Tuesday, 25 October 2016

References

References:

Athol Anderson, Judith Binney, and Aroha Harris. 
Tangata Whenua:  An illustrated history

Anae Melani, 
‘All Power To The People.’ 2012

Retrieved from: NZ On Screen - Dawn Raids (2005)
Directed by: Damon Fepulea'i

Herbert J. Gans.
The War Against The Poor: The Underclass and Antipoverty Policy.
Publisher: Basic Books
Place of Publication: New York
Publication Year:1995



Toby Morris’ 2015
The Pencilsword: Inequality Tower (2015). Published on: http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/ the-pencilsword-inequality-tower


© 2002 Webmaster of maori.org.nz



Melanie Wall

Stereotypical Constructions of the Maori 'Race' in the Media. (1997).

Week 11


Recently I have been taking on a uni project relating to Hākari, in the fact that I’m trying to get students to eat healthier through the benefits of a social media programme purely to post recipes/ideas/videos all related to food (Like a facebook, but just for food). We mainly wanted students to use this app/website. So they can each share their tips and tricks when it comes to cooking and therefore collectively help students understand nutrition. Hopefully boosting the health and wellbeing of students. The concept behind it is that psychologically people enjoy spending time on Facebook, so making a browser purely just for recipes can be entertaining, especially if it adds all the ingredients in a convenient shopping list. Thus making it easier to organise food for the week, and hopefully making it easier to eat healthier.

My browser idea addresses all genders. It is a unisexual browser with recipe ideas, tips and tricks, whether that is coming from a male or female. It is important to consider gender in New Zealand as the natives (Maori) of the country saw male and female as equal persons. “Evidence abounds which refutes the notion that traditional Maori society attached greater significance to male roles than to female roles.” (Annie Mikaere)


My app logo.

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Week 10


My own genetical cultural identity is British and European New Zealander. However i solemnly believe that your environment plays a significant part in creating who you are. I was raised by Maori’s and thats how I identify my cultural identity. I have always paid close attention to the beliefs of Maori. One of my favourite stories being Maui and the Sun. I too would love to see myself as a warrior achieving great feats, such as capturing the sun. However I am seen by everyone else as just a white man. I guess that is one reason why I can never really identify myself as a Maori because I am white, and I have never experienced racism. However I have been in the middle of cross fires between other races at my educational institution. Where third parties were trying to get pacific boys expelled in their efforts to bring in more white children into the school. This for me felt like it would have been a similar experience to the ‘Dawn Raids.’ Where only the brown skinned were targeted. And if any of the islander took a step out of line it would mean huge consequences whereas the whiter coloured weren’t even looked at.



Janet Lilo "Beneath the Radar" 2012 - Three channel video. 

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Week 9



Stages of a Powhiri.

1. The gathering of the peoples "The Manuhiri (Visitors)" and "The Tangata Whenua (The Local People)"
2. Each group of people should say a small prayer or known as a Ko te Inoi
3.Ko Te Wero "Wero literally means - 'to cast a spear' and the purpose of the wero was to find out whether the manuhiri came in peace or in war."
4. Karanga - normally a woman from the hosts side calls to signal the manuhiri to move forward. The purpose of this is to "weave a spiritual rope to allow the waka of the manuhiri to be pulled on.
5. Haka - "the haka pohiri pulls on the canoe of the manuhiri"
6. Mihi - A speaker from each side will communicate with one another.
7. Oriori - Waiata "The oriori is a chant which 'makes or breaks' the speech. Sometimes it is referred to as a relish or a garnish of a speech. It should uphold the mana of the speaker and the group."
8. . Koha, traditionally the manuhiri side offers the Tangata Whenua side with gifts of either food or r local delicacies.
9. Hongi - sharing of each others breaths. And to shake hands.
10. Kai, breaking bread together. "This is the final stage of powhiri. The sharing and partaking of food lifts the final tapu (sacredness) of the Powhiri ritual."
(© 2002 Webmaster of maori.org.nz http://tikanga.maori.org.nz )

Dominant ideologies play a pivotal role in defining stereotypes of other races, cultures, and beliefs. We live in a world where institutions disseminate dominant ideologies in support of those who hold power and wealth. One of the means by which these ideas are disseminated is through creating stereotypes of marginalised communities. “The stereotyping of Maori as the comic other has a history… where initial explorers caricatured Maori as having a childlike simplicity” (Wall, 1997). An example of this “childlike” stereotype was lampooned by the comedian Billy T. James through his simplistic character wearing a black singlet who presented a parody of the Maori News (Te Karere) called “Te News". Wall identifies another stereotype – “Maori as primitive natural athlete” (1997). In this stereotype she suggests there is a dated reference to Maori as “savage” and cannibalistic and a romanticised understanding of pre-European Maori as more physical than other peoples – this promotes a “white desire for black physicality” (Wall, 1997). Another stereotype is ‘Maori as radical political activists’ where they were seem as a culture without law therefore labelling them as a “Lesser Breed” (Gilroy, 1987)

Sunday, 25 September 2016

Week 8

Morris, Toby. The Pencilsword: Inequality Tower (2015). Published on: http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-inequality-tower

In "The War Against Poverty: The Underclass and Antipoverty Policy", Herbert J. Gans explains that there are two types of poor, 'Deserving of assistance' and 'Underserving of assistance' (Herbert Gans, 1996) According to Gans, the difference between someone being considered deserving and undeserving is that the former is seen as hardworking and honest but unlucky, whilst the latter, the ‘underserving’ is seen as lazy and unwilling (Herbert Gans, 1996)

Toby Morris’ 2015 illustration for The Wireless “The Pencilsword: Inequality Tower” demonstrates how huge the wealth gap is in New Zealand. He uses statistics from the Statistics New Zealand report “Wealth Disparity in New Zealand” (Morris, 2015) and uses a building as a metaphor to show how the richest 10% have more than 50% of the country’s wealth “…savings, houses, assets…” (Morris, 2015), and the poorest 50% of the population have less than 6% of that same pool of wealth. The poor class might be seen by the rich population as 'lazy and unwilling' due to their low status but half of the New Zealand population can't be lazy, according to Herbert Gans there are two types of poor. (1996)




Week 7

1.     From around 1350CE onwards there were no return trips to Eastern Polynesia by the first settlers of Aotearoa. “El Niño westerlies occur frequently, but only very occasionally are they sufficiently persistent to push a sailing vessel eastward across the larger sea gaps in Oceania.” (Anderson, 30). Of course the sailing direction from Polynesia to New Zealand is west. (Anderson, 30) There is good evidence supporting Anderson's idea of the El Niño periods, convincing me this is the most likely reason for no return trips.

Dawn Raid Entertainment T-shirt, Auckland 2000.

2.     Founded by Andy Murnane and Danny Leaosavai'i, the music label “Dawn Raid Entertainment” was created in response to the socio-political situation that concerned many Pacific Islanders living in Aotearoa in the late 20th century. The Dawn Raids were a classic example of New Zealand racism "Eighty percent of all arrests made by the taskforce were of Maori and other Polynesians, prompting Nga Tamatoa to point out that the taskforce had selectively targeted Polynesians... Furthermore, the majority of overstayers were British or American." (Anae Melani, All Power To The People, 230). The impact of the selective targeting forced Polynesians to fight back against this racism. As a creative response, Murnane and Leaosavai'i referencing the Dawn Raids in the name of their label "Dawn Raids Entertainment" acknowledge the hardship Polynesians have been through and at the same time embrace the fact that they have overcome this time in New Zealand history.

Three officers arresting a Polynesian, ONE News footage.

3.    In the documentary “Dawn Raids” (2005), director Damon Fepulea'i uses many different film techniques to show the extreme racism. Through interviews and rough footage we get a feel for the stress this would have caused any Polynesians living in New Zealand at this time. From 1973 onwards, many homes of Pacific Islanders living and working in New Zealand were raided in the early hours of the morning by multiple police officers. The police were looking for illegal Pacific Island overstayers. In the film, (Damon Fepulea'i) mentions that at the time of the Dawn Raids, the majority of people over-staying their visas in New Zealand were British, yet brown-skinned Polynesians were targeted.

Wednesday, 24 August 2016

Week 5

Belich, James. "Chapter 8: Making empire?" Making Peoples: A history of the New Zealanders, from Polynesian settlement to the end of the nineteenth century.

This chapter is describing the conflict between taking the land from the Maori. As the Europeans had devised a plan to do so "The plan envisaged a 'wonderful, peaceful conquest' of the Maori." (Belich 179) Of course there were others that had a conscience in this 'conquering' and instead of going through with it they threw themselves into the ocean "One emigrant changed her mind and drowned herself rather than proceed to New Zealand." (Belich, 179)

The question arises in the text with the conscientiousness that there were bold attempts to write a slightly deceitful script, "What was the 'spirit' or 'intent' of the treaty?" (Belich, 195) However this was answered in the text too, "The British wished to convert Maori into brown Britishness and subordinary, whereas the one thing we can be sure of about Maori motives for signing is that they did not want this." (Belich, 195)