title: The significance of spatial scale: Informing land use planning through effective flood hazard and risk mapping

authors: Serrao-Neumann, Silvia

abstract: Effective land use planning for flood risk management in Aotearoa New Zealand hinges on the production and application of fit-for-purpose flood hazard and risk maps at the appropriate spatial scale. National guidance is crucial to ensure consistency and clarity in the development, selection and use of these maps across different government levels.

text: The significance of spatial scale: Informing land use planning through effective flood hazard and risk mapping Effective land use planning for flood risk management in Aotearoa New Zealand hinges on the production and application of fit-for-purpose flood hazard and risk maps at the appropriate spatial scale. National guidance is crucial to ensure consistency and clarity in the development, selection and use of these maps across different government levels.

year: 2025

title: Tensions of the self and discourses of being: Californian medicine, embodiment, metaphysics, and the absence of love

authors: Hillgrove, Craig

subjects: Embodiment

abstract: Contemporary understandings of embodied praxis concerned with the reconfiguration and reinvention of one’s body image are guided primarily by biomedical and mechanical (the body/mind is a biological organism and machine) or/and social constructionist (the body/mind is a social being) worldviews (Birke, 2019; Butler, 1990; 2014; Canguilhem, 1992; 2008; Crossley, 2007; Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Frank, 2012; Goldberg, 1984; Holmes, Murray & Foth, 2017; Kirk, 1997; 2004; Shildrick, 2008; Shilling, 2012; 2016; Turner, 2008). In this study I challenge and attempt to transgress these ontological and epistemological assumptions by drawing upon a postmaterialist (Beauregard, 2021; Miller, 2014) neo-Nietzschean understanding of embodiment and men’s body practices. Subsequently, I endeavour to theoretically and empirically reimagine how scholars predominantly analyse the self by taking the position that life is an ongoing struggle between the wills, demands and phantasms of the soul, the physiological body and the moralities of culture (Nietzsche, 1882), from which existential experiences and a desire to change one’s physical appearance arise. 
Inspired by Continental philosophy, my analysis of the soul-body-culture-praxis nexus is achieved by utilising and interweaving: a) the embodiment theories of Bourdieu, Nietzsche, Foucault, Freud, and Lacan, and b) poststructural and psychoanalytic discourse analytic techniques (i.e., Butlerian/Žižekian discourse analysis (Butler, 1989; 1990; 2014; Žižek, 2009)) to interpret the life histories and social milieus of a cohort of men (aged 27–40) living in (West) Los Angeles, California. Specifically, I focus on men’s use of synthetic androgens (i.e., AAS, Hch, hGH) to explore the role biopedagogies play in managing the embodied ‘tensions of the self and discourses of being’ within a hyper-capitalist society that idealises the beautified celebrity body. Consequently, this postdisciplinary (Pernecky, 2019; Sayer, 2000; 2003) study provides an array of insights relating to men’s (mental) health, sexualities, desires, fears, identity and biopolitics, and the commodification of the self – a performative mode of being adopted to overcome and improve one’s social position and quality of life. 
I conclude this study by summarising and contextualising my research findings within a theory that I have coined ‘Displaced Humanism’. This is a theory of embodied praxis that describes how the body and soul become discursively subjugated by culture and elucidates the reflexive practices participants have adopted to awaken from and psychically transcend the sublime matrix of ideology to reconnect with the authentic self (Bourdieu, 1990; Jung, 2006; Kierkegaard, 1849; Nietzsche, 1886b; Winnicott, 1965; 1971; 2018).

text: Tensions of the self and discourses of being: Californian medicine, embodiment, metaphysics, and the absence of love Contemporary understandings of embodied praxis concerned with the reconfiguration and reinvention of one’s body image are guided primarily by biomedical and mechanical (the body/mind is a biological organism and machine) or/and social constructionist (the body/mind is a social being) worldviews (Birke, 2019; Butler, 1990; 2014; Canguilhem, 1992; 2008; Crossley, 2007; Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Frank, 2012; Goldberg, 1984; Holmes, Murray & Foth, 2017; Kirk, 1997; 2004; Shildrick, 2008; Shilling, 2012; 2016; Turner, 2008). In this study I challenge and attempt to transgress these ontological and epistemological assumptions by drawing upon a postmaterialist (Beauregard, 2021; Miller, 2014) neo-Nietzschean understanding of embodiment and men’s body practices. Subsequently, I endeavour to theoretically and empirically reimagine how scholars predominantly analyse the self by taking the position that life is an ongoing struggle between the wills, demands and phantasms of the soul, the physiological body and the moralities of culture (Nietzsche, 1882), from which existential experiences and a desire to change one’s physical appearance arise. 
Inspired by Continental philosophy, my analysis of the soul-body-culture-praxis nexus is achieved by utilising and interweaving: a) the embodiment theories of Bourdieu, Nietzsche, Foucault, Freud, and Lacan, and b) poststructural and psychoanalytic discourse analytic techniques (i.e., Butlerian/Žižekian discourse analysis (Butler, 1989; 1990; 2014; Žižek, 2009)) to interpret the life histories and social milieus of a cohort of men (aged 27–40) living in (West) Los Angeles, California. Specifically, I focus on men’s use of synthetic androgens (i.e., AAS, Hch, hGH) to explore the role biopedagogies play in managing the embodied ‘tensions of the self and discourses of being’ within a hyper-capitalist society that idealises the beautified celebrity body. Consequently, this postdisciplinary (Pernecky, 2019; Sayer, 2000; 2003) study provides an array of insights relating to men’s (mental) health, sexualities, desires, fears, identity and biopolitics, and the commodification of the self – a performative mode of being adopted to overcome and improve one’s social position and quality of life. 
I conclude this study by summarising and contextualising my research findings within a theory that I have coined ‘Displaced Humanism’. This is a theory of embodied praxis that describes how the body and soul become discursively subjugated by culture and elucidates the reflexive practices participants have adopted to awaken from and psychically transcend the sublime matrix of ideology to reconnect with the authentic self (Bourdieu, 1990; Jung, 2006; Kierkegaard, 1849; Nietzsche, 1886b; Winnicott, 1965; 1971; 2018).

year: 2021

title: Examining the Professional Learning and Development of Principals and Teachers in Maori Medium.

authors: McClunie, Adrienne Heeni

subjects: Professional Development

abstract: The Resource Teacher Māori service (RTM) has been working to lift the performance of principals and teachers of Māori medium schools for over 25 years as Māori medium education has attempted to achieve the twofold aim of revitalizing the Māori language and increasing the success of Māori students in Aotearoa/New Zealand. While there have been many positive gains over that time, issues still remain in fulfilling these aims. Therefore, an important question that needs to be answered is to what extent have RTM been successful in supporting schools to realize the key aims of Māori medium education, and what issues still remain in the service they provide? 
The central aim of this research project was to examine how Resource Teachers Māori (RTM) facilitated professional development (PD) in schools, what issues they faced, and how they negotiated them. The study was a multiple case study design of three RTM, principals and teachers and used conversational interviews as the method of data gathering.
The research found that the RTM service was viewed positively by schools and had a positive influence on teacher skills and student learning outcomes. Of particular importance was the Māori language and cultural guidance the RTM provided teachers. They were also highly committed to the Kaupapa Māori philosophy and to Māori language revitalization. However, their potential was not always realized. Factors that affected the performance of RTM included having a large number of schools to service and a wide range of teacher needs.  The support the RTM received at the national and local levels was also insufficient. An implication of these findings is that the RTM service should receive greater support and guidance, but there should also be a greater degree of accountability that the service the RTM are providing is meeting school needs.

text: Examining the Professional Learning and Development of Principals and Teachers in Maori Medium. The Resource Teacher Māori service (RTM) has been working to lift the performance of principals and teachers of Māori medium schools for over 25 years as Māori medium education has attempted to achieve the twofold aim of revitalizing the Māori language and increasing the success of Māori students in Aotearoa/New Zealand. While there have been many positive gains over that time, issues still remain in fulfilling these aims. Therefore, an important question that needs to be answered is to what extent have RTM been successful in supporting schools to realize the key aims of Māori medium education, and what issues still remain in the service they provide? 
The central aim of this research project was to examine how Resource Teachers Māori (RTM) facilitated professional development (PD) in schools, what issues they faced, and how they negotiated them. The study was a multiple case study design of three RTM, principals and teachers and used conversational interviews as the method of data gathering.
The research found that the RTM service was viewed positively by schools and had a positive influence on teacher skills and student learning outcomes. Of particular importance was the Māori language and cultural guidance the RTM provided teachers. They were also highly committed to the Kaupapa Māori philosophy and to Māori language revitalization. However, their potential was not always realized. Factors that affected the performance of RTM included having a large number of schools to service and a wide range of teacher needs.  The support the RTM received at the national and local levels was also insufficient. An implication of these findings is that the RTM service should receive greater support and guidance, but there should also be a greater degree of accountability that the service the RTM are providing is meeting school needs.

year: 2013