title: Backyard activisms: Site dance, permaculture and sustainability

authors: Barbour, Karen

subjects: activism

abstract: Site dance performance offers creative opportunities for social and environmental activism. Conversely, social and environmental activism is becoming increasingly performative in seeking to evocatively engage a wide range of community members in both local and global concerns. The following pages focus on how research poetry arising in the creative process of developing performances of site dance may support activism. Drawing on interdisciplinary understandings of permaculture and sustainability and new approaches in narrative representation, the research poetry expresses backyard activism in a complementary manner to the site dance itself. The poetry synthesizes creative journal entries relating to somatic improvisation and choreography with dancers, and interviews and discussions with relevant community members. In Aotearoa New Zealand and in this wider neo-liberal era, urban residents are moving away from backyard gardening and local seasonal produce, and towards consumption of mass-produced, regulated and imported foods. In this context, community activism through performance may support local and alternative food movements and speak back to dominant, sociocultural and political power systems and norms relating to food production, consumption and sustainability.

text: Backyard activisms: Site dance, permaculture and sustainability Site dance performance offers creative opportunities for social and environmental activism. Conversely, social and environmental activism is becoming increasingly performative in seeking to evocatively engage a wide range of community members in both local and global concerns. The following pages focus on how research poetry arising in the creative process of developing performances of site dance may support activism. Drawing on interdisciplinary understandings of permaculture and sustainability and new approaches in narrative representation, the research poetry expresses backyard activism in a complementary manner to the site dance itself. The poetry synthesizes creative journal entries relating to somatic improvisation and choreography with dancers, and interviews and discussions with relevant community members. In Aotearoa New Zealand and in this wider neo-liberal era, urban residents are moving away from backyard gardening and local seasonal produce, and towards consumption of mass-produced, regulated and imported foods. In this context, community activism through performance may support local and alternative food movements and speak back to dominant, sociocultural and political power systems and norms relating to food production, consumption and sustainability.

year: 2019

title: A trip to the library: homelessness and social inclusion

authors: Hodgetts, Darrin

subjects: homelessness

abstract: This article explores homeless men's visits to a public library. It shows how homeless men identified the library as a space for safety and social participation, at a time when the regional newspaper published an item questioning the appropriateness of their presence in the library. The news report promotes universal narratives that would exclude homeless people, showing the intimate relationship between the symbolic space of news, the material space of the local library, and the lifeworlds of homeless men. We report fieldwork in which we interviewed homeless men, library staff and patrons. In addition, we worked with journalists on follow-up articles foregrounding the positive function of the library in homeless men's lives, and to challenge existing news narratives that advocate the exclusion of 'the homeless' from prime public spaces.

text: A trip to the library: homelessness and social inclusion This article explores homeless men's visits to a public library. It shows how homeless men identified the library as a space for safety and social participation, at a time when the regional newspaper published an item questioning the appropriateness of their presence in the library. The news report promotes universal narratives that would exclude homeless people, showing the intimate relationship between the symbolic space of news, the material space of the local library, and the lifeworlds of homeless men. We report fieldwork in which we interviewed homeless men, library staff and patrons. In addition, we worked with journalists on follow-up articles foregrounding the positive function of the library in homeless men's lives, and to challenge existing news narratives that advocate the exclusion of 'the homeless' from prime public spaces.

year: 2008

title: Developing a kaupapa Māori evaluation model – one size fits all?

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

subjects: Maori health

abstract: Health statistics in Aotearoa (New Zealand) highlight that Māori, the indigenous people Aotearoa have poorer health than non- Māori. In response to the statistics a number of Māori health providers have established services that address specific areas of need in their regions. Initially there were minimal accountability requirements of providers. However, changes in the health system now mean that groups wanting to establish a new service must provide accountability measures before, during and after the funding has been allocated. As a result providers need to develop a rationale behind their decisions and assess the measure of change that has taken place as a result of the service or programme to ensure continued funding. The requirements reflect the dominant Western paradigm in which health promotion is understood to be about producing specific quantifiable behaviour changes in individuals. Māori health providers on the other hand have tended to take a holistic approach to health. Thus they have found themselves in the position of trying to show change within a paradigm where measurements are not easily taken. This has created frustration amongst Māori providers who face losing their funding because of an inability to report measurable outcomes using a framework that does not apply to their culture.

text: Developing a kaupapa Māori evaluation model – one size fits all? Health statistics in Aotearoa (New Zealand) highlight that Māori, the indigenous people Aotearoa have poorer health than non- Māori. In response to the statistics a number of Māori health providers have established services that address specific areas of need in their regions. Initially there were minimal accountability requirements of providers. However, changes in the health system now mean that groups wanting to establish a new service must provide accountability measures before, during and after the funding has been allocated. As a result providers need to develop a rationale behind their decisions and assess the measure of change that has taken place as a result of the service or programme to ensure continued funding. The requirements reflect the dominant Western paradigm in which health promotion is understood to be about producing specific quantifiable behaviour changes in individuals. Māori health providers on the other hand have tended to take a holistic approach to health. Thus they have found themselves in the position of trying to show change within a paradigm where measurements are not easily taken. This has created frustration amongst Māori providers who face losing their funding because of an inability to report measurable outcomes using a framework that does not apply to their culture.

year: 2002