title: Schooling the labouring classes: children, families, and learning in Wellington, 1840-1845

authors: Middleton, Sue

subjects: history

abstract: Published in London between 1839 and 1852 and aligned with the commercial
objectives of the New Zealand Company, the New Zealand Journal included letters from
emigrants. This paper studies letters written by a small cohort of rural labourers who
emigrated from Ham House in Surrey to Wellington in 1841. Following Dorothy Smith,
I read them as ethnographic data, interrogating them in relation to ruling-class texts
including Company records, newspaper reports and correspondence between capitalists,
professionals and politicians. The labourers’ letters depict capital-labour (class) and
colonial (race) relations in embodied form. The everyday actualities of their activities
were co-ordinated by extra-local social relations of colonialism and flows of capital and
labour. Their schooling in England had been designed to ‘keep them in their place’. With
reference to the sparse archival resources remaining from the first years of
commercially-driven settlement, before there was an apparatus of state, I consider how
changing material conditions in the settlement enabled and constrained learning
opportunities for these labourers’ children.

text: Schooling the labouring classes: children, families, and learning in Wellington, 1840-1845 Published in London between 1839 and 1852 and aligned with the commercial
objectives of the New Zealand Company, the New Zealand Journal included letters from
emigrants. This paper studies letters written by a small cohort of rural labourers who
emigrated from Ham House in Surrey to Wellington in 1841. Following Dorothy Smith,
I read them as ethnographic data, interrogating them in relation to ruling-class texts
including Company records, newspaper reports and correspondence between capitalists,
professionals and politicians. The labourers’ letters depict capital-labour (class) and
colonial (race) relations in embodied form. The everyday actualities of their activities
were co-ordinated by extra-local social relations of colonialism and flows of capital and
labour. Their schooling in England had been designed to ‘keep them in their place’. With
reference to the sparse archival resources remaining from the first years of
commercially-driven settlement, before there was an apparatus of state, I consider how
changing material conditions in the settlement enabled and constrained learning
opportunities for these labourers’ children.

year: 2008-06

title: Introduction: Religious rupture and revival in the Pacific

authors: Macdonald, Fraser

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: This special issue arose from a panel, “Political and Religious Conversions in the Pacific”, convened by Fraser Macdonald and Michael Goldsmith at the 2017 Australian Anthropological Society (AAS) annual conference held at the University of Adelaide. The papers carried over from that session into this special issue more directly address the question of religious conversion, marshalling evidence from a wide range of ethnographic contexts throughout the Pacific to shed light on the ramifications of conversion to various brands of Christianity. The issue collectively points up a number of critical issues now gaining deeper appreciation within anthropological writing on Pacific Christianity, including the centrality of indigenous agency to processes of change; the importance of charismatic leaders who initiate and orchestrate popular movements; the intrinsically political character of Christianity in the Pacific, including its inextricable historical relationship with colonialism; and, finally, the strongly regional dimensions of Christianity, whereby particular societies are embedded in and contribute to broader religious communities that transcend the local.

text: Introduction: Religious rupture and revival in the Pacific This special issue arose from a panel, “Political and Religious Conversions in the Pacific”, convened by Fraser Macdonald and Michael Goldsmith at the 2017 Australian Anthropological Society (AAS) annual conference held at the University of Adelaide. The papers carried over from that session into this special issue more directly address the question of religious conversion, marshalling evidence from a wide range of ethnographic contexts throughout the Pacific to shed light on the ramifications of conversion to various brands of Christianity. The issue collectively points up a number of critical issues now gaining deeper appreciation within anthropological writing on Pacific Christianity, including the centrality of indigenous agency to processes of change; the importance of charismatic leaders who initiate and orchestrate popular movements; the intrinsically political character of Christianity in the Pacific, including its inextricable historical relationship with colonialism; and, finally, the strongly regional dimensions of Christianity, whereby particular societies are embedded in and contribute to broader religious communities that transcend the local.

year: 2019-12-01

title: Teachers’ perspectives on incorporating aspects of Mātauranga Māori in year 9-10 secondary school science classrooms.

authors: Hermanns, Christina Leilani

subjects: science

abstract: Science classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand may cause some students to feel marginalised.  The inclusion of mātauranga Māori offers a diverse perspective on knowledge which may help inclusion of, and understanding for, these learners.  This research examines how science teachers include mātauranga Māori in their junior secondary science learning activities. 

I am a Pākehā teacher who was born and raised in Hawaii. I have 17 years of science teaching experience in Aotearoa New Zealand. This interpretive, phenomenographic study involved semi-structured interviews with six teachers, all who taught in North Island schools.  Five of the six participants were in schools, and one taught in a Kura Kaupapa Māori.  Data were gathered about teachers’ understanding of te reo Māori, inclusion of mātauranga Māori in the junior secondary science classroom, and how teachers’ own cultural awareness impacted their practice. 

The findings indicate that teachers include mātauranga Māori in their science classrooms in a diverse range of ways. From whole course design to more subtle ways that reflect Māori tikanga and Māori pedagogy.  Teachers often faced challenges in including mātauranga Māori in their science classroom and they overcame these by learning te reo, embracing Māori tikanga and continuing to learn to fill the gaps in their knowledge. The context of the school and its community was also a factor, as well as teachers’ personal philosophies about the nature of knowledge. 

The findings have implications for initial teacher education and professional learning for the integration of mātauranga Māori into the secondary science classroom.

text: Teachers’ perspectives on incorporating aspects of Mātauranga Māori in year 9-10 secondary school science classrooms. Science classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand may cause some students to feel marginalised.  The inclusion of mātauranga Māori offers a diverse perspective on knowledge which may help inclusion of, and understanding for, these learners.  This research examines how science teachers include mātauranga Māori in their junior secondary science learning activities. 

I am a Pākehā teacher who was born and raised in Hawaii. I have 17 years of science teaching experience in Aotearoa New Zealand. This interpretive, phenomenographic study involved semi-structured interviews with six teachers, all who taught in North Island schools.  Five of the six participants were in schools, and one taught in a Kura Kaupapa Māori.  Data were gathered about teachers’ understanding of te reo Māori, inclusion of mātauranga Māori in the junior secondary science classroom, and how teachers’ own cultural awareness impacted their practice. 

The findings indicate that teachers include mātauranga Māori in their science classrooms in a diverse range of ways. From whole course design to more subtle ways that reflect Māori tikanga and Māori pedagogy.  Teachers often faced challenges in including mātauranga Māori in their science classroom and they overcame these by learning te reo, embracing Māori tikanga and continuing to learn to fill the gaps in their knowledge. The context of the school and its community was also a factor, as well as teachers’ personal philosophies about the nature of knowledge. 

The findings have implications for initial teacher education and professional learning for the integration of mātauranga Māori into the secondary science classroom.

year: 2025-05-29