title: Volunteering and professionalization: Trends in tension?

authors: Ganesh, Shiv

subjects: organizational communication

abstract: The last several decades have witnessed the proliferation and popularity of volunteering both as a means for individuals to connect with social issues and as a way of sustaining nonprofit organizations; indeed, it dominates contemporary discussions about civic engagement. Whereas some social theorists have promoted volunteering as a benchmark to assess democratic participation, civic-mindedness, social capital, and trust (Putnam, 2000), others have questioned the uncomplicated associations among volunteering, civic engagement, and community (Ganesh & McAllum, 2009). Like Snyder (2001), we position volunteering as a “hybrid strain of helping” (p. 16309) that falls between spontaneous bystander intervention and highly obligated caregiving. Specifically, we propose that volunteering involves sustained identity investments by volunteers performed and realized in organizational settings.

text: Volunteering and professionalization: Trends in tension? The last several decades have witnessed the proliferation and popularity of volunteering both as a means for individuals to connect with social issues and as a way of sustaining nonprofit organizations; indeed, it dominates contemporary discussions about civic engagement. Whereas some social theorists have promoted volunteering as a benchmark to assess democratic participation, civic-mindedness, social capital, and trust (Putnam, 2000), others have questioned the uncomplicated associations among volunteering, civic engagement, and community (Ganesh & McAllum, 2009). Like Snyder (2001), we position volunteering as a “hybrid strain of helping” (p. 16309) that falls between spontaneous bystander intervention and highly obligated caregiving. Specifically, we propose that volunteering involves sustained identity investments by volunteers performed and realized in organizational settings.

year: 2011

title: A new method to extract and purify DNA from allophanic soils and paleosols, and potential for paleoenvironmental reconstruction and other applications

authors: Huang, Yu-Tuan

subjects: Andisols; allophane; DNA extraction; DNA purification; paleopedology; tephra

abstract: Andisols, developed from late-Quaternary tephra (volcanic ash) deposits and dominated by the nanocrystalline aluminosilicate, allophane, contain large stores of organic matter and are potential reservoirs for DNA. However, DNA recovery from Andisols and other allophane-bearing soils has been difficult and inefficient because of strong chemical bonding between DNA and both allophane and organic matter, and also because much DNA can be encased and physically protected in nanopores in allophane nano/microaggregates. We have therefore developed a new two-step DNA isolation method for allophanic soils and buried paleosols, including those low in clay, which circumvents these problems. The method centres on (1) releasing mainly microbial DNA, and extracellular (unbound) DNA, using an alkaline phosphate buffer (“Rai’s lysis buffer”) that blocks re-adsorption sites on the allophanic materials, and (2) the novel application of acidified ammonium oxalate (Tamm’s reagent) to dissolve the allophane and to release DNA which had been chemically-bound and also which had been protected within nanopores. Ammonium oxalate has not previously been applied to soil DNA extraction. DNA yields up to 44.5 µg g-1 soil (oven-dry basis) were obtained from three field-moist natural allophanic soil samples from northern New Zealand using this two-step method. Following extraction, we evaluated different DNA purification methods. Gel electrophoresis of the extracted DNA followed by gel purification of the DNA from the agarose gel, despite some DNA loss, was the only purification method that removed sufficient humic material for successful DNA amplification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of multiple gene regions. Sequencing of PCR products obtained from a buried allophanic paleosol at 2.2-m depth on a sandy Holocene tephra yielded endemic and exotic plants that differed from the European grasses growing currently on the soil’s surface. This difference suggests that the DNA extraction method is able to access (paleo)environmental DNA derived from previous vegetation cover. Our DNA extraction and purification method hence may be applied to Andisols and allophane-bearing paleosols, potentially offering a means to isolate paleoenvironmental DNA and thus facilitate reconstruction of past environments in volcanic landscapes, datable using tephrochronology, and also aid biodiversity understanding of andic soils and paleosols.

text: A new method to extract and purify DNA from allophanic soils and paleosols, and potential for paleoenvironmental reconstruction and other applications Andisols, developed from late-Quaternary tephra (volcanic ash) deposits and dominated by the nanocrystalline aluminosilicate, allophane, contain large stores of organic matter and are potential reservoirs for DNA. However, DNA recovery from Andisols and other allophane-bearing soils has been difficult and inefficient because of strong chemical bonding between DNA and both allophane and organic matter, and also because much DNA can be encased and physically protected in nanopores in allophane nano/microaggregates. We have therefore developed a new two-step DNA isolation method for allophanic soils and buried paleosols, including those low in clay, which circumvents these problems. The method centres on (1) releasing mainly microbial DNA, and extracellular (unbound) DNA, using an alkaline phosphate buffer (“Rai’s lysis buffer”) that blocks re-adsorption sites on the allophanic materials, and (2) the novel application of acidified ammonium oxalate (Tamm’s reagent) to dissolve the allophane and to release DNA which had been chemically-bound and also which had been protected within nanopores. Ammonium oxalate has not previously been applied to soil DNA extraction. DNA yields up to 44.5 µg g-1 soil (oven-dry basis) were obtained from three field-moist natural allophanic soil samples from northern New Zealand using this two-step method. Following extraction, we evaluated different DNA purification methods. Gel electrophoresis of the extracted DNA followed by gel purification of the DNA from the agarose gel, despite some DNA loss, was the only purification method that removed sufficient humic material for successful DNA amplification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of multiple gene regions. Sequencing of PCR products obtained from a buried allophanic paleosol at 2.2-m depth on a sandy Holocene tephra yielded endemic and exotic plants that differed from the European grasses growing currently on the soil’s surface. This difference suggests that the DNA extraction method is able to access (paleo)environmental DNA derived from previous vegetation cover. Our DNA extraction and purification method hence may be applied to Andisols and allophane-bearing paleosols, potentially offering a means to isolate paleoenvironmental DNA and thus facilitate reconstruction of past environments in volcanic landscapes, datable using tephrochronology, and also aid biodiversity understanding of andic soils and paleosols.

year: 2016-07-15

title: The New Zealand Wars Documentary Series: Discursive Struggle and Cultural Memory.

authors: Perrott, Lisa

subjects: Television Documentary

abstract: The 1998 television broadcast of The New Zealand Wars documentary series was a significant public event, which had a major impact on a broad range of communities and individuals in Aotearoa New Zealand. This popular television history engaged with issues of historical veracity, race, culture and nationhood and challenged previously dominant discourses associated with these concepts. In doing so, it provoked heated debate, and a re-imagining of 'nation', and also opened up spaces for alternative ways of engaging with historical narrative. 

Informed by post-colonialism, cultural studies and cultural memory, this thesis explores the discursive and affective role of The New Zealand Wars, as it has operated within the turbulent climate of 1990s New Zealand cultural relations. This catalytic function is described in this thesis as a phenomenon of a television series shaped by, whilst also intervening in, processes of cultural colonisation and decolonisation. 

While both of these processes involve the transmission of discourse via cultural forms, the act of cultural decolonisation requires, in addition, the convergence of a number of agents (people and communities, discursive and memory resources) and circumstances, within particular contextual conditions. Such a convergence provided the conditions for the discursive synthesis, which shaped the production, construction and reception of this series. 

The role of audio-visual media (and specifically television documentary) in transmitting cultural memory is significant as it enables the flow of memory through channels or forms (such as visual, oral and aural traditions) that can bring about new perspectives and critical reflections upon colonial discourse and dominant concepts of nation and culture. In addition to these social and intellectual processes of audience engagement, this thesis argues that experiential and affective dimensions of cultural memory can (in these specific circumstances) open up radical spaces, offering the potential for generating awareness and sparking political action. 

These issues are explored through a tripartite analysis of the production context, construction and reception of The New Zealand Wars series. The integration of these three phases of analysis has generated a number of insights into the potential of audio-visual forms, including their producers and audiences, to participate in the negotiation of, and resistance to, colonial discourse. Such insights serve to challenge taken-for-granted constructions of nation and history, and suggest the increasing relevance of alternative concepts such as community-building and cultural memory. Ultimately, this thesis argues that television documentary can serve as a prime site for the articulation of these concepts. The New Zealand Wars serves as a case study, which demonstrates both the potential of this site, and the significance of the social-historical and cultural context in framing this series.

text: The New Zealand Wars Documentary Series: Discursive Struggle and Cultural Memory. The 1998 television broadcast of The New Zealand Wars documentary series was a significant public event, which had a major impact on a broad range of communities and individuals in Aotearoa New Zealand. This popular television history engaged with issues of historical veracity, race, culture and nationhood and challenged previously dominant discourses associated with these concepts. In doing so, it provoked heated debate, and a re-imagining of 'nation', and also opened up spaces for alternative ways of engaging with historical narrative. 

Informed by post-colonialism, cultural studies and cultural memory, this thesis explores the discursive and affective role of The New Zealand Wars, as it has operated within the turbulent climate of 1990s New Zealand cultural relations. This catalytic function is described in this thesis as a phenomenon of a television series shaped by, whilst also intervening in, processes of cultural colonisation and decolonisation. 

While both of these processes involve the transmission of discourse via cultural forms, the act of cultural decolonisation requires, in addition, the convergence of a number of agents (people and communities, discursive and memory resources) and circumstances, within particular contextual conditions. Such a convergence provided the conditions for the discursive synthesis, which shaped the production, construction and reception of this series. 

The role of audio-visual media (and specifically television documentary) in transmitting cultural memory is significant as it enables the flow of memory through channels or forms (such as visual, oral and aural traditions) that can bring about new perspectives and critical reflections upon colonial discourse and dominant concepts of nation and culture. In addition to these social and intellectual processes of audience engagement, this thesis argues that experiential and affective dimensions of cultural memory can (in these specific circumstances) open up radical spaces, offering the potential for generating awareness and sparking political action. 

These issues are explored through a tripartite analysis of the production context, construction and reception of The New Zealand Wars series. The integration of these three phases of analysis has generated a number of insights into the potential of audio-visual forms, including their producers and audiences, to participate in the negotiation of, and resistance to, colonial discourse. Such insights serve to challenge taken-for-granted constructions of nation and history, and suggest the increasing relevance of alternative concepts such as community-building and cultural memory. Ultimately, this thesis argues that television documentary can serve as a prime site for the articulation of these concepts. The New Zealand Wars serves as a case study, which demonstrates both the potential of this site, and the significance of the social-historical and cultural context in framing this series.

year: 2007