title: The postcolonial lesbian text: readings of four novels by Renée

authors: Sayer, Susan

abstract: This thesis addresses the question: “How might a text, written in a signifying relationship to the postcolonial nation Aotearoa New Zealand, be read as a lesbian text?” Part One addresses the possibility of the reading postcolonial lesbian text in four novels by Renée. It begins with an overview of humanist and poststructuralist reading and writing strategies which are contested within a contemporary Western lesbian literary field. At an intersection of poststructuralist and postcolonial debates I identify the potential for a queer reading strategy to disrupt lesbian humanist discourses by bringing the term lesbian into a textual relationship with the categories of (at least) sex, gender, sexuality, race and class. 

Also in Part One, I locate the four novels by Renée in the context of a New Zealand lesbian literature which is not widely recognised. I demonstrate how the hostile reception of four novels by Renée has been characterised by a colonialist discourse which manifests as the vestiges of a colonialist literary aesthetic operating in a contemporary culture sphere. Part One also outlines the strategy I have developed for reading the four novels by Renée. This strategy was originally formulated by Roland Barthes for rereading the classic text. The classic textual model is located within a Western humanist system of representation, the cornerstone of which is the Western humanist subject. Firstly, I adapt Barthes’s strategy to a rereading of three short colonialist texts, texts which promote a relationship of agreement with the reader as to the cultural and symbolic authority of the British Empire. This rereading strategy makes it possible to read the privileged Western humanist subject as always and already sexed-gendered-sexualised-classed-raced variously male-masculine-hetero-bourgeoisie-white. Barthes also offers a strategy for reading the writerly text. In contrast with the classic text, the writerly text positions the reader as a producer rather than as a consumer of the text.

Secondly, in Part Two I demonstrate how a queer reading strategy can be productively applied to texts written in signifying relationships to a postcolonial context. In my reading of the four novels by Renée I demonstrate how each is characterised by a writerly approach to the constitution of colonialist subjectivities, these writerly texts being unlike classic colonialist texts in that they foreground the traces of cultural and symbolic inscription in colonialist discourses. I demonstrate, for example, how in the writerly text of each of the four novels the British Empire is connotatively signified in relation to family, home and nation in colonialist discourses. In each of the four novels, lesbian and other queer subjectivities are also discursively reconstituted in signifying relationships to colonialist texts of family, home, nation and empire. I demonstrate how, in relation to signifying imperatives of colonialist discourses, the novels are characterised by a postcolonial textuality which manifests the symbolic and cultural authority of the British Empire. It is my thesis that the four novels by Renée are writerly texts which foreground the traces of an earlier British textual imperialism operating in the postcolonial nation Aotearoa New Zealand. My queer reading of four novels by Renée also makes manifest the postcolonial lesbian text.

text: The postcolonial lesbian text: readings of four novels by Renée This thesis addresses the question: “How might a text, written in a signifying relationship to the postcolonial nation Aotearoa New Zealand, be read as a lesbian text?” Part One addresses the possibility of the reading postcolonial lesbian text in four novels by Renée. It begins with an overview of humanist and poststructuralist reading and writing strategies which are contested within a contemporary Western lesbian literary field. At an intersection of poststructuralist and postcolonial debates I identify the potential for a queer reading strategy to disrupt lesbian humanist discourses by bringing the term lesbian into a textual relationship with the categories of (at least) sex, gender, sexuality, race and class. 

Also in Part One, I locate the four novels by Renée in the context of a New Zealand lesbian literature which is not widely recognised. I demonstrate how the hostile reception of four novels by Renée has been characterised by a colonialist discourse which manifests as the vestiges of a colonialist literary aesthetic operating in a contemporary culture sphere. Part One also outlines the strategy I have developed for reading the four novels by Renée. This strategy was originally formulated by Roland Barthes for rereading the classic text. The classic textual model is located within a Western humanist system of representation, the cornerstone of which is the Western humanist subject. Firstly, I adapt Barthes’s strategy to a rereading of three short colonialist texts, texts which promote a relationship of agreement with the reader as to the cultural and symbolic authority of the British Empire. This rereading strategy makes it possible to read the privileged Western humanist subject as always and already sexed-gendered-sexualised-classed-raced variously male-masculine-hetero-bourgeoisie-white. Barthes also offers a strategy for reading the writerly text. In contrast with the classic text, the writerly text positions the reader as a producer rather than as a consumer of the text.

Secondly, in Part Two I demonstrate how a queer reading strategy can be productively applied to texts written in signifying relationships to a postcolonial context. In my reading of the four novels by Renée I demonstrate how each is characterised by a writerly approach to the constitution of colonialist subjectivities, these writerly texts being unlike classic colonialist texts in that they foreground the traces of cultural and symbolic inscription in colonialist discourses. I demonstrate, for example, how in the writerly text of each of the four novels the British Empire is connotatively signified in relation to family, home and nation in colonialist discourses. In each of the four novels, lesbian and other queer subjectivities are also discursively reconstituted in signifying relationships to colonialist texts of family, home, nation and empire. I demonstrate how, in relation to signifying imperatives of colonialist discourses, the novels are characterised by a postcolonial textuality which manifests the symbolic and cultural authority of the British Empire. It is my thesis that the four novels by Renée are writerly texts which foreground the traces of an earlier British textual imperialism operating in the postcolonial nation Aotearoa New Zealand. My queer reading of four novels by Renée also makes manifest the postcolonial lesbian text.

year: 1998

title: Taxonomic, biological, population dynamics and behavioural studies on sod webworms (Lepidoptera : pyralidae: crambinae and scopariinae) of some Waikato (New Zealand) hill country pastures

authors: Cowley, Jocelyn Marie

abstract: New Zealand has a rich fauna of sod webworms (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Crambinae and Scopariinae) which have been implicated in sporadic outbreaks of pasture damage. This study investigates sod webworms of south facing hill country slopes of some Waikato pastures. Four aspects are considered: taxonomy of the species present; some features of their biology; population dynamics of Eudonia sabulosella (Walker) (the most common species); and adult behaviour, especially flight.

Taxonomy is detailed for male and female adults (with accompanying genitalia figures) and for eggs, larvae and pupae where available. Nine species are involved: Orocrambus flexuosellus (Doubleday), and O. vitellus (Doubleday) (Crambinae); Eudonia psammitis (Meyrick), E. sabulosella (Walker), “Scoparia” bisinualis Hudson, “S”. Diphtheralis Walker, “S”. halopis Meyrick, “S”. philerga Meyrick and “S”. submariginalis (Walker).

A summary of meteorological data including soil moisture content, soil temperature, air temperature, relative humidity and rainfall is given for the main study sites. 

Life cycles and generation times with information on the duration of adult seasons are presented for each species. Habitats of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults are defined and selection of oviposition sites by female Eudonia sabulosella is investigated. Studies are made on food types, larval growth rates and adult reproductive maturity. Longevity of adults, mating frequencies and female fecundity (taken as the number of eggs found in dissected field collected females) are measured. Egg fertility and viability as well as egg incubation times are investigated.

Life tables are presented for Eudonia sabulosella on hill country pasture. Key factor analysis is undertaken to identify major mortality factors. Parasitism by Aucklandella geiri (Ichneumonidae) and arthropod and avian predation on sod webworm larvae are studied. Pathogen infection of E. sabulosella by nematodes (some of which were Steinernema bibionis Wouts et al.) and a neogregarine protozoan (Mattesia sp.) is investigated. Effects of the protozoan on host size (body weight and length) and female fecundity are measured. Median lethal doses of pathogen are presented for larvae and pupae. Methods of protozoan transmission are discussed. 

Adult flight activity is interpreted in relation to air temperature, humidity, rainfall, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, cloud cover, lunar cycle, reproductive state of the adult, time of day, species and sex. Susceptible pastures are indicated. An understanding of some of the factors affecting the sporadic (temporal and spatial) occurrence of sod webworm infestations has been gained.

text: Taxonomic, biological, population dynamics and behavioural studies on sod webworms (Lepidoptera : pyralidae: crambinae and scopariinae) of some Waikato (New Zealand) hill country pastures New Zealand has a rich fauna of sod webworms (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Crambinae and Scopariinae) which have been implicated in sporadic outbreaks of pasture damage. This study investigates sod webworms of south facing hill country slopes of some Waikato pastures. Four aspects are considered: taxonomy of the species present; some features of their biology; population dynamics of Eudonia sabulosella (Walker) (the most common species); and adult behaviour, especially flight.

Taxonomy is detailed for male and female adults (with accompanying genitalia figures) and for eggs, larvae and pupae where available. Nine species are involved: Orocrambus flexuosellus (Doubleday), and O. vitellus (Doubleday) (Crambinae); Eudonia psammitis (Meyrick), E. sabulosella (Walker), “Scoparia” bisinualis Hudson, “S”. Diphtheralis Walker, “S”. halopis Meyrick, “S”. philerga Meyrick and “S”. submariginalis (Walker).

A summary of meteorological data including soil moisture content, soil temperature, air temperature, relative humidity and rainfall is given for the main study sites. 

Life cycles and generation times with information on the duration of adult seasons are presented for each species. Habitats of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults are defined and selection of oviposition sites by female Eudonia sabulosella is investigated. Studies are made on food types, larval growth rates and adult reproductive maturity. Longevity of adults, mating frequencies and female fecundity (taken as the number of eggs found in dissected field collected females) are measured. Egg fertility and viability as well as egg incubation times are investigated.

Life tables are presented for Eudonia sabulosella on hill country pasture. Key factor analysis is undertaken to identify major mortality factors. Parasitism by Aucklandella geiri (Ichneumonidae) and arthropod and avian predation on sod webworm larvae are studied. Pathogen infection of E. sabulosella by nematodes (some of which were Steinernema bibionis Wouts et al.) and a neogregarine protozoan (Mattesia sp.) is investigated. Effects of the protozoan on host size (body weight and length) and female fecundity are measured. Median lethal doses of pathogen are presented for larvae and pupae. Methods of protozoan transmission are discussed. 

Adult flight activity is interpreted in relation to air temperature, humidity, rainfall, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, cloud cover, lunar cycle, reproductive state of the adult, time of day, species and sex. Susceptible pastures are indicated. An understanding of some of the factors affecting the sporadic (temporal and spatial) occurrence of sod webworm infestations has been gained.

year: 1982

title: Using the stars to indigenize the public sphere: Matariki over New Zealand

authors: Hardy, Anna

subjects: Arts & Humanities

abstract: As the rate of affiliation to Christian identity continues to decline in Aotearoa New Zealand (only 49 percent of the population said they were Christian in the last census), public space has become more receptive to other forms of religiosity. In particular, community rituals around the winter movements of the Matariki (Pleiades) constellation have gained support since the year 2000. For instance, the capital city, Wellington, has replaced a centuries’ old British fireworks festival, Guy Fawkes, with an enlarged version of its Matariki celebrations: an action seen as a tipping point in the incorporation of Māori spiritual values into public life. Interactions between European colonisers and Māori have been characterised for more than 250 years by tensions between the relational thinking of Māori who see human beings as both participating in and constrained by an environment resonant with divine energies, and the quantitative, hierarchical, ‘Great Chain of Being’ model that had long been dominant among Europeans. Now, when the natural environment worldwide is under strain from population and economic pressures, it seems to some both appropriate and vital to look to epistemological and spiritual models that are intimately responsive to the specificities of location.

text: Using the stars to indigenize the public sphere: Matariki over New Zealand As the rate of affiliation to Christian identity continues to decline in Aotearoa New Zealand (only 49 percent of the population said they were Christian in the last census), public space has become more receptive to other forms of religiosity. In particular, community rituals around the winter movements of the Matariki (Pleiades) constellation have gained support since the year 2000. For instance, the capital city, Wellington, has replaced a centuries’ old British fireworks festival, Guy Fawkes, with an enlarged version of its Matariki celebrations: an action seen as a tipping point in the incorporation of Māori spiritual values into public life. Interactions between European colonisers and Māori have been characterised for more than 250 years by tensions between the relational thinking of Māori who see human beings as both participating in and constrained by an environment resonant with divine energies, and the quantitative, hierarchical, ‘Great Chain of Being’ model that had long been dominant among Europeans. Now, when the natural environment worldwide is under strain from population and economic pressures, it seems to some both appropriate and vital to look to epistemological and spiritual models that are intimately responsive to the specificities of location.

year: 2019