title: Body Tourism in Queered Streets: Geographies of gay pride parades

authors: Johnston, Lynda

subjects: gay pride parades

abstract: This thesis begins with an examination of the construction of knowledge within tourism studies. I argue that tourism studies, like most social sciences, has been built on a mind/body dualism. The mind has been privileged and linked to rationality, heterosexuality and masculinity, while the body has been Othered and associated with irrationality, homosexuality and femininity. I critique tourism studies' literature, specifically hallmark tourism, postmodern tourism, ethnic tourism, sex tourism and gender and tourism, to argue that the body has been denied, desired and Othered by tourism studies' academics. Tourism studies, as academic discourse, tends to produce hegemonic, disembodied and masculinist knowledges.
Against this theoretical backdrop, I examine an explicitly gendered/sexed and sexualised tourist event. I conduct a study of gay pride parades: Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand's HERO Parade and the Sydney, Australia Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. I use qualitative methods of data collection, specifically, participant observations, in-depth and semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, questionnaires and newspapers, photographs, video recordings, television and radio discourses.
There are three points to my discussion. I argue first, that the place of the parade becomes a contested site. Debates over the parade site derive from constructions of 'queer' bodies as deviant, dangerous and abject. Hence, 'gay' bodies become inappropriate bodies to inhabit (public) central business districts. Parade sites in 'gay' (read private) neighbourhoods, however, are perceived as less 'threatening' by city council officials. Second, I argue that rigid borders are maintained at the parade site between the queer bodies on parade (the 'hosts') and the watching, 'heterosexual' tourists. These tourists Other the queer bodies on parade. Heterosexual tourists occupy a dominant, unmarked position which is maintained through discourses of liberalism. Parading bodies which are less visibly 'gay', however, disrupt this unmarked position and trouble the binary between Self /Other, tourist/host, and straight/ gay, and hence explicitly embody tourists. Third, I disrupt binary notions of masculine I feminine bodies in gay pride parades by focusing on the ways marching boys' bodies can be read as 'fluid': both hyper-masculine and feminine.
This study offers an example of new possibilities for tourism studies. Explicit inclusion of gendered/ sexed and sexualised bodies in tourism research problematises the mind/body dualism, thereby subverting the masculinism of tourism discourse.

text: Body Tourism in Queered Streets: Geographies of gay pride parades This thesis begins with an examination of the construction of knowledge within tourism studies. I argue that tourism studies, like most social sciences, has been built on a mind/body dualism. The mind has been privileged and linked to rationality, heterosexuality and masculinity, while the body has been Othered and associated with irrationality, homosexuality and femininity. I critique tourism studies' literature, specifically hallmark tourism, postmodern tourism, ethnic tourism, sex tourism and gender and tourism, to argue that the body has been denied, desired and Othered by tourism studies' academics. Tourism studies, as academic discourse, tends to produce hegemonic, disembodied and masculinist knowledges.
Against this theoretical backdrop, I examine an explicitly gendered/sexed and sexualised tourist event. I conduct a study of gay pride parades: Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand's HERO Parade and the Sydney, Australia Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. I use qualitative methods of data collection, specifically, participant observations, in-depth and semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, questionnaires and newspapers, photographs, video recordings, television and radio discourses.
There are three points to my discussion. I argue first, that the place of the parade becomes a contested site. Debates over the parade site derive from constructions of 'queer' bodies as deviant, dangerous and abject. Hence, 'gay' bodies become inappropriate bodies to inhabit (public) central business districts. Parade sites in 'gay' (read private) neighbourhoods, however, are perceived as less 'threatening' by city council officials. Second, I argue that rigid borders are maintained at the parade site between the queer bodies on parade (the 'hosts') and the watching, 'heterosexual' tourists. These tourists Other the queer bodies on parade. Heterosexual tourists occupy a dominant, unmarked position which is maintained through discourses of liberalism. Parading bodies which are less visibly 'gay', however, disrupt this unmarked position and trouble the binary between Self /Other, tourist/host, and straight/ gay, and hence explicitly embody tourists. Third, I disrupt binary notions of masculine I feminine bodies in gay pride parades by focusing on the ways marching boys' bodies can be read as 'fluid': both hyper-masculine and feminine.
This study offers an example of new possibilities for tourism studies. Explicit inclusion of gendered/ sexed and sexualised bodies in tourism research problematises the mind/body dualism, thereby subverting the masculinism of tourism discourse.

year: 1998

title: Why standardised assessment doesn’t measure up?

authors: Estellés, Marta

abstract: Panel discussion with Dr Marta Estellés, Dr Jade Wrathall, and Lynda Stuart about the moves the Government is making to bring in standardised testing in schools.

The Ministry of Education has issued a tender to purchase a standardised assessment tool for children between Year 3 and 10. We discuss why this policy introduced by stealth is so concerning. Drawing on national and international evidence, we will reflect on the implications of standardised assessment. You will learn why this new policy doesn’t measure up and it is no more than a reboot of National Standards.

text: Why standardised assessment doesn’t measure up? Panel discussion with Dr Marta Estellés, Dr Jade Wrathall, and Lynda Stuart about the moves the Government is making to bring in standardised testing in schools.

The Ministry of Education has issued a tender to purchase a standardised assessment tool for children between Year 3 and 10. We discuss why this policy introduced by stealth is so concerning. Drawing on national and international evidence, we will reflect on the implications of standardised assessment. You will learn why this new policy doesn’t measure up and it is no more than a reboot of National Standards.

year: 2025-05-14

title: Ngā Pakanga mō Wāhi Tapu: Battles over sacred places

authors: Joseph, Robert

abstract: Wāhi tapu are the sacred places of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. All cultures have sacred sites such as cemeteries, significant battlefields, and places of spiritual significance. Standout examples internationally include the ‘Weeping Wall’ in the Holy Land, Stonehenge in Britain, Maraeātea in the Pacific, and Intihuatana at Macchu Picchu in Peru. But unlike these sites, wāhi tapu are rarely a visible structure but rather a site or area within the landscape with values so significant that restrictions are warranted. In law, wāhi tapu are defined as a ‘place of special significance according to tikanga Māori’
 and ‘a place sacred to Māori in the traditional, spiritual, religious, ritual, or mythological sense’.
As the aphorism above emphasises, Māori historically were willing to die for land (and for women of course!), and wāhi tapu are the most sacred of places. Many battles have been fought over actual or proposed transgressions of their sacredness. In earlier years, blood was shed and men did die; today battles tend to occur in the Environment Court, but are just as passionate. Recent decades have seen conflicts where wāhi tapu were threatened by new highways, railroads, airports, prisons, residential and commercial developments, wind farms, power stations and waste dumps.
In this chapter, I discuss a number of the battles that have been fought over the development or preservation of wāhi tapu from first European contact up until the present time. I highlight the growing legal recognition of tikanga Māori in relation to these sacred landscapes, and conclude with a proposed pragmatic solution for all New Zealanders when negotiating developments over wāhi tapu. Having a
background in law and tribal affiliations, I discuss these tensions from both legal and kaupapa Māori perspectives.

text: Ngā Pakanga mō Wāhi Tapu: Battles over sacred places Wāhi tapu are the sacred places of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. All cultures have sacred sites such as cemeteries, significant battlefields, and places of spiritual significance. Standout examples internationally include the ‘Weeping Wall’ in the Holy Land, Stonehenge in Britain, Maraeātea in the Pacific, and Intihuatana at Macchu Picchu in Peru. But unlike these sites, wāhi tapu are rarely a visible structure but rather a site or area within the landscape with values so significant that restrictions are warranted. In law, wāhi tapu are defined as a ‘place of special significance according to tikanga Māori’
 and ‘a place sacred to Māori in the traditional, spiritual, religious, ritual, or mythological sense’.
As the aphorism above emphasises, Māori historically were willing to die for land (and for women of course!), and wāhi tapu are the most sacred of places. Many battles have been fought over actual or proposed transgressions of their sacredness. In earlier years, blood was shed and men did die; today battles tend to occur in the Environment Court, but are just as passionate. Recent decades have seen conflicts where wāhi tapu were threatened by new highways, railroads, airports, prisons, residential and commercial developments, wind farms, power stations and waste dumps.
In this chapter, I discuss a number of the battles that have been fought over the development or preservation of wāhi tapu from first European contact up until the present time. I highlight the growing legal recognition of tikanga Māori in relation to these sacred landscapes, and conclude with a proposed pragmatic solution for all New Zealanders when negotiating developments over wāhi tapu. Having a
background in law and tribal affiliations, I discuss these tensions from both legal and kaupapa Māori perspectives.

year: 2011