title: Sport in the Waikato c.1897-1974: Narratives of Play, Identity and Belonging

authors: Buckley, Karen

subjects: sport

abstract: Regional identities and allegiances in New Zealand have most often been revealed at sporting events. From the colours worn, the slogans chanted, and even the ringing of cowbells, players, teams and supporters have presented facets of their collective character. This thesis engages with narratives of sport in the Waikato region over a period of eighty years to examine these representations as they produced meanings of sporting activities for local people. Informed by competing ideas about historical truth, the thesis interprets printed media as reconstructions of both recurring events, and belonging and membership, to investigate the place of sport in the region, and to decode the ways these stories of drama and contest contribute to the development of some components of a local identity.
Historically, the area now known as the ‘Waikato’ was part of the Auckland Province. The thesis argues that sport is at the centre of a notion of separation from the urban metropolis, and provided opportunities to demonstrate a growing independence. By examining examples of recurring sporting events such as the annual Ngāruawāhia Regatta, regular Auckland/Waikato rugby matches, Empire and Commonwealth Games participation, and regular lawn bowls tournaments, the place and function of sport in a regional space is able to be, in part, exposed. Uneven, often subtle, changes both in aspects of these events and in the representations of them, reveal underlying tensions and power relationships.
Local, if not exclusive, understandings of the place and role of Māori, and depictions of normative gender roles, are central to the analysis of these relationships. Sport is most often a social activity, and dissection of the newspaper texts has enabled the formation of ideas about the ways sports-men, and sometimes women, are collectively presented and organised. In much of the material used, these men and women are also the most recognisable and celebrated ‘heroes’. Consideration of the role of heroes in the formation of culturally constructed group identities informs the thesis, and the relationships between local sporting participants and groups are also important. Divisions, dissension, and competition for resources are all revealed in the reported activities of sports organisations, and changes in the importance afforded these endeavours are also apparent.
The focussed critical use of a local media source provides a consistent, if sometimes homogenous, group of historical narratives. The inclusion of local club and association histories, often produced with extensive use of newspaper archives, changes the perspective and enables a more nuanced examination of the place of different types of heroes, of gender norms and, most importantly, of the ways sporting organisations see and project themselves as part of the region. The stories they collectively choose to remember and tell are central to this narrative of the place of sport in the Waikato.

text: Sport in the Waikato c.1897-1974: Narratives of Play, Identity and Belonging Regional identities and allegiances in New Zealand have most often been revealed at sporting events. From the colours worn, the slogans chanted, and even the ringing of cowbells, players, teams and supporters have presented facets of their collective character. This thesis engages with narratives of sport in the Waikato region over a period of eighty years to examine these representations as they produced meanings of sporting activities for local people. Informed by competing ideas about historical truth, the thesis interprets printed media as reconstructions of both recurring events, and belonging and membership, to investigate the place of sport in the region, and to decode the ways these stories of drama and contest contribute to the development of some components of a local identity.
Historically, the area now known as the ‘Waikato’ was part of the Auckland Province. The thesis argues that sport is at the centre of a notion of separation from the urban metropolis, and provided opportunities to demonstrate a growing independence. By examining examples of recurring sporting events such as the annual Ngāruawāhia Regatta, regular Auckland/Waikato rugby matches, Empire and Commonwealth Games participation, and regular lawn bowls tournaments, the place and function of sport in a regional space is able to be, in part, exposed. Uneven, often subtle, changes both in aspects of these events and in the representations of them, reveal underlying tensions and power relationships.
Local, if not exclusive, understandings of the place and role of Māori, and depictions of normative gender roles, are central to the analysis of these relationships. Sport is most often a social activity, and dissection of the newspaper texts has enabled the formation of ideas about the ways sports-men, and sometimes women, are collectively presented and organised. In much of the material used, these men and women are also the most recognisable and celebrated ‘heroes’. Consideration of the role of heroes in the formation of culturally constructed group identities informs the thesis, and the relationships between local sporting participants and groups are also important. Divisions, dissension, and competition for resources are all revealed in the reported activities of sports organisations, and changes in the importance afforded these endeavours are also apparent.
The focussed critical use of a local media source provides a consistent, if sometimes homogenous, group of historical narratives. The inclusion of local club and association histories, often produced with extensive use of newspaper archives, changes the perspective and enables a more nuanced examination of the place of different types of heroes, of gender norms and, most importantly, of the ways sporting organisations see and project themselves as part of the region. The stories they collectively choose to remember and tell are central to this narrative of the place of sport in the Waikato.

year: 2016

title: Indigenous Rights Hollow Rights?

authors: Toki, Valmaine

abstract: The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“the Declaration”) was the initiative of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (“WGIP”). Established in 1982, the mandate of the WGIP was to develop international standards concerning Indigenous peoples’ rights. The Declaration was a manifestation of this mandate and a clear articulation of international standards on the rights of Indigenous peoples. It was not until 25 years later, in September 2007, that the final text was adopted by the General Assembly with a majority of 143 states in favour. Eleven states offered abstentions. Four states opposed adoption: Australia, Canada, the United States of America (“the United States”) and New Zealand.

text: Indigenous Rights Hollow Rights? The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“the Declaration”) was the initiative of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (“WGIP”). Established in 1982, the mandate of the WGIP was to develop international standards concerning Indigenous peoples’ rights. The Declaration was a manifestation of this mandate and a clear articulation of international standards on the rights of Indigenous peoples. It was not until 25 years later, in September 2007, that the final text was adopted by the General Assembly with a majority of 143 states in favour. Eleven states offered abstentions. Four states opposed adoption: Australia, Canada, the United States of America (“the United States”) and New Zealand.

year: 2011

title: Mill wives: a study of gender relations, family and work in a single-industry town

authors: James, Beverley L.

abstract: The experiences and everyday practices of wives of production workers in a town with one dominant industry that imposes a variety of demands on workers and their spouses is the focus of this thesis. The town is Kawerau, established for the milling and manufacture of timber, pulp and paper, and situated in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. It has a specifically masculine character on account of restricted employment opportunities and traditionally male occupations. 

I am concerned with the ways in which the women are engaged in maintaining home and family. Marriage constitutes the ground for establishing a household, and the complementary relationship between spouses is central to creating a home. This complementarity is expressed through male employment, for many involving shiftwork, and the primary involvement of women with domesticity. Those women who were also employed modified their involvement according to domestic and family obligations, which were given prior importance. Though both may be wage earners, wives and husbands have different obligations and orientations to the family.

Complementarity is made visible through gender distinctions; a major one being the wife and ‘home’s’ reliance on the husband’s job. His job provides the necessary financial basis for the home. Its contractual and disciplined character pervades the home and furnishes the conditions under which the women as wives are expected to cope domestically. A wife’s access to housing and income sufficient to maintain personally acceptable standards are influenced by the husband’s contract with the mill. 

Creating a home and maintaining family life are continual processes, achieved through managing the consequences of the husband’s job by the wife, in the confines of their home. This thesis highlights three aspects of his job which, as ‘givens’, constrain the woman’s organisation of the household in significant ways: the husband’s wage, hours of work (especially shiftwork) and industrial disputes. It is the contradictions and ambivalence involved in coping with these aspects that I explore. The study is influenced by feminist theoretical work concerning the relationship between ‘home’ and ‘work’ and ‘public’ and ‘private’ as symbols and experience.

text: Mill wives: a study of gender relations, family and work in a single-industry town The experiences and everyday practices of wives of production workers in a town with one dominant industry that imposes a variety of demands on workers and their spouses is the focus of this thesis. The town is Kawerau, established for the milling and manufacture of timber, pulp and paper, and situated in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. It has a specifically masculine character on account of restricted employment opportunities and traditionally male occupations. 

I am concerned with the ways in which the women are engaged in maintaining home and family. Marriage constitutes the ground for establishing a household, and the complementary relationship between spouses is central to creating a home. This complementarity is expressed through male employment, for many involving shiftwork, and the primary involvement of women with domesticity. Those women who were also employed modified their involvement according to domestic and family obligations, which were given prior importance. Though both may be wage earners, wives and husbands have different obligations and orientations to the family.

Complementarity is made visible through gender distinctions; a major one being the wife and ‘home’s’ reliance on the husband’s job. His job provides the necessary financial basis for the home. Its contractual and disciplined character pervades the home and furnishes the conditions under which the women as wives are expected to cope domestically. A wife’s access to housing and income sufficient to maintain personally acceptable standards are influenced by the husband’s contract with the mill. 

Creating a home and maintaining family life are continual processes, achieved through managing the consequences of the husband’s job by the wife, in the confines of their home. This thesis highlights three aspects of his job which, as ‘givens’, constrain the woman’s organisation of the household in significant ways: the husband’s wage, hours of work (especially shiftwork) and industrial disputes. It is the contradictions and ambivalence involved in coping with these aspects that I explore. The study is influenced by feminist theoretical work concerning the relationship between ‘home’ and ‘work’ and ‘public’ and ‘private’ as symbols and experience.

year: 1985