title: Symbolic order and material agency: A cultural ecology of native forest remnants on Waikato dairy farms

authors: Jay, Grace Mairi M.

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Loss of native biological diversity is a world-wide problem of growing international concern.  One of the main causes of native biodiversity loss is destruction and degradation of native habitat through land development for agriculture.  

The Waikato region is an example of the destruction and degradation of native habitat in association with the development and intensification of farming, including dairy farming.  This thesis explores cultural reasons for the loss of native forest in the Waikato region, and reasons why fragments of native forest remain.  The research involves a participant observation study of 'typical' dairy farm families for 9 months of the dairy year, in-depth interviews of dairy farmers who have protected a significant proportion of their land for conservation of native habitat, a questionnaire of dairy farmers, and an examination of dairy farm magazines and other literature to identify the values and attitudes that motivate dairy farmers in relation to land management and protection of native habitat.

The title of the thesis suggests two elements that are important for understanding the loss and persistence of native forest in Waikato's farmed landscapes.  Symbolic reason refers to the values, attitudes and perceptions of farmers that derive from socio-political and economic forces which encourage productivist practises that leave little opportunity for native forest to survive.  Material agency refers to the local circumstances of particular farms and individual people which enable native forest to persist.   The thesis argues that persistence of native forest depends on the idiosyncrasies of material circumstance in the face of relentless pressure to transform the production landscape for economic purposes.  

The thesis concludes with a suggestion that policies to assist survival of native habitat in farmed landscapes need to include ones that encourage the odds in favour of fortuitous circumstance.  In the face of globalised economic pressures, policies for conservation of native biodiversity need to involve a 'portfolio' of measures that apply to individual landowners and the wider rural community by recognising, assisting and rewarding management for non-production values.

text: Symbolic order and material agency: A cultural ecology of native forest remnants on Waikato dairy farms Loss of native biological diversity is a world-wide problem of growing international concern.  One of the main causes of native biodiversity loss is destruction and degradation of native habitat through land development for agriculture.  

The Waikato region is an example of the destruction and degradation of native habitat in association with the development and intensification of farming, including dairy farming.  This thesis explores cultural reasons for the loss of native forest in the Waikato region, and reasons why fragments of native forest remain.  The research involves a participant observation study of 'typical' dairy farm families for 9 months of the dairy year, in-depth interviews of dairy farmers who have protected a significant proportion of their land for conservation of native habitat, a questionnaire of dairy farmers, and an examination of dairy farm magazines and other literature to identify the values and attitudes that motivate dairy farmers in relation to land management and protection of native habitat.

The title of the thesis suggests two elements that are important for understanding the loss and persistence of native forest in Waikato's farmed landscapes.  Symbolic reason refers to the values, attitudes and perceptions of farmers that derive from socio-political and economic forces which encourage productivist practises that leave little opportunity for native forest to survive.  Material agency refers to the local circumstances of particular farms and individual people which enable native forest to persist.   The thesis argues that persistence of native forest depends on the idiosyncrasies of material circumstance in the face of relentless pressure to transform the production landscape for economic purposes.  

The thesis concludes with a suggestion that policies to assist survival of native habitat in farmed landscapes need to include ones that encourage the odds in favour of fortuitous circumstance.  In the face of globalised economic pressures, policies for conservation of native biodiversity need to involve a 'portfolio' of measures that apply to individual landowners and the wider rural community by recognising, assisting and rewarding management for non-production values.

year: 2004

title: Language learning using Pacific picturebooks in an Aotearoa New Zealand kindergarten

authors: Kelly-Ware, J

abstract: Māori and Pacific learners in Aotearoa New Zealand have been identified as ‘priority learners’ by the Ministry of Education. The ‘Pacific picturebook project’ is ongoing research focussed on picturebooks selected to support the languages, cultures, and identities of Pacific learners in keeping with our government, Teaching Council and Ministry of Education expectations. This phase of the research was located in a kindergarten where teachers and children identify as Māori, Pākehā and from several Pacific Island nations. Teachers shared a selection of Pacific picturebooks with the children and recorded their own and the children’s responses to them over a kindergarten term. Thematic analysis of data showed that Pacific picturebooks were significant pedagogical tools for language learning, to support identity, and to contribute to the kindergarten’s emergent and localised curriculum. These findings clearly illustrate what pedagogy looks like when it is entrenched in key documents relevant to early learning in this country.

text: Language learning using Pacific picturebooks in an Aotearoa New Zealand kindergarten Māori and Pacific learners in Aotearoa New Zealand have been identified as ‘priority learners’ by the Ministry of Education. The ‘Pacific picturebook project’ is ongoing research focussed on picturebooks selected to support the languages, cultures, and identities of Pacific learners in keeping with our government, Teaching Council and Ministry of Education expectations. This phase of the research was located in a kindergarten where teachers and children identify as Māori, Pākehā and from several Pacific Island nations. Teachers shared a selection of Pacific picturebooks with the children and recorded their own and the children’s responses to them over a kindergarten term. Thematic analysis of data showed that Pacific picturebooks were significant pedagogical tools for language learning, to support identity, and to contribute to the kindergarten’s emergent and localised curriculum. These findings clearly illustrate what pedagogy looks like when it is entrenched in key documents relevant to early learning in this country.

year: 2024

title: Indigenous Peoples and the Protection of Their Secret Knowledge: A Promising Pathway Ahead

authors: Masoni, Claudia

abstract: This work focuses on the intangible, secret aspects of indigenous peoples’ cultures and how such secret information is protected by indigenous guardians or holders. This is because much of indigenous culture is imbued with spiritual significance for indigenous peoples and, consequently, it is not made available to the rest of the community and the world at large.
This thesis examines the reasons why it is important to preserve indigenous cultures and secret practices that today survive in indigenous communities. The thesis demonstrates that secrecy is seen as essential to the preservation of indigenous secret knowledge. Indigenous guardians are responsible for the preservation of the information, and they commonly use secrecy to preserve the knowledge and, when they share it, they choose limited, confidential circumstances to do so. This work argues that it is important to make reasonable space in the existing body of laws which have so far failed to effectively protect indigenous secret practices and information. The case study described in this thesis helps understand how states are currently trying to listen, understand and accommodate indigenous claims brought forward at the national and international fora. The thesis reviews the legal protection currently available to indigenous secret knowledge in national and international law. The first 6 chapters introduce indigenous cultures, holism and indigenous peoples and international law, and chapter 7 describes the New Zealand case Wai 262 and the recommendations given by the Waitangi Tribunal. The remaining chapters analyse indigenous cultures and intellectual property laws, identifying gaps in the existing mechanisms for protection and underlining why, as of today, intellectual property law does not guarantee adequate protection to indigenous secret knowledge. The last chapter analyses the law of breach of confidence as a possible instrument to safeguard indigenous secret information and the duty of care performed by indigenous guardians in preserving such knowledge. It argues that the existing law of confidentiality can usefully evolve to protect cultural secret information as a growing category in its own right and that indigenous secret information can find protection as confidential information.

text: Indigenous Peoples and the Protection of Their Secret Knowledge: A Promising Pathway Ahead This work focuses on the intangible, secret aspects of indigenous peoples’ cultures and how such secret information is protected by indigenous guardians or holders. This is because much of indigenous culture is imbued with spiritual significance for indigenous peoples and, consequently, it is not made available to the rest of the community and the world at large.
This thesis examines the reasons why it is important to preserve indigenous cultures and secret practices that today survive in indigenous communities. The thesis demonstrates that secrecy is seen as essential to the preservation of indigenous secret knowledge. Indigenous guardians are responsible for the preservation of the information, and they commonly use secrecy to preserve the knowledge and, when they share it, they choose limited, confidential circumstances to do so. This work argues that it is important to make reasonable space in the existing body of laws which have so far failed to effectively protect indigenous secret practices and information. The case study described in this thesis helps understand how states are currently trying to listen, understand and accommodate indigenous claims brought forward at the national and international fora. The thesis reviews the legal protection currently available to indigenous secret knowledge in national and international law. The first 6 chapters introduce indigenous cultures, holism and indigenous peoples and international law, and chapter 7 describes the New Zealand case Wai 262 and the recommendations given by the Waitangi Tribunal. The remaining chapters analyse indigenous cultures and intellectual property laws, identifying gaps in the existing mechanisms for protection and underlining why, as of today, intellectual property law does not guarantee adequate protection to indigenous secret knowledge. The last chapter analyses the law of breach of confidence as a possible instrument to safeguard indigenous secret information and the duty of care performed by indigenous guardians in preserving such knowledge. It argues that the existing law of confidentiality can usefully evolve to protect cultural secret information as a growing category in its own right and that indigenous secret information can find protection as confidential information.

year: 2017