continued unabated since the end of the second world, and the general realisation of the fact that large reservoir of human potential remains untapped when the interest of a dominant culture are not reflected in those of minority groups.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / This is an archaeological study of Maori occupation along the lower Waihou River, Hauraki from the time of first settlement at about 1450 until 1850 AD. It identifies changes in the environment, economy, settlement distribution and demography over time, and details four pre-contact and three post-contact phases of occupation with differing economic, social, political and spatial responses. These are brought together in a developmental framework describing a series of cultural changes, thereby enabling the underlying processes to be ascertained. This research makes several arguments. Firstly, that Maori material culture has to be understood in the light of the functional and socio-political context in which the objects were made and used. Secondly, that regional analysis of this type employing a range of detailed environmental, settlement location, historical and excavation data are necessary in order to provide an historical developmental framework. Thirdly, that New Zealand settlement distribution studies have to adopt a more flexible approach using models more appropriate to Maori society. Fourthly, that cultural processes can best be analysed through the underlying ideological concepts of the society whose culture is being studied. The thesis concludes that the people of Hauraki displayed a range of dynamic socio-political responses to a variety of natural and human induced events that occurred over a four hundred year period.

Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy. / This thesis is a regional study using several kinds of evidence, The focus of the work is the South Kaipara peninsula, on the west coast north of Auckland and the successive Maori peoples whose home it was, There are four major sections: the social environment, the natural environment, archaeological research and, drawing these three together, a multi-disciplinary approach to analysis. The first section comprises three chapters. Chapter 1 traces the doings of the ancestors, using traditions and whakapapa gathered during the latter part of last century. Chapter 2 studies early eyewitness accounts, the advent of Europeans and the changes they effected. Chapter 3 considers the serious consequences of nineteenth century land alienation on the Maori inhabitants of the peninsula, and of population decrease through warfare, European diseases and economic change. The second section contains two chapters. Chapter 4 provides a background to subsequent chapters and covers geomorphology, soils, climate, flora and fauna. Chapter 5, using ethnographic material, explores the resources which would have been important to the Maori people, and the impact which successive groups made to the environment over time. Section 3, of two chapters, describes the archaeological research undertaken on the peninsula since the late 1950s. Chapter 6 includes results of the intensive site recording which began in 1975, and was largely completed in 1978. An overall analysis of the different kinds of sites and their locations is made in relation to soils, topography and height above sea level. Chapter 7 describes and analyses a midden sampling project which produced radiocarbon dates, palaeoenvironmental and shellfish species studies, and a detailed examination of the common cockle which occurred in all middens. The fourth section, Chapter 8, analyses settlement patterns. Because of the very large number and concentration of sites, the peninsula is divided into 14 geographic units so that aspects of these could be compared. Included are 1) landscape and topographic features, 2) historical settlement information, 3) the recorded sites and their frequencies, and 4) site type locations and frequencies. The findings for the areas are compared and conclusions drawn to suggest an overall culture history of the Maori people of the South Kaipara Peninsula.

The Maoris today occupy a unique position in the wider New Zealand society. On the one hand, following over a century of intensive contact and political integration with the people of European origin, they now form an inseparable part of the national society. But on the other hand, they also constitute a distinctive minority in the country accounting for 6.9 per cent of the total population of 2.4 million (in 1961). Their distinctiveness may be described in various ways, some qualitative and others statistical. However, in the overall socio-economic scene of the country, the position of the Maoris is far from static. Social and cultural changes are continuing processes and one can notice important trends in contemporary Maori life.

Recognizing the continual restructuring of Pakeha-Maori relations as dominance and subordination, this thesis sets out to gain an understanding, through a critique of ideology, of the place of schooling in the securing and maintenance of those relations. Theoretically, it draws mainly upon the concept of ideology as interpreted by Jorge Larrain but also upon Gramsci's concept of hegemony, the notion of social amnesia as presented by Jacoby and the concept of resistance as developed by Giroux. It also examines the historical development of the concepts of 'race' and 'culture' which are employed ideologically to rationalize educational policies concerning the Maori. Tracing the progression of policies and practices in Maori education from the 1830s to the present day, the research shows the schooling of the Maori to have contributed significantly to the securing of Pakeha economic and political dominance in the nineteenth century and to the maintenance of that dominance through much of the twentieth century. Of particular significance has been the control of Maori access to knowledge. With Maori resistance playing a considerable part in the shaping of these policies and practices, the school is recognized as one of the sites of Maori-Pakeha struggle. Widespread underachievement of Maori within education - revealed in 1960 by the Hunn Report - is recognized as an outcome of these processes. Taking account of policies in recent years directed at improving Maori educational achievement, the thesis examines fieldwork research conducted within Auckland primary and secondary schools, in order to understand the extent to which current policies and practices of schools contribute towards overcoming the asymmetry in social relations. Focussing upon teacher perceptions of Maori children and their needs, the way schools sort and classify their pupils, provisions for a Maori dimension in schooling, including 'taha Maori', and the place of history in social studies programmes, the research finds that the struggle still continues, with tensions surrounding the efforts of the minority of teachers and other educationists working within the education system towards Maori interests. While a significant number of teachers, particularly in primary schools seem concerned to implement the 'taha Maori' policy and other aspects of 'multicultural education', these efforts are not matched by a concern to address the problem of Maori educational under-achievement, with teachers either explaining away the problem or accepting it as a quasi-natural state of affairs. Over all the research shows that schools in general continue, in a variety of ways, to control and limit Maori access to knowledge-power and thereby help to maintain the asymmetry in Maori-Pakeha relations. Maori children who do succeed within the education system are seen to do so primarily because they and their families have learned to deal with the system. The multicultural policies of education as presented by the Department of Education are recognized as ideological responses to Maori resistance and challenges, creating an appearance of change and of commitment to Maori interests while, in essence, functioning to maintain the asymmetry in social relations. / Whole document restricted, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

This thesis uses a discourse analytic approach to the language used by Pakeha in talk about Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The research begins with an assay of a large body of public submissions and, using the finding of common themes and patterns of ideas, images and usages running though the data, proceeds to examine texts arising from other contexts in order to comment on the generality of the original results. It is suggested that the commonalities described amount to an ideological and linguistic resource base for the construction of a powerful "standard story" of Maori/Pakeha relations, which underpins and legitimates the oppressive status quo. Further extensions of the investigation examine changes in the discourse in the contemporary setting and pursue origins of the themes in historical texts arising from the period of contact between Maori and Pakeha prior to the colonisation of the country.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics & Psychology, Department of Linguistics, 2005. / Bibliography: p. 329-355. / Preamble -- Research objectives and methodology -- Theoretical and epistemological frameworks -- Culture, identity and power -- Meetings -- "The clearing of the sky" -- Project reform. / The data for this research thesis derives from a development project in Samoa. Through the study of key project events and their associated discourses the study identifies and interprets cultural and professional resources that the project team draws on as they negotiate their way through the project; in particular the 'resources' (including communication resources) that participants bring to project interactions. The thesis explores how participants used these resources and what consequences resulted (for them and for others) from such use. -- This study takes a critical and ideological stance, underpinned by a belief in the value and possibility of social action. While not primarily a call to action, the thesis presents its interpretations in the context of larger ethical and political challenges, with a view to informing change, specifically what deliberate action might be taken to improve processes and practices in future projects. The project is explored as a 'soft' system of social interactions and processes; and as a 'Third Space' (Bhabha 1990, 1994) where traditional boundaries of sociocultural organisation, or of professions, are destabilised and where newlyconstructed practices, orders of discourse, identities and representations are required. -- The study is evaluation and policy oriented. It explicitly addresses the implications of knowledge gained from the research for future project design and implementation. In making recommendations for project change, the study argues for the inclusion of local research as a legitimate project task, to inform evaluative processes and create a framework for ongoing modification to project design and implementation. The recommendations for change made in this study are concerned with determining principles and codes of practice for: - identifying and developing intercultural competence in project situations ; - project training (for intercultural project work, including ongoing participant research) ; - improving project systems ; - using relevant approaches/techniques in organisational change management. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 397 p

Thesis (M.A.)--Columbia International University, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-138).