title: Strangers, sojourners, selves: the intercultural communication experiences of ethnic Chinese students in western tertiary education

authors: Holmes, Prue

abstract: This study describes the intercultural communication experiences of Confucian heritage culture students in a western tertiary setting. Exploring the intercultural communication encounters enabled an understanding of how these ethnic Chinese students socially constructed their everyday lives. In addition, the study focused on their reconstruction and renegotiation of cultural identity and the extent to which they built a third culture. Thus, it is a study of intercultural communication, culture, and cultural identity.

Principles of ethnography and inductive inquiry provided the exploratory means to uncover these intercultural communication experiences. The context of this study was a university in New Zealand, and the 14 participants were from China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Some were newly arrived. Others were permanent residents. Prolonged investigation in the field enabled themes to emerge, providing a thick description of the participants’ lifeworlds and the basis for theory building.

The contribution of this thesis is in the following key areas: the enactment of intercultural communication in the negotiation of a new learning environment; the process of adaptation and accommodation of the cultural other; cultural identity change as participants negotiate the host environment; and the initiation of third culture building. Participants from China, who had or sought permanent residence, showed adaptation and renegotiation of social worlds and the desire to acculturate. By contrast, the undergraduate students from Malaysia, who saw their future in their first cultures, demonstrated a going back mentality and less desire to accommodate and understand the host society. Thus, the study contributes towards an understanding of cultural difference as it created, maintained, and reconstructed and renegotiated in intercultural communication.

text: Strangers, sojourners, selves: the intercultural communication experiences of ethnic Chinese students in western tertiary education This study describes the intercultural communication experiences of Confucian heritage culture students in a western tertiary setting. Exploring the intercultural communication encounters enabled an understanding of how these ethnic Chinese students socially constructed their everyday lives. In addition, the study focused on their reconstruction and renegotiation of cultural identity and the extent to which they built a third culture. Thus, it is a study of intercultural communication, culture, and cultural identity.

Principles of ethnography and inductive inquiry provided the exploratory means to uncover these intercultural communication experiences. The context of this study was a university in New Zealand, and the 14 participants were from China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Some were newly arrived. Others were permanent residents. Prolonged investigation in the field enabled themes to emerge, providing a thick description of the participants’ lifeworlds and the basis for theory building.

The contribution of this thesis is in the following key areas: the enactment of intercultural communication in the negotiation of a new learning environment; the process of adaptation and accommodation of the cultural other; cultural identity change as participants negotiate the host environment; and the initiation of third culture building. Participants from China, who had or sought permanent residence, showed adaptation and renegotiation of social worlds and the desire to acculturate. By contrast, the undergraduate students from Malaysia, who saw their future in their first cultures, demonstrated a going back mentality and less desire to accommodate and understand the host society. Thus, the study contributes towards an understanding of cultural difference as it created, maintained, and reconstructed and renegotiated in intercultural communication.

year: 2000

title: “I thought I was going to jinx myself every time I told someone”: Exploring how women communicate in a pregnancy subsequent to loss.

authors: Tremain, Chelsea

subjects: Maternal mental health

abstract: Miscarriage is one of the most commonly occurring types of pregnancy loss; it is estimated that one out of every three women will experience a miscarriage and one out of 200 will experience a still birth. Loss of a pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of experiencing elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and distress which can persist for prolonged periods of time and into a subsequent pregnancy. Furthermore, social support has been found to mitigate distress associated with pregnancy loss and increase women’s ability to cope through the traumatic loss of pregnancy. However, little research has been done into how currently pregnant women with a history of pregnancy loss communicate about a subsequent pregnancy to others and if this plays a role in eliciting social support. 
The aim of this study was to explore the differences between women with and without a history of pregnancy loss in terms of their distress and worry, and to begin to explore the experience of communicating a pregnancy and whether this related to their perception of social support.
The current study used an online survey to explore this topic in a convenience sample of 187 pregnant women, 42.7% of whom had experienced a prior pregnancy loss. 
This study found that women with a history of pregnancy loss were more distressed and worried about the health of the foetus than their counterparts with no history of loss. There was no difference between the two groups in terms of when they first communicated about their pregnancy to someone outside of their relationship and both groups perceived themselves as being highly socially supported. 
The findings add to the literature on women’s mental health after loss and highlight implications for professionals. Consistent compassion, reassurance and validation may be needed by others to help women reduce their distress and worry in pregnancies subsequent to loss.

text: “I thought I was going to jinx myself every time I told someone”: Exploring how women communicate in a pregnancy subsequent to loss. Miscarriage is one of the most commonly occurring types of pregnancy loss; it is estimated that one out of every three women will experience a miscarriage and one out of 200 will experience a still birth. Loss of a pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of experiencing elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and distress which can persist for prolonged periods of time and into a subsequent pregnancy. Furthermore, social support has been found to mitigate distress associated with pregnancy loss and increase women’s ability to cope through the traumatic loss of pregnancy. However, little research has been done into how currently pregnant women with a history of pregnancy loss communicate about a subsequent pregnancy to others and if this plays a role in eliciting social support. 
The aim of this study was to explore the differences between women with and without a history of pregnancy loss in terms of their distress and worry, and to begin to explore the experience of communicating a pregnancy and whether this related to their perception of social support.
The current study used an online survey to explore this topic in a convenience sample of 187 pregnant women, 42.7% of whom had experienced a prior pregnancy loss. 
This study found that women with a history of pregnancy loss were more distressed and worried about the health of the foetus than their counterparts with no history of loss. There was no difference between the two groups in terms of when they first communicated about their pregnancy to someone outside of their relationship and both groups perceived themselves as being highly socially supported. 
The findings add to the literature on women’s mental health after loss and highlight implications for professionals. Consistent compassion, reassurance and validation may be needed by others to help women reduce their distress and worry in pregnancies subsequent to loss.

year: 2021

title: Taking Taniwha seriously

authors: Kingsbury, Justine

subjects: intercultural understanding

abstract: Taniwha are powerful water creatures in te ao Māori (the Māori world/worldview). Taniwha sometimes afect public works in Aotearoa New Zealand: for example, consultation between government agencies and tangata whenua (the people of the land) about proposed roading developments sometimes results in the route being moved to avoid the dwelling place of a taniwha. Mainstream media responses have tended to be hostile or mocking, as you might expect, since on the face of it the dominant western scientifc worldview has no place for beings like taniwha. However, in the 2020s, there appears to be an increased willingness to engage with te ao Māori. In this spirit, this paper proposes a way for non-Māori to begin to take taniwha more seriously, taking as its starting point the work of Dan Hikuroa on the practical usefulness of taniwha pūrākau (traditional narratives) in encoding information about natural hazards. The focus of this paper is narrow, but aspects of the strategy it proposes may be generalisable both to other aspects of te ao Māori and to other bicultural and multicultural contexts.

text: Taking Taniwha seriously Taniwha are powerful water creatures in te ao Māori (the Māori world/worldview). Taniwha sometimes afect public works in Aotearoa New Zealand: for example, consultation between government agencies and tangata whenua (the people of the land) about proposed roading developments sometimes results in the route being moved to avoid the dwelling place of a taniwha. Mainstream media responses have tended to be hostile or mocking, as you might expect, since on the face of it the dominant western scientifc worldview has no place for beings like taniwha. However, in the 2020s, there appears to be an increased willingness to engage with te ao Māori. In this spirit, this paper proposes a way for non-Māori to begin to take taniwha more seriously, taking as its starting point the work of Dan Hikuroa on the practical usefulness of taniwha pūrākau (traditional narratives) in encoding information about natural hazards. The focus of this paper is narrow, but aspects of the strategy it proposes may be generalisable both to other aspects of te ao Māori and to other bicultural and multicultural contexts.

year: 2022-11-10