title: All I remember is forgetting

authors: Hobson, Guy Marcus

subjects: Art

abstract: All I Remember is Forgetting is a novel about the complex weaving of memory, relationships and works of art. We observe these through the eyes of Roger Phillips, whom we first encounter washed up and living in his car after the failure of a third serious relationship. Unsuccessfully married twice, Roger has not navigated matrimony as well as he might. Instead he has escaped into a world of painting, photography and sculpture.
    The main driving force behind the narrative is a wooden box containing Roger’s collection of 600 art postcards. These are pictures collected from galleries and museums around the world. Thirty years in the collecting, it took Roger’s second wife, Margot, only fifteen minutes to pitch them all into a landfill north of Auckland. Also missing were his most treasured books. Gone were all the stories from the myths of the Greeks and Romans on which he fed his imagination. So much so, in fact, that he is convinced that Eris, goddess of strife and discord, has been on a mission to ruin his life. While every book held special meaning, it was to each postcard that Roger attached his most personal recollections – the gallery, the surrounding city, the occasion and the person he was with. Each a complex narrative. All the memories of his life were tied to those small pieces of card; suddenly they were lost for ever. Art had always been Roger’s escape, his safe haven, but also his erotica, wrapping him in the beauty and hidden narratives in the lives of artists and their models. The imperfect fragments of Roger’s life show us that love is not best understood through art. Roger fails to see the philosophy of kintsugi, the Japanese art of golden repair. Breakage and mending are part of the history of your life, to be celebrated not disguised.

This is a many-layered exercise in ekphrasis, where dramatic verbal descriptions of works of art are layered with descriptions of Roger’s married life. In some cases both become so entwined that they form an entirely new layer of art. The novel weaves the highs and lows of Roger’s journey; both the pain and the humour. Through the lens of great art and its creators we find mirrors, reflections and the distortion between life and art. We travel from Sheffield and London to Paris and New York, before coming firmly to rest in New Zealand.
   
Do not believe everything that Roger tells you, but remember the words of Oscar Wilde: it is only through art that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.

text: All I remember is forgetting All I Remember is Forgetting is a novel about the complex weaving of memory, relationships and works of art. We observe these through the eyes of Roger Phillips, whom we first encounter washed up and living in his car after the failure of a third serious relationship. Unsuccessfully married twice, Roger has not navigated matrimony as well as he might. Instead he has escaped into a world of painting, photography and sculpture.
    The main driving force behind the narrative is a wooden box containing Roger’s collection of 600 art postcards. These are pictures collected from galleries and museums around the world. Thirty years in the collecting, it took Roger’s second wife, Margot, only fifteen minutes to pitch them all into a landfill north of Auckland. Also missing were his most treasured books. Gone were all the stories from the myths of the Greeks and Romans on which he fed his imagination. So much so, in fact, that he is convinced that Eris, goddess of strife and discord, has been on a mission to ruin his life. While every book held special meaning, it was to each postcard that Roger attached his most personal recollections – the gallery, the surrounding city, the occasion and the person he was with. Each a complex narrative. All the memories of his life were tied to those small pieces of card; suddenly they were lost for ever. Art had always been Roger’s escape, his safe haven, but also his erotica, wrapping him in the beauty and hidden narratives in the lives of artists and their models. The imperfect fragments of Roger’s life show us that love is not best understood through art. Roger fails to see the philosophy of kintsugi, the Japanese art of golden repair. Breakage and mending are part of the history of your life, to be celebrated not disguised.

This is a many-layered exercise in ekphrasis, where dramatic verbal descriptions of works of art are layered with descriptions of Roger’s married life. In some cases both become so entwined that they form an entirely new layer of art. The novel weaves the highs and lows of Roger’s journey; both the pain and the humour. Through the lens of great art and its creators we find mirrors, reflections and the distortion between life and art. We travel from Sheffield and London to Paris and New York, before coming firmly to rest in New Zealand.
   
Do not believe everything that Roger tells you, but remember the words of Oscar Wilde: it is only through art that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.

year: 2021

title: The political field and public relations : Competing discourses in New Zealand’s first MMP election

authors: Roper, Juliet

abstract: This thesis uses Norman Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysis to analyse the campaign discourse of each of the five main political parties that contested the New Zealand general election in 1996. The parties were: The National Party, the New Zealand Labour Party, New Zealand First, Act and The Alliance. The election itself was of historic importance because it was the first to be held in New Zealand under an electoral system of proportional representation.

The theoretical framework of the thesis combines Bourdieu’s theory of the political field and Bobbio’s concept of the universe of political discourse. This framework facilitates an analysis of political campaign discourse within the context of a struggle for representative and symbolic power in the political field. Critical discourse analysis focuses on the campaign texts as a product of the social and discourse practices of the political professionals vying for that power. It underscores the ideological functions of language, as well as the role of communication professionals, in (re)constructing political discourse. The thesis also raises concerns about the professionalisation of discourse construction in the context of the public sphere.

Because of the introduction of proportional representation, competition within the political field was intensified. This fact, combined with an evident dissatisfaction with politics and politicians by voters in New Zealand civil society, resulted in a wider range of stances, based primarily upon ideological differences, being adopted than under the previous first-past-the-post system. Political parties were not, therefore, able to cluster in the neutral centre of the political field in line with international trends of campaign modernisation and the associated formation of catch-all parties.

Increased competition in the political field resulted in greater importance being placed on party identification and differentiation, as each party sought to discursively position itself as representative of a range of issues of concern in civil society. The ways in which the parties not only discursively positioned themselves in the political field but repositioned their opponents have practical significance for the fields of public relations, organisation communication and marketing. 

A post script to the thesis looks at the use made of World Wide Web sites by New Zealand political parties in 1996. It discusses their potential for the revitalisation of the public sphere. It also surmises that public relations practitioners and political marketers, when they realise the potential, will transform the sites in order to provide entertainment formats which target voters as consumers of political discourse.

text: The political field and public relations : Competing discourses in New Zealand’s first MMP election This thesis uses Norman Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysis to analyse the campaign discourse of each of the five main political parties that contested the New Zealand general election in 1996. The parties were: The National Party, the New Zealand Labour Party, New Zealand First, Act and The Alliance. The election itself was of historic importance because it was the first to be held in New Zealand under an electoral system of proportional representation.

The theoretical framework of the thesis combines Bourdieu’s theory of the political field and Bobbio’s concept of the universe of political discourse. This framework facilitates an analysis of political campaign discourse within the context of a struggle for representative and symbolic power in the political field. Critical discourse analysis focuses on the campaign texts as a product of the social and discourse practices of the political professionals vying for that power. It underscores the ideological functions of language, as well as the role of communication professionals, in (re)constructing political discourse. The thesis also raises concerns about the professionalisation of discourse construction in the context of the public sphere.

Because of the introduction of proportional representation, competition within the political field was intensified. This fact, combined with an evident dissatisfaction with politics and politicians by voters in New Zealand civil society, resulted in a wider range of stances, based primarily upon ideological differences, being adopted than under the previous first-past-the-post system. Political parties were not, therefore, able to cluster in the neutral centre of the political field in line with international trends of campaign modernisation and the associated formation of catch-all parties.

Increased competition in the political field resulted in greater importance being placed on party identification and differentiation, as each party sought to discursively position itself as representative of a range of issues of concern in civil society. The ways in which the parties not only discursively positioned themselves in the political field but repositioned their opponents have practical significance for the fields of public relations, organisation communication and marketing. 

A post script to the thesis looks at the use made of World Wide Web sites by New Zealand political parties in 1996. It discusses their potential for the revitalisation of the public sphere. It also surmises that public relations practitioners and political marketers, when they realise the potential, will transform the sites in order to provide entertainment formats which target voters as consumers of political discourse.

year: 2000

title: The Impact of Colonisation on the Maori community: An exploration of the attitudes and perspectives held by Maori in relation to the active reclamation of Maori sovereignty/tino rangatiratanga.

authors: Baty, Tina Amy

subjects: Maori

abstract: Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei
Seek the treasure you value most dearly: If you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain
The purpose of my research was twofold. I first sort to explore the attitudes and perspectives held by Māori in relation to the active reclamation of Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga. I further wanted to know how Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga could lead to the improvement of Māori health.
My research collected information pertinent to these two inquiries from current literature and from interviews I conducted with five Māori individuals from different iwi, hapu groups. All whom were actively engaged with the Māori community in some form. My research data found that colonisalism has and continues to negatively impact the Māori community. This negative impact manifests in a variety of behaviours that effect Māori health and leads to poor outcomes for Māori. Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga was thought of as the solution to overcome and neutralise the negative effects of colonialism experienced by Māori. Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga was found to be related with Māori idenity and instrumental in all things pertinent to the Māori communities.
My research found that Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga can be identified as existing on a philosophical level, governance-structural level, and on a day-to-day basis. This research found that the reclamation of Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga is a process that is currently in motion. Finally, the exercising of Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga in relation to Māori health provides a well-established argument that it can produce positive health benefits to the Māori community, because it is responsive to Māori and better meets the needs of our Māori community simply because it is a Māori way of being, doing and knowing.

text: The Impact of Colonisation on the Maori community: An exploration of the attitudes and perspectives held by Maori in relation to the active reclamation of Maori sovereignty/tino rangatiratanga. Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei
Seek the treasure you value most dearly: If you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain
The purpose of my research was twofold. I first sort to explore the attitudes and perspectives held by Māori in relation to the active reclamation of Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga. I further wanted to know how Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga could lead to the improvement of Māori health.
My research collected information pertinent to these two inquiries from current literature and from interviews I conducted with five Māori individuals from different iwi, hapu groups. All whom were actively engaged with the Māori community in some form. My research data found that colonisalism has and continues to negatively impact the Māori community. This negative impact manifests in a variety of behaviours that effect Māori health and leads to poor outcomes for Māori. Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga was thought of as the solution to overcome and neutralise the negative effects of colonialism experienced by Māori. Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga was found to be related with Māori idenity and instrumental in all things pertinent to the Māori communities.
My research found that Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga can be identified as existing on a philosophical level, governance-structural level, and on a day-to-day basis. This research found that the reclamation of Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga is a process that is currently in motion. Finally, the exercising of Māori sovereignty, tino rangatiratanga in relation to Māori health provides a well-established argument that it can produce positive health benefits to the Māori community, because it is responsive to Māori and better meets the needs of our Māori community simply because it is a Māori way of being, doing and knowing.

year: 2018