title: A Sea of Voices: Deep sea mining and the Solwara 1 Project in Papua New Guinea

authors: Phillips, Hayley

subjects: Anthropology

abstract: Deep sea mining is a new and increasingly important part of the capitalist exploitation of the world’s oceans. Situated off the coast of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, Solwara 1 is expected to become the world’s first deep sea mining project. Developments in late 2018, however, suggest that the project might not go ahead. If Solwara 1 does proceed, it shall occur in a country with a long history of mining developments that have produced widespread social and environmental harm. The aim of this thesis is to critically analyse the discursive articulations of four key stakeholder groups: the mining company, the government, local communities and the fourth estate, the latter taken to include NGOs, the scientific community, as well as media. In order to discover how each of these groups portrays and reacts to the Solwara 1 project, this thesis will examine bureaucratic artefacts, such as reports, media releases and social media. It is evident that each party has constructed its own unique discourse regarding the project and its interrelationship with the surrounding communities and marine environment. The mining company claim that local people do not have a tangible or intangible relationship to the sea, which is also echoed by the national government, who are shareholders in Solwara 1. Local communities dispute this however, and argue they are deeply connected to the sea. The fourth estate are primarily concerned with the environmental impacts that deep sea mining may cause. Ultimately, this ‘sea of voices’ presents a situation whereby each stakeholder ultimately constructs a discourse that best serves and advances their own interests, and does so on a highly uneven playing field.

text: A Sea of Voices: Deep sea mining and the Solwara 1 Project in Papua New Guinea Deep sea mining is a new and increasingly important part of the capitalist exploitation of the world’s oceans. Situated off the coast of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, Solwara 1 is expected to become the world’s first deep sea mining project. Developments in late 2018, however, suggest that the project might not go ahead. If Solwara 1 does proceed, it shall occur in a country with a long history of mining developments that have produced widespread social and environmental harm. The aim of this thesis is to critically analyse the discursive articulations of four key stakeholder groups: the mining company, the government, local communities and the fourth estate, the latter taken to include NGOs, the scientific community, as well as media. In order to discover how each of these groups portrays and reacts to the Solwara 1 project, this thesis will examine bureaucratic artefacts, such as reports, media releases and social media. It is evident that each party has constructed its own unique discourse regarding the project and its interrelationship with the surrounding communities and marine environment. The mining company claim that local people do not have a tangible or intangible relationship to the sea, which is also echoed by the national government, who are shareholders in Solwara 1. Local communities dispute this however, and argue they are deeply connected to the sea. The fourth estate are primarily concerned with the environmental impacts that deep sea mining may cause. Ultimately, this ‘sea of voices’ presents a situation whereby each stakeholder ultimately constructs a discourse that best serves and advances their own interests, and does so on a highly uneven playing field.

year: 2019

title: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Should Pacific and Pacific Rim countries get on board the bandwagon?

authors: Crombie, Winifred

subjects: Europe

abstract: For many bureaucrats, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has an almost irresistible appeal. All that users have to do, apparently, is read its approximately 200 pages (plus appendices) and they will “find ... all [they] need to describe [their] objectives, methods and products” (Council of Europe (CoE), p. xii). Having done that, they will be in a position to “overcome the barriers to communication . . . arising from . . . different educational systems” and “facilitate . . . mobility through . . . mutual recognition of qualifications” (p. 1). The CEFR has some very influential advocates, both within and outside of Europe. Investment in it is extensive in some areas of the world. It emerges out of an organisation whose ethical credentials are beyond question, one that has been responsible for some interesting innovations in the area of language education. In such a context, it is not surprising that many countries outside of Europe, including Pacific and Pacific Rim countries, are developing an interest in it. On the basis of a close reading of the CEFR, this article concludes that it has considerably less to offer than it claims and, therefore, advises language educators in Pacific and Pacific Rim countries, particularly those involved in the teaching of indigenous languages, to be extremely cautious about adopting the approaches it recommends too readily.

text: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Should Pacific and Pacific Rim countries get on board the bandwagon? For many bureaucrats, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has an almost irresistible appeal. All that users have to do, apparently, is read its approximately 200 pages (plus appendices) and they will “find ... all [they] need to describe [their] objectives, methods and products” (Council of Europe (CoE), p. xii). Having done that, they will be in a position to “overcome the barriers to communication . . . arising from . . . different educational systems” and “facilitate . . . mobility through . . . mutual recognition of qualifications” (p. 1). The CEFR has some very influential advocates, both within and outside of Europe. Investment in it is extensive in some areas of the world. It emerges out of an organisation whose ethical credentials are beyond question, one that has been responsible for some interesting innovations in the area of language education. In such a context, it is not surprising that many countries outside of Europe, including Pacific and Pacific Rim countries, are developing an interest in it. On the basis of a close reading of the CEFR, this article concludes that it has considerably less to offer than it claims and, therefore, advises language educators in Pacific and Pacific Rim countries, particularly those involved in the teaching of indigenous languages, to be extremely cautious about adopting the approaches it recommends too readily.

year: 2010-02

title: Echoed silencing in Te Whare/Tangata

authors: Lewis, Cassandra Louise Terauhina

subjects: Mana Wāhine

abstract: Wāhine Māori voices are suppressed due to multiple intersecting factors in Aotearoa which negatively impact our lived realities. The aim of this thesis is to foreground wāhine voice and identity within a settler colonial housing system. The current ‘housing crisis’ has been an issue of interest in academia focusing on housing insecurity, homelessness and neoliberalism. Additionally, the criminalisation of Māori has been explored by scholars to a similar extent, especially the pipelining of Māori into incarceration and precarity through policing and surveillance strategies. However, how the criminal justice system and the housing systems interact is scarcely investigated in Aotearoa, and moreover, has not been examined through a Mana wāhine theoretical framework. Mana Wāhine scholars have long critiqued colonisation and the accompanying practices, ideologies and discourses of difference that misrepresent wāhine as the ‘savage other’. How wāhine Māori are constructed through political discourse and factors leading to the silencing of wāhine are at the forefront of this inquiry and moreover, wāhine resistance, survival and aspirations while navigating a discriminatory housing system is examined.

Political and Western discourse contributes to the criminalisation and deficit framing of wāhine as the ‘undeserving poor’ and ‘criminal other’ which subsequently silences wāhine and encourages discriminatory practices. This thesis contends that the channelling of wāhine Māori into a precarious population, the criminalisation of wāhine Māori, and the colonial discourses surrounding wāhine interact together and create barriers to wāhine Māori access to housing. An analysis of housing discourse, alongside wāhine perspectives provides a counter-narrative of the lived reality and voice from wāhine who reside in a predominantly precarious and Māori populated area. The findings show cases of surveillance, discrimination, social policing and steering wāhine Māori into unhealthy living conditions, however, wāhine were also creative in their practices of resistance and survivance.

text: Echoed silencing in Te Whare/Tangata Wāhine Māori voices are suppressed due to multiple intersecting factors in Aotearoa which negatively impact our lived realities. The aim of this thesis is to foreground wāhine voice and identity within a settler colonial housing system. The current ‘housing crisis’ has been an issue of interest in academia focusing on housing insecurity, homelessness and neoliberalism. Additionally, the criminalisation of Māori has been explored by scholars to a similar extent, especially the pipelining of Māori into incarceration and precarity through policing and surveillance strategies. However, how the criminal justice system and the housing systems interact is scarcely investigated in Aotearoa, and moreover, has not been examined through a Mana wāhine theoretical framework. Mana Wāhine scholars have long critiqued colonisation and the accompanying practices, ideologies and discourses of difference that misrepresent wāhine as the ‘savage other’. How wāhine Māori are constructed through political discourse and factors leading to the silencing of wāhine are at the forefront of this inquiry and moreover, wāhine resistance, survival and aspirations while navigating a discriminatory housing system is examined.

Political and Western discourse contributes to the criminalisation and deficit framing of wāhine as the ‘undeserving poor’ and ‘criminal other’ which subsequently silences wāhine and encourages discriminatory practices. This thesis contends that the channelling of wāhine Māori into a precarious population, the criminalisation of wāhine Māori, and the colonial discourses surrounding wāhine interact together and create barriers to wāhine Māori access to housing. An analysis of housing discourse, alongside wāhine perspectives provides a counter-narrative of the lived reality and voice from wāhine who reside in a predominantly precarious and Māori populated area. The findings show cases of surveillance, discrimination, social policing and steering wāhine Māori into unhealthy living conditions, however, wāhine were also creative in their practices of resistance and survivance.

year: 2021