title: The DiY ['Do it yourself'] Ethos: A participatory culture of material engagement

authors: Snake-Beings, Emit

subjects: Material agency

abstract: Do it Yourself (DiY) is a participatory culture which exemplifies a particular ethos in its approach to technology and materials. Rather than engage with ‘complete’ technologies, such as a technology supplied as ready-to-go item, the DiY practitioners examined in this thesis engage with the raw materials of garbage and recycling, ‘incomplete’, broken and discarded technologies. In this type of DiY practice the emphasis is towards creating individualised and custom-built forms of technology: often made from components and materials which have been re-functioned from their original intention to produce new and unexpected functionalities; practices which disrupt the dominant discourses of technology. This thesis involves a situated application of theory to DiY practices in the field: focusing on three case studies featuring New Zealand-based DiY sound practitioners and their embracing of functional ‘errors’ as a means of increasing the participatory potential of materials.
My initial argument is, that the social perspectives and ‘human-biased’ view examined in current literature on DiY culture, depicts an attitude towards power and knowledge which obscures the recognition of material agency. In this thesis, ‘power’ is defined within a social constructivist, or as a ‘human-biased’ view, whereas ‘agency’, as the ability to make something happen, is more expansive and incorporates the capacities of materials to become active participants in the production of cultural artefacts. Through engaging with the work of contemporary theorists relevant to material agency (including Karen Barad, Jane Bennett, Levi R. Bryant, Susan Kelly, Lambros Malafouris and Bruno Latour), the limitations of the ‘human-biased’ view of DiY culture are highlighted and the emphasis is shifted from DiY participatory culture as a social phenomenon towards the idea of ‘extended agency’: agency which includes both human and material actants within the entangled assemblages of DiY practices and the material environment.
When extended agency is applied in the three case studies, the initial question asked is: ‘How does the intra-action of human and material environment influence the processes of DiY practices and what specific strategies are used to increase the participatory potential of materials?’. 
In this sense, DiY culture challenges the way we see ‘power’ and ‘structure’ as being exclusively human traits, influencing our way of relating to the material environment and creating consequences and considerations which extend from the localised DiY practices examined in this thesis. The suggestion is that the extended agency of DiY culture represents a timely re-evaluation of the relationship between the human and the material environment, challenging prevalent discourses which place the human at the centre of power and knowledge.

text: The DiY ['Do it yourself'] Ethos: A participatory culture of material engagement Do it Yourself (DiY) is a participatory culture which exemplifies a particular ethos in its approach to technology and materials. Rather than engage with ‘complete’ technologies, such as a technology supplied as ready-to-go item, the DiY practitioners examined in this thesis engage with the raw materials of garbage and recycling, ‘incomplete’, broken and discarded technologies. In this type of DiY practice the emphasis is towards creating individualised and custom-built forms of technology: often made from components and materials which have been re-functioned from their original intention to produce new and unexpected functionalities; practices which disrupt the dominant discourses of technology. This thesis involves a situated application of theory to DiY practices in the field: focusing on three case studies featuring New Zealand-based DiY sound practitioners and their embracing of functional ‘errors’ as a means of increasing the participatory potential of materials.
My initial argument is, that the social perspectives and ‘human-biased’ view examined in current literature on DiY culture, depicts an attitude towards power and knowledge which obscures the recognition of material agency. In this thesis, ‘power’ is defined within a social constructivist, or as a ‘human-biased’ view, whereas ‘agency’, as the ability to make something happen, is more expansive and incorporates the capacities of materials to become active participants in the production of cultural artefacts. Through engaging with the work of contemporary theorists relevant to material agency (including Karen Barad, Jane Bennett, Levi R. Bryant, Susan Kelly, Lambros Malafouris and Bruno Latour), the limitations of the ‘human-biased’ view of DiY culture are highlighted and the emphasis is shifted from DiY participatory culture as a social phenomenon towards the idea of ‘extended agency’: agency which includes both human and material actants within the entangled assemblages of DiY practices and the material environment.
When extended agency is applied in the three case studies, the initial question asked is: ‘How does the intra-action of human and material environment influence the processes of DiY practices and what specific strategies are used to increase the participatory potential of materials?’. 
In this sense, DiY culture challenges the way we see ‘power’ and ‘structure’ as being exclusively human traits, influencing our way of relating to the material environment and creating consequences and considerations which extend from the localised DiY practices examined in this thesis. The suggestion is that the extended agency of DiY culture represents a timely re-evaluation of the relationship between the human and the material environment, challenging prevalent discourses which place the human at the centre of power and knowledge.

year: 2016

title: Kasaysayan at mga salaysay: A bibliography of research with Asian communities in Aotearoa (2000-2024)

authors: Aquino, Paolo

subjects: Asian

abstract: In 2022, the Director of Asian Family Services commented, “Again, nothing about us”, after failing to lobby for the consideration of Asian needs in health structure reform. This exclusionary sentiment is not confined to the health sector but is also prevalent in public sectors and academia in Aotearoa New Zealand. The number of Asians employed as academic staff in tertiary education sectors falls behind the Asian general population estimates. The lack of equity-based funding for Asians is also evident in research sectors. The specific challenges that Asian researchers face in academia are rarely identified, discussed, or addressed through university policies that supposedly endorse diversity, equality, and inclusion. Try flipping through a university strategic document, and you will not be surprised to see no mention of “Asians”. Asians are caught in an awkward situation where they are occasionally showcased to fulfill the “diversity” quota but are otherwise largely invisible.

The bibliography is a wero (challenge) to the invisibility of Asians in research. It is a collection of pivotal contributions made by researchers advancing knowledge for Asian communities. This body of evidence demonstrated our resistance to model minority expectations and assimilationist pressures by continuing to draw on Asian philosophies and epistemologies, engaging with Asian communities, and writing about the subjective experiences of “Asians” as we defy being generalised under the “one New Zealand” narrative. It also constitutes a response to the call for compiling existing Asian research into a bibliography (Tasker & D’Silva, forthcoming), which will serve as an academic reference for researchers and others to identify research gaps.

text: Kasaysayan at mga salaysay: A bibliography of research with Asian communities in Aotearoa (2000-2024) In 2022, the Director of Asian Family Services commented, “Again, nothing about us”, after failing to lobby for the consideration of Asian needs in health structure reform. This exclusionary sentiment is not confined to the health sector but is also prevalent in public sectors and academia in Aotearoa New Zealand. The number of Asians employed as academic staff in tertiary education sectors falls behind the Asian general population estimates. The lack of equity-based funding for Asians is also evident in research sectors. The specific challenges that Asian researchers face in academia are rarely identified, discussed, or addressed through university policies that supposedly endorse diversity, equality, and inclusion. Try flipping through a university strategic document, and you will not be surprised to see no mention of “Asians”. Asians are caught in an awkward situation where they are occasionally showcased to fulfill the “diversity” quota but are otherwise largely invisible.

The bibliography is a wero (challenge) to the invisibility of Asians in research. It is a collection of pivotal contributions made by researchers advancing knowledge for Asian communities. This body of evidence demonstrated our resistance to model minority expectations and assimilationist pressures by continuing to draw on Asian philosophies and epistemologies, engaging with Asian communities, and writing about the subjective experiences of “Asians” as we defy being generalised under the “one New Zealand” narrative. It also constitutes a response to the call for compiling existing Asian research into a bibliography (Tasker & D’Silva, forthcoming), which will serve as an academic reference for researchers and others to identify research gaps.

year: 2025-02-07

title: The baskets of knowledge: A curriculum for an indigenous psychology

authors: Waitoki, Waikaremoana

abstract: Through the chapters in this book we have walked alongside Ripeka and her whānau. We have taken a journey into potentiality; that of Ripeka’s as well as our own. Our introduction to this book asked what would happen when we witnessed Ripeka through our eyes as a Māori psychologist, when diverse and multi-layered cultural contexts form our starting point. What would happen when we understood the interconnectedness of whakapapa, and tikanga to Ripeka’s past, present and future and how they could be used to guide pathways forward? We asked what would happen when we viewed Ripeka and her whānau through a lens of unrelenting hope and unrealised potential. If all those things happened, what value are we able to add as Māori psychologists to Ripeka’s life, and to that of her whānau?

text: The baskets of knowledge: A curriculum for an indigenous psychology Through the chapters in this book we have walked alongside Ripeka and her whānau. We have taken a journey into potentiality; that of Ripeka’s as well as our own. Our introduction to this book asked what would happen when we witnessed Ripeka through our eyes as a Māori psychologist, when diverse and multi-layered cultural contexts form our starting point. What would happen when we understood the interconnectedness of whakapapa, and tikanga to Ripeka’s past, present and future and how they could be used to guide pathways forward? We asked what would happen when we viewed Ripeka and her whānau through a lens of unrelenting hope and unrealised potential. If all those things happened, what value are we able to add as Māori psychologists to Ripeka’s life, and to that of her whānau?

year: 2016