title: The challenges to disaster risk reduction education in the South Pacific

authors: Vaioleti, Timote Masima

abstract: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014 (IPCC) report confirms its 1990 research that a 30-50cm sea level rise projected by 2050 will threaten low lying islands, and that a 1m rise by 2100 ‘would render some island countries uninhabitable’. This article addresses the challenges to disaster risk reduction education, how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) can respond to these challenges, and share initiatives to address disaster education and ESD in the South Pacific.

text: The challenges to disaster risk reduction education in the South Pacific The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014 (IPCC) report confirms its 1990 research that a 30-50cm sea level rise projected by 2050 will threaten low lying islands, and that a 1m rise by 2100 ‘would render some island countries uninhabitable’. This article addresses the challenges to disaster risk reduction education, how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) can respond to these challenges, and share initiatives to address disaster education and ESD in the South Pacific.

year: 2014

title: Exiting the closet daily: Examining the repetitive nature of minority gender and sexual identity self-disclosures.

authors: Stanley, Jessica

subjects: identity

abstract: The process of minority gender and sexual identity self-disclosure is inherently complex. The act of ‘coming out’ is often perceived as a significant, singular event; however, those with lived experiences recognise that it is an ongoing, repetitive experience influenced by varying social contexts—a concept referred to within this research as identity maintenance. Understanding this phenomenon is paramount in addressing the psychosocial realities of LGBTQIA+ people—both individually and collectively—as they navigate the decision to disclose their minority identity in a range of environments, contexts, and interactions. Specifically, this thesis seeks to illuminate the processes of identity maintenance within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, providing a foundational understanding of the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals. To do so, five research questions were constructed, these include: 1. How do participants interpret their experiences of identity self-disclosure or non-disclosure? 2. What social factors influence the decision to self-disclose minority gender and/or sexual identity? 3. How does the repetitive nature of identity self-disclosure affect participants? 4. How does identity self-disclosure vary in different social environments? and 5. How does language shape identity self-disclosure? This research utilises Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyse qualitative data gathered from a cohort of 10 self-identifying LGBTQIA+ participants. By focusing on lived experiences, the research captures the psychosocial factors involved in self-disclosure practices. Participants were selected through a purposive sampling method, ensuring a range of backgrounds and identities were represented, including age, ethnicity, neurological and physical ability, and religious status. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with each of the 10 participants, and five participants elected to complete a diary entry task following their interview. Participants described navigating their LGBTQIA+ identities across different contexts, drawing on a range of psychosocial tools in their day-to-day practice of identity maintenance. Four themes arose from the findings. Firstly, The Temporality of Identity highlighted how the LGBTQIA+ identity is experienced over time, from early identity development to the long-term, ongoing practice of identity maintenance. Secondly, The Tax of Identity theme identified how participants experienced mental, emotional, and educational taxes as a result of their LGBTQIA+ identity. Thirdly, The Ecology of Identity theme identified the ways in which participants experienced effects from distal and proximal environments on the development and embodiment of their LGBTQIA+ identities. Finally, The Language of Identity theme highlighted how participants engaged with both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication to disclose their LGBTQIA+ identity as well as the social monitoring tools they utilised in disclosure decision-making. The findings of this thesis contribute to existing discourse on LGBTQIA+ identities and form the first known literature on the identity maintenance experiences of Aotearoa’s LGBTQIA+ community. Ultimately, this research highlights the ways in which identity maintenance serves as a beneficial tool for restoring the agency of LGBTQIA+ people in choosing when, where, how, why, and to whom identity self-disclosures will be made.

text: Exiting the closet daily: Examining the repetitive nature of minority gender and sexual identity self-disclosures. The process of minority gender and sexual identity self-disclosure is inherently complex. The act of ‘coming out’ is often perceived as a significant, singular event; however, those with lived experiences recognise that it is an ongoing, repetitive experience influenced by varying social contexts—a concept referred to within this research as identity maintenance. Understanding this phenomenon is paramount in addressing the psychosocial realities of LGBTQIA+ people—both individually and collectively—as they navigate the decision to disclose their minority identity in a range of environments, contexts, and interactions. Specifically, this thesis seeks to illuminate the processes of identity maintenance within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, providing a foundational understanding of the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals. To do so, five research questions were constructed, these include: 1. How do participants interpret their experiences of identity self-disclosure or non-disclosure? 2. What social factors influence the decision to self-disclose minority gender and/or sexual identity? 3. How does the repetitive nature of identity self-disclosure affect participants? 4. How does identity self-disclosure vary in different social environments? and 5. How does language shape identity self-disclosure? This research utilises Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyse qualitative data gathered from a cohort of 10 self-identifying LGBTQIA+ participants. By focusing on lived experiences, the research captures the psychosocial factors involved in self-disclosure practices. Participants were selected through a purposive sampling method, ensuring a range of backgrounds and identities were represented, including age, ethnicity, neurological and physical ability, and religious status. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with each of the 10 participants, and five participants elected to complete a diary entry task following their interview. Participants described navigating their LGBTQIA+ identities across different contexts, drawing on a range of psychosocial tools in their day-to-day practice of identity maintenance. Four themes arose from the findings. Firstly, The Temporality of Identity highlighted how the LGBTQIA+ identity is experienced over time, from early identity development to the long-term, ongoing practice of identity maintenance. Secondly, The Tax of Identity theme identified how participants experienced mental, emotional, and educational taxes as a result of their LGBTQIA+ identity. Thirdly, The Ecology of Identity theme identified the ways in which participants experienced effects from distal and proximal environments on the development and embodiment of their LGBTQIA+ identities. Finally, The Language of Identity theme highlighted how participants engaged with both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication to disclose their LGBTQIA+ identity as well as the social monitoring tools they utilised in disclosure decision-making. The findings of this thesis contribute to existing discourse on LGBTQIA+ identities and form the first known literature on the identity maintenance experiences of Aotearoa’s LGBTQIA+ community. Ultimately, this research highlights the ways in which identity maintenance serves as a beneficial tool for restoring the agency of LGBTQIA+ people in choosing when, where, how, why, and to whom identity self-disclosures will be made.

year: 2024

title: Race-ing and engendering the nation-state in Aotearoa/New Zealand

authors: Seuffert, Nan

subjects: Maori

abstract: During the past several decades the dynamics of law and policy reform in Aotearoa/New Zealand have prefigured and encapsulated contemporary trends in economic state restructuring, indigenous claims to refigure the nation, and gender struggles for political representation. Successive governments have restructured the economy and the state using radical forms of neo-liberal economic policy with the stated aim of globalizing the economy. Political action on the part of the indigenous Maori people, often led by Maori women, increased and diversified, and included demands for self-determination and redress of historical colonial injustices. In 1997, the conservative National Party’s Jenny Shipley become the country’s first white female Prime Minister, followed in 1999 by the election of a center-left coalition headed by Labour Party leader Helen Clark. This article analyzes the race and gender dynamics of these contemporary trends. First, it argues that policies of state structural adjustment and Maori political claims have converged in commodified settlements of past colonial injustices as corporate deals. These deals are temporary alliances of men across race to silence and erase the demands for self-determination or political power sharing of Maori activists, who are usually Maori women. Second, this article contends that the political instability created by rapid structural adjustment and the change to a Mixed Member Proportional (“MMP”) electoral system converges with white backlash against these settlements to open space for New Zealand’s first two female Prime Ministers. This article also suggests that the election of a second white female Prime Minister in New Zealand may reflect the (temporary) regendering of the role of Prime Minister to the feminine.

text: Race-ing and engendering the nation-state in Aotearoa/New Zealand During the past several decades the dynamics of law and policy reform in Aotearoa/New Zealand have prefigured and encapsulated contemporary trends in economic state restructuring, indigenous claims to refigure the nation, and gender struggles for political representation. Successive governments have restructured the economy and the state using radical forms of neo-liberal economic policy with the stated aim of globalizing the economy. Political action on the part of the indigenous Maori people, often led by Maori women, increased and diversified, and included demands for self-determination and redress of historical colonial injustices. In 1997, the conservative National Party’s Jenny Shipley become the country’s first white female Prime Minister, followed in 1999 by the election of a center-left coalition headed by Labour Party leader Helen Clark. This article analyzes the race and gender dynamics of these contemporary trends. First, it argues that policies of state structural adjustment and Maori political claims have converged in commodified settlements of past colonial injustices as corporate deals. These deals are temporary alliances of men across race to silence and erase the demands for self-determination or political power sharing of Maori activists, who are usually Maori women. Second, this article contends that the political instability created by rapid structural adjustment and the change to a Mixed Member Proportional (“MMP”) electoral system converges with white backlash against these settlements to open space for New Zealand’s first two female Prime Ministers. This article also suggests that the election of a second white female Prime Minister in New Zealand may reflect the (temporary) regendering of the role of Prime Minister to the feminine.

year: 2002-02-01