title: Social relations and class divisions in the Te Aroha district

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Although the nature of mining encouraged mateship amongst miners, this ideal was weakened as companies increasingly dominated mining districts. As miners liked to work for themselves to obtain the highest possible financial return and the more proficient ones became managers, should they be regarded as working class or as middle class? But although there were class distinctions, blatant divisions and delusions of grandeur were discouraged, and mining fields displayed at worst a superficial egalitarianism and at best genuine social unity on at least some occasions and issues. 
Te Aroha, unlike Waiorongomai, was not a typical mining township because of the residents’ close involvement with farmers and tourists, mingling with the latter in the hot pools and when they visited the goldfield. Examples are given of tourists being actively involved in the social life of Te Aroha.  Class divisions increased as mining faded, as illustrated by the clothing and jewellery sported by the ‘upper ten’ of Te Aroha compared with their poorer neighbours, a contrast also apparent at the more lower-class settlement of Waiorongomai. But despite sartorial distinctions, all sections of Pakeha society mingled at dances, concerts, entertainments, church, and sport; some Maori participated also, especially in rugby, but remained basically separated from the new society that had taken over their district. 
Although some younger residents may have admired the antics of ‘new chums’ and remittance men playing at being miners and generally enlivening social life, those who understood that a new field required serious miners disapproved of those who treated mining as a game. Some highly respectable people were on friendly terms with other residents, and some workers with pretensions liked to describe themselves as ‘gentlemen’, but such snobs were liable to be deflated by those who did not regard them as their betters. As was usual, the less respectable people at the bottom of the social scale were looked down upon.
There was general resistance to a ‘clique’ of elite members of the community attempting to control the latter and, in particular, the mines for their own benefit. In elections for local bodies, some men stood explicitly as representatives of working men. But all involved in the industry, whether miners, managers, owners, or investors, were united in trying to uphold its interests.

text: Social relations and class divisions in the Te Aroha district Although the nature of mining encouraged mateship amongst miners, this ideal was weakened as companies increasingly dominated mining districts. As miners liked to work for themselves to obtain the highest possible financial return and the more proficient ones became managers, should they be regarded as working class or as middle class? But although there were class distinctions, blatant divisions and delusions of grandeur were discouraged, and mining fields displayed at worst a superficial egalitarianism and at best genuine social unity on at least some occasions and issues. 
Te Aroha, unlike Waiorongomai, was not a typical mining township because of the residents’ close involvement with farmers and tourists, mingling with the latter in the hot pools and when they visited the goldfield. Examples are given of tourists being actively involved in the social life of Te Aroha.  Class divisions increased as mining faded, as illustrated by the clothing and jewellery sported by the ‘upper ten’ of Te Aroha compared with their poorer neighbours, a contrast also apparent at the more lower-class settlement of Waiorongomai. But despite sartorial distinctions, all sections of Pakeha society mingled at dances, concerts, entertainments, church, and sport; some Maori participated also, especially in rugby, but remained basically separated from the new society that had taken over their district. 
Although some younger residents may have admired the antics of ‘new chums’ and remittance men playing at being miners and generally enlivening social life, those who understood that a new field required serious miners disapproved of those who treated mining as a game. Some highly respectable people were on friendly terms with other residents, and some workers with pretensions liked to describe themselves as ‘gentlemen’, but such snobs were liable to be deflated by those who did not regard them as their betters. As was usual, the less respectable people at the bottom of the social scale were looked down upon.
There was general resistance to a ‘clique’ of elite members of the community attempting to control the latter and, in particular, the mines for their own benefit. In elections for local bodies, some men stood explicitly as representatives of working men. But all involved in the industry, whether miners, managers, owners, or investors, were united in trying to uphold its interests.

year: 2016

title: Retention and intentions of professional accountants

authors: Twiname, Linda J.

subjects: job design

abstract: This paper enhances understanding of factors underlying professional accountants’ high turnover rates. Various researchers, institutions and government bodies have identified accountants’ retention is of concern. However, traditional explanations, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, do not sufficiently account for the turnover rates observed in the accounting profession. A New Zealand (NZ) sample of professional accountants enabled us to identify a range of factor. Intentions to stay were very low, 50% of accountants expected to leave their current employer within 3 years of the survey date. Satisfaction with two core job characteristics, feedback and skill variety, in addition to work life balance (WLB) accounted for 65% of the variance of overall job satisfaction. WLB, or at least a lack of access to flexible work arrangements was strongly indicated as the primary consideration when choosing to remain with the present employer.

text: Retention and intentions of professional accountants This paper enhances understanding of factors underlying professional accountants’ high turnover rates. Various researchers, institutions and government bodies have identified accountants’ retention is of concern. However, traditional explanations, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, do not sufficiently account for the turnover rates observed in the accounting profession. A New Zealand (NZ) sample of professional accountants enabled us to identify a range of factor. Intentions to stay were very low, 50% of accountants expected to leave their current employer within 3 years of the survey date. Satisfaction with two core job characteristics, feedback and skill variety, in addition to work life balance (WLB) accounted for 65% of the variance of overall job satisfaction. WLB, or at least a lack of access to flexible work arrangements was strongly indicated as the primary consideration when choosing to remain with the present employer.

year: 2012-06-30

title: 'Thinking-through-Complicity' with Te Iwi o Ngāti Hauiti: Towards a Critical Use of Participatory Video for Research

authors: Kindon, Sara Louise

subjects: human geography

abstract: This thesis explores some of the seductions and dangers of participatory video for research (PVR) involving Indigenous Māori and Pākehā research partners. The project within which PVR was used focused on exploring relationships between place, identity and social cohesion within ‘remote’ rural communities. It involved about 15 members of the Potaka whānau of Te Iwi o Ngāti Hauiti in the central Rangitīkei district of the North Island, Aotearoa New Zealand. A small group of iwi members, myself and an audiovisual specialist and trainer negotiated the project’s focus, process and ethics during 1998. A different group of iwi members were then trained in video production and community research methods later that year and supported to produce their own productions, and carry out video research interviews with other iwi members. The entire process of negotiation, training and collaborative research was filmed for archival and research purposes with everyone’s consent, and several collaborative publications and presentations have been produced since 1999.

The discursive space opened up by Ngāti Hauiti’s engagement with, and use of, video provides an opportunity to attend to the ‘cultural mediations’ that occurred throughout the research partnership and to inquire into the possible ‘empire building effects’ of visual technologies within participatory research more generally. The focus on PVR within a Māori context also prompts questions about the visual’s transformative potential within geographic research, and the implications of working through the use of a visual medium for rethinking disciplinary practices and knowledges, particularly when working cross-culturally. 

In the thesis, I first review the evolution and attendant challenges associated with both the use of participation and video within research contexts. I trace their similar origins in modernist attempts to ‘know’ and ‘empower’ marginalised others, and highlight the ongoing marginalisation of Indigenous perspectives within mainstream debates. I then engage with conceptualisations of complicity and develop an analytical framework that expands on current discursive and ideological discussions to also attend to its material, embodied and spatial dimensions.

Using this framework and a complementary autoethnographic and ‘hyper-self-reflexive’ approach, I track aspects of my own power, complicity and desire within my research practice in the PVR project during the period 1998-2001. This approach involves the development of a particular reading position to focus on critical incidents of my research practice and a means of grappling productively with the polyvalent nature of my audiovisual and other information sources. I discuss these critical incidents within three processes associated with the research: facilitation, production and reception, attending to the complex and multifaceted interplay of audiovisual texts, their producers and their audiences throughout. 

Such a thesis is expedient given that powerful and often uncritical rhetoric that besets participatory research and development is fast taking hold within geography. It is also timely given the proliferation of affordable and accessible audiovisual technology and its increasing use within geography and other social sciences. As geographers respond to calls to embrace more visual, tactile and other methods, this thesis offers possibilities for the repoliticisation of participatory discourse within social geography, through a more considered engagement with participatory action research, Indigenous research practices and audiovisual media such as video. I offer cautionary insights into the ‘power-full’ effects of these ways of working.

text: 'Thinking-through-Complicity' with Te Iwi o Ngāti Hauiti: Towards a Critical Use of Participatory Video for Research This thesis explores some of the seductions and dangers of participatory video for research (PVR) involving Indigenous Māori and Pākehā research partners. The project within which PVR was used focused on exploring relationships between place, identity and social cohesion within ‘remote’ rural communities. It involved about 15 members of the Potaka whānau of Te Iwi o Ngāti Hauiti in the central Rangitīkei district of the North Island, Aotearoa New Zealand. A small group of iwi members, myself and an audiovisual specialist and trainer negotiated the project’s focus, process and ethics during 1998. A different group of iwi members were then trained in video production and community research methods later that year and supported to produce their own productions, and carry out video research interviews with other iwi members. The entire process of negotiation, training and collaborative research was filmed for archival and research purposes with everyone’s consent, and several collaborative publications and presentations have been produced since 1999.

The discursive space opened up by Ngāti Hauiti’s engagement with, and use of, video provides an opportunity to attend to the ‘cultural mediations’ that occurred throughout the research partnership and to inquire into the possible ‘empire building effects’ of visual technologies within participatory research more generally. The focus on PVR within a Māori context also prompts questions about the visual’s transformative potential within geographic research, and the implications of working through the use of a visual medium for rethinking disciplinary practices and knowledges, particularly when working cross-culturally. 

In the thesis, I first review the evolution and attendant challenges associated with both the use of participation and video within research contexts. I trace their similar origins in modernist attempts to ‘know’ and ‘empower’ marginalised others, and highlight the ongoing marginalisation of Indigenous perspectives within mainstream debates. I then engage with conceptualisations of complicity and develop an analytical framework that expands on current discursive and ideological discussions to also attend to its material, embodied and spatial dimensions.

Using this framework and a complementary autoethnographic and ‘hyper-self-reflexive’ approach, I track aspects of my own power, complicity and desire within my research practice in the PVR project during the period 1998-2001. This approach involves the development of a particular reading position to focus on critical incidents of my research practice and a means of grappling productively with the polyvalent nature of my audiovisual and other information sources. I discuss these critical incidents within three processes associated with the research: facilitation, production and reception, attending to the complex and multifaceted interplay of audiovisual texts, their producers and their audiences throughout. 

Such a thesis is expedient given that powerful and often uncritical rhetoric that besets participatory research and development is fast taking hold within geography. It is also timely given the proliferation of affordable and accessible audiovisual technology and its increasing use within geography and other social sciences. As geographers respond to calls to embrace more visual, tactile and other methods, this thesis offers possibilities for the repoliticisation of participatory discourse within social geography, through a more considered engagement with participatory action research, Indigenous research practices and audiovisual media such as video. I offer cautionary insights into the ‘power-full’ effects of these ways of working.

year: 2012