title: Developing researcher capability: What can I research and how do I do it?

authors: Fleming, Jenny

abstract: Workshop delivered at the 5th WACE International Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, 19 April 2024, University West, Sweden.

text: Developing researcher capability: What can I research and how do I do it? Workshop delivered at the 5th WACE International Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, 19 April 2024, University West, Sweden.

year: 2024

title: Voice, body, movement, ‘space’:  Perspectives and pedagogical endeavours of three New Zealand secondary drama teachers in their new build spaces

authors: Thomson, Annette Margaret

subjects: Drama pedagogy

abstract: Space is important to drama teachers and as Benade (2017a) suggests physical space can support their relational pedagogy. Historically New Zealand secondary drama teachers have had to ‘make do’ (Wright, 2021) with less than ideal, shared traditional auditoriums, and ad hoc spaces. 
Motivated by earlier practitioner research (Coleman & Thomson, 2021), this inquiry aims to understand the perspectives of New Zealand secondary drama teachers in their new build spaces. This research examines the new physical spaces being built in our schools and asks are they meeting the needs of these teachers?
Qualitative in nature the research examines the narratives of three participants: Sue, Neta and Denise.  Aligning with similar studies into the complex world of drama teachers (Ackroyd, 2007) three unique case studies were undertaken to address questions and gather evidence. Photographs were submitted by participants; two semi structured interviews were carried out and observations of a drama lesson were conducted concurrently.  The thesis is written with a metaphorical framework familiar to drama teachers, the acting techniques of: Voice, Body, Movement and Space.
Three key findings suggest that location, architecture and personal space of the physical areas affected the collaborative, relational and performative nature of the secondary subject ‘Drama’. These physical elements affected both participants pedagogy and the ability to deliver New Zealand secondary curriculum and assessments.
The physical location of the drama space within the school affected the ability to find private creative space and collaborate with other learning disciplines. The architecture of the spaces, particularly the size, flexibility and style of the performance area contributed to participants capacity to do the work of drama and deliver curriculum. Participants that had agency in their new builds had positive perspectives about their spaces to assist in developing a safe and supportive environment for secondary drama teaching.

text: Voice, body, movement, ‘space’:  Perspectives and pedagogical endeavours of three New Zealand secondary drama teachers in their new build spaces Space is important to drama teachers and as Benade (2017a) suggests physical space can support their relational pedagogy. Historically New Zealand secondary drama teachers have had to ‘make do’ (Wright, 2021) with less than ideal, shared traditional auditoriums, and ad hoc spaces. 
Motivated by earlier practitioner research (Coleman & Thomson, 2021), this inquiry aims to understand the perspectives of New Zealand secondary drama teachers in their new build spaces. This research examines the new physical spaces being built in our schools and asks are they meeting the needs of these teachers?
Qualitative in nature the research examines the narratives of three participants: Sue, Neta and Denise.  Aligning with similar studies into the complex world of drama teachers (Ackroyd, 2007) three unique case studies were undertaken to address questions and gather evidence. Photographs were submitted by participants; two semi structured interviews were carried out and observations of a drama lesson were conducted concurrently.  The thesis is written with a metaphorical framework familiar to drama teachers, the acting techniques of: Voice, Body, Movement and Space.
Three key findings suggest that location, architecture and personal space of the physical areas affected the collaborative, relational and performative nature of the secondary subject ‘Drama’. These physical elements affected both participants pedagogy and the ability to deliver New Zealand secondary curriculum and assessments.
The physical location of the drama space within the school affected the ability to find private creative space and collaborate with other learning disciplines. The architecture of the spaces, particularly the size, flexibility and style of the performance area contributed to participants capacity to do the work of drama and deliver curriculum. Participants that had agency in their new builds had positive perspectives about their spaces to assist in developing a safe and supportive environment for secondary drama teaching.

year: 2022

title: He whiringa aroha: A mokopuna and a pare in the peabody essex museum

authors: Murray, Moana

abstract: Taonga, Māori ancestral treasures, embody the mana and knowledge of Māori ancestors. He Whiringa Aroha is one such treasure: a carved pare that affirms the mana of wāhine in the colonial archives, but whose whakapapa has been obscured. This thesis uses the name ‘He Whiringa Aroha’ and the te reo Māori pronoun ‘ia’ to refer to ‘E5501’, which is located in the 1806 Richardson collection in the Peabody Essex Museum. As He Whiringa Aroha travelled from Aotearoa New Zealand to Massachusetts, United States, ia became entangled in historical narratives that disembodied the taonga from hapū and iwi Māori. Taonga were not only physically removed from Aotearoa, but taonga and Māori creative practices were named, gendered, and displayed by colonisers. American sailors collected and displayed He Whiringa Aroha as an exotic ‘curiosity’ to showcase their triumph over Pacific waters. Yet, He Whiringa Aroha is a power portal—a potent braid to the past, the future, and to those Māori ways of being that defy the limiting archival language of colonialism. How do we relate to taonga Māori that have been fragmented by the colonial archive? What are alternatives to restory and reclaim taonga that remain in overseas museums? 

Using a creative methodology grounded in Mana Wahine and pūrākau, this thesis weaves a whiri (braid) of aroha (reverence) that attempts to restore he hononga mokopuna–the connection between taonga and their descendants. Through poetry, a decolonial map, interviews with ringatoi (Māori creatives), and archival research, I explore how the histories of taonga can be reclaimed in Māori worldviews. Interviews with pūkenga and tohunga toi reveal Māori understandings of taonga as expressions of toi, defying western taxonomies of ‘art’ and ‘curio’. Furthermore, archival research into the East India Marine Society and Peabody Essex Museum unmasks the American sailors and their provenance practices that
have marginalised Māori, and in particular, wāhine Māori. Finally, I use pūrākau of atua wāhine, Mana Wahine and takatāpui scholarship to restory and rename He Whiringa Aroha. This archival storytelling raises new ethical questions about ownership and kaitiakitanga (guardianship), which pose interventions for existing conversations about the place of taonga Māori in overseas museum collections. Reclaiming the histories of ancestors in museums is more than decolonizing colonial archives; on the contrary, restorying taonga is an act of Indigenous resurgence. This Masters research opens new possibilities to reclaiming takatāpui narratives and the mana of wahine in museum archives.

text: He whiringa aroha: A mokopuna and a pare in the peabody essex museum Taonga, Māori ancestral treasures, embody the mana and knowledge of Māori ancestors. He Whiringa Aroha is one such treasure: a carved pare that affirms the mana of wāhine in the colonial archives, but whose whakapapa has been obscured. This thesis uses the name ‘He Whiringa Aroha’ and the te reo Māori pronoun ‘ia’ to refer to ‘E5501’, which is located in the 1806 Richardson collection in the Peabody Essex Museum. As He Whiringa Aroha travelled from Aotearoa New Zealand to Massachusetts, United States, ia became entangled in historical narratives that disembodied the taonga from hapū and iwi Māori. Taonga were not only physically removed from Aotearoa, but taonga and Māori creative practices were named, gendered, and displayed by colonisers. American sailors collected and displayed He Whiringa Aroha as an exotic ‘curiosity’ to showcase their triumph over Pacific waters. Yet, He Whiringa Aroha is a power portal—a potent braid to the past, the future, and to those Māori ways of being that defy the limiting archival language of colonialism. How do we relate to taonga Māori that have been fragmented by the colonial archive? What are alternatives to restory and reclaim taonga that remain in overseas museums? 

Using a creative methodology grounded in Mana Wahine and pūrākau, this thesis weaves a whiri (braid) of aroha (reverence) that attempts to restore he hononga mokopuna–the connection between taonga and their descendants. Through poetry, a decolonial map, interviews with ringatoi (Māori creatives), and archival research, I explore how the histories of taonga can be reclaimed in Māori worldviews. Interviews with pūkenga and tohunga toi reveal Māori understandings of taonga as expressions of toi, defying western taxonomies of ‘art’ and ‘curio’. Furthermore, archival research into the East India Marine Society and Peabody Essex Museum unmasks the American sailors and their provenance practices that
have marginalised Māori, and in particular, wāhine Māori. Finally, I use pūrākau of atua wāhine, Mana Wahine and takatāpui scholarship to restory and rename He Whiringa Aroha. This archival storytelling raises new ethical questions about ownership and kaitiakitanga (guardianship), which pose interventions for existing conversations about the place of taonga Māori in overseas museum collections. Reclaiming the histories of ancestors in museums is more than decolonizing colonial archives; on the contrary, restorying taonga is an act of Indigenous resurgence. This Masters research opens new possibilities to reclaiming takatāpui narratives and the mana of wahine in museum archives.

year: 2024