title: Garden Place: Who Belongs Here? Individuals' Attitude Towards Hamilton's Homeless Population

authors: Barrow, Shevon Fern Crystal

subjects: homelessness

abstract: Like many other countries, it was during the 1980s that homelessness emerged as a social problem in New Zealand. It first became a prominent issue in cities like Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. However, in later years surveys and census readings indicated that the homeless population increased in many other cities throughout New Zealand - including Hamilton. As years passed, the number of homeless individuals increased in Hamilton, along with their tendency to congregate within the Central Business District - specifically in the popular town square known as Garden Place. Subsequently news articles emerged highlighting the congregation of the homeless in Garden Place. Media portrayals labelled these homeless men and women as a ‘problem’ for businesses and city users’ alike. As a result many expressed a need for a solution to the homeless who congregate within Garden Place. Garden Place was thus chosen as the prime area of study within this research. In addition, although conscious of the potential emergence of the contestation of this public space, and irrespective of media portrayals, this study was developed to further examine the expressed (through interviews) and observed attitudes that individuals have towards Hamilton’s homeless in Garden Place, and to gain an understanding of why individuals held such views. It is proposed that an important barrier to resolving or dealing with the issue of homelessness is our attitudes towards homeless individuals. These perceptions and attitudes are important because they determine the way we think about social problems and the solutions we offer to solve them. To gain an understanding, and tap into the emotional and textual aspects of responses on how individuals perceived this particular issue, the qualitative approach was chosen for this research. Participant observation of Garden Place, and semi-structured interviews with approximately twenty willing pedestrians and four business managers within Garden Place were also conducted. As a result, findings showed that participant responses conveyed more negative attitudes towards the congregation of the homeless in Garden Place, as compared to positive attitudes. Such attitudes were based on the construction of homeless people as non-deserving of the right to this public space because they either do not ‘fit’ into the normal activities for which this space is intended or they do not live up to the imagined depictions of such spaces. In addition, solutions offered suggested that the homeless be ‘moved along’, out of Garden Place, which favoured what to do about the homeless rather than what to do for them. Therefore this research also aims to offer additional approaches to addressing this issue of homelessness within Garden Place, which can be implemented and achieved with a more positive stance on the issue.

text: Garden Place: Who Belongs Here? Individuals' Attitude Towards Hamilton's Homeless Population Like many other countries, it was during the 1980s that homelessness emerged as a social problem in New Zealand. It first became a prominent issue in cities like Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. However, in later years surveys and census readings indicated that the homeless population increased in many other cities throughout New Zealand - including Hamilton. As years passed, the number of homeless individuals increased in Hamilton, along with their tendency to congregate within the Central Business District - specifically in the popular town square known as Garden Place. Subsequently news articles emerged highlighting the congregation of the homeless in Garden Place. Media portrayals labelled these homeless men and women as a ‘problem’ for businesses and city users’ alike. As a result many expressed a need for a solution to the homeless who congregate within Garden Place. Garden Place was thus chosen as the prime area of study within this research. In addition, although conscious of the potential emergence of the contestation of this public space, and irrespective of media portrayals, this study was developed to further examine the expressed (through interviews) and observed attitudes that individuals have towards Hamilton’s homeless in Garden Place, and to gain an understanding of why individuals held such views. It is proposed that an important barrier to resolving or dealing with the issue of homelessness is our attitudes towards homeless individuals. These perceptions and attitudes are important because they determine the way we think about social problems and the solutions we offer to solve them. To gain an understanding, and tap into the emotional and textual aspects of responses on how individuals perceived this particular issue, the qualitative approach was chosen for this research. Participant observation of Garden Place, and semi-structured interviews with approximately twenty willing pedestrians and four business managers within Garden Place were also conducted. As a result, findings showed that participant responses conveyed more negative attitudes towards the congregation of the homeless in Garden Place, as compared to positive attitudes. Such attitudes were based on the construction of homeless people as non-deserving of the right to this public space because they either do not ‘fit’ into the normal activities for which this space is intended or they do not live up to the imagined depictions of such spaces. In addition, solutions offered suggested that the homeless be ‘moved along’, out of Garden Place, which favoured what to do about the homeless rather than what to do for them. Therefore this research also aims to offer additional approaches to addressing this issue of homelessness within Garden Place, which can be implemented and achieved with a more positive stance on the issue.

year: 2015

title: Mapping and cartography futures in secondary geography

authors: Chalmers, Lex

subjects: geography

abstract: In an era of change such as that induced by the NCEA, questions about the role and relevance of traditional skills tend to be overlooked. In my opinion, an important component in our `bank of skills' Ministry of Education, 1990, 17; New Zealand Geographical Society, 1992, 10-11 are threatened by institutional sidelining and lack of awareness of the potential for their technological resuscitation. With reference to skills, the use of prepared maps and map construction cartography are fundamental geographic skills. Having asserted this, I also want to make it clear that, in my view, these skills should be as broadly applied as possible.

text: Mapping and cartography futures in secondary geography In an era of change such as that induced by the NCEA, questions about the role and relevance of traditional skills tend to be overlooked. In my opinion, an important component in our `bank of skills' Ministry of Education, 1990, 17; New Zealand Geographical Society, 1992, 10-11 are threatened by institutional sidelining and lack of awareness of the potential for their technological resuscitation. With reference to skills, the use of prepared maps and map construction cartography are fundamental geographic skills. Having asserted this, I also want to make it clear that, in my view, these skills should be as broadly applied as possible.

year: 2002

title: Understanding the use of Māori and English in dual language picturebooks through a sociolinguistic lens

authors: Daly, Nicola

abstract: In this presentation I will explore the use of te reo Māori in English text in dual language picturebooks published in Aotearoa/New Zealand. A series of studies examining the frequency of Māori loanwords in children’s picturebooks (Daly 2007; Daly 2008; Macdonald & Daly, 2013) are presented showing that when books came out of a publishing company with a commitment to publishing Māori and Pasifika stories, the frequency of loanwords was much higher than in other contexts; but even when a survey of all picturebooks published in New Zealand between 1995 and 2005 was conducted, the frequency of loanwords was much higher than in previous studies of comparable literature, such as the New Zealand school journal (Macalister, 1999). Very few dual language picturebooks featuring Māori and English are produced in New Zealand (Daly 2016a; Daly 2016b). The synchronous or sequential format of having separate books for each language seems to be favoured. But it is in the parallel dual language format (where both languages are present in a single book) that the relative status of the two languages is evident. In the second part of the presentation the layout and comparative presentation of the two languages are explored in terms of size of font and order of languages, using a Linguistic Landscape framework (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). These uses of two languages within New Zealand children’s literature (both interlingual and dual language) are examined and considered in terms of Bell’s (1984) theory of Audience Design, considering whether writers and publishers of such literature are now catering for a wider and more bilingual audience and whether publishing such linguistically diverse material such linguistically diverse picturebooks may be contributing to the creation of a more bilingual society.

text: Understanding the use of Māori and English in dual language picturebooks through a sociolinguistic lens In this presentation I will explore the use of te reo Māori in English text in dual language picturebooks published in Aotearoa/New Zealand. A series of studies examining the frequency of Māori loanwords in children’s picturebooks (Daly 2007; Daly 2008; Macdonald & Daly, 2013) are presented showing that when books came out of a publishing company with a commitment to publishing Māori and Pasifika stories, the frequency of loanwords was much higher than in other contexts; but even when a survey of all picturebooks published in New Zealand between 1995 and 2005 was conducted, the frequency of loanwords was much higher than in previous studies of comparable literature, such as the New Zealand school journal (Macalister, 1999). Very few dual language picturebooks featuring Māori and English are produced in New Zealand (Daly 2016a; Daly 2016b). The synchronous or sequential format of having separate books for each language seems to be favoured. But it is in the parallel dual language format (where both languages are present in a single book) that the relative status of the two languages is evident. In the second part of the presentation the layout and comparative presentation of the two languages are explored in terms of size of font and order of languages, using a Linguistic Landscape framework (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). These uses of two languages within New Zealand children’s literature (both interlingual and dual language) are examined and considered in terms of Bell’s (1984) theory of Audience Design, considering whether writers and publishers of such literature are now catering for a wider and more bilingual audience and whether publishing such linguistically diverse material such linguistically diverse picturebooks may be contributing to the creation of a more bilingual society.

year: 2018