title: Researching indigenous and marginal peoples – Introduction

authors: Ryan, Chris

abstract: Those promoting tourism often seek to highlight that which is unique about their destinations in order to attract tourists. Many countries have beautiful landscapes, rich histories and heritage, and the tourist may come to see linkages of landscape and history across different countries and indeed possibly across continents. However, in the search for the unique, those countries with ethnic minority or other minority groups demarcated by factors other than ethnicity but characterised by special belief systems or ways of life living within their borders (e.g. the Amish) are truly able to offer the tourist a glimpse of something that will not be found in other parts of the world. Accordingly, and being aware that holiday makers are not lay anthropologists and may be seeking little more than an entertainment, minorities and their culture have become in many places a staged show based primarily on song and dance. Indeed, such has been the process that Xie (2011, p. 196) provides an example from the island of Hainan, China, where tourism promoters have created ‘the authentic Chiyou tribe’ to entertain tourists – a tribe developed purely for entertainment based on concepts of the exotic and primitive and only loosely based on the culture of the native Li people. One partial result described by Xie (2011) has been that the Li themselves have become confused as to their own culture.

text: Researching indigenous and marginal peoples – Introduction Those promoting tourism often seek to highlight that which is unique about their destinations in order to attract tourists. Many countries have beautiful landscapes, rich histories and heritage, and the tourist may come to see linkages of landscape and history across different countries and indeed possibly across continents. However, in the search for the unique, those countries with ethnic minority or other minority groups demarcated by factors other than ethnicity but characterised by special belief systems or ways of life living within their borders (e.g. the Amish) are truly able to offer the tourist a glimpse of something that will not be found in other parts of the world. Accordingly, and being aware that holiday makers are not lay anthropologists and may be seeking little more than an entertainment, minorities and their culture have become in many places a staged show based primarily on song and dance. Indeed, such has been the process that Xie (2011, p. 196) provides an example from the island of Hainan, China, where tourism promoters have created ‘the authentic Chiyou tribe’ to entertain tourists – a tribe developed purely for entertainment based on concepts of the exotic and primitive and only loosely based on the culture of the native Li people. One partial result described by Xie (2011) has been that the Li themselves have become confused as to their own culture.

year: 2012

title: Resilience and housing markets: Who is it really for?

authors: Squires, Graham

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Ten years after the Global Financial Crisis, this research examines how resilience theory and rhetoric relating to the economy and housing markets has been translated into policy and practice. The methodology involves a case study of a city (Auckland) with a nationally dominant housing market and high unaffordability. Via secondary literature and a series of interviews we analyse questions connected to resilience from what, how, by whom, and discuss the implications and limits of the approach. The research demonstrates that resilience policies have focused on providing institutional stability to shock, rather than adaptation or transformation to a state that is less exposed to the systemic risks associated with flows of global capital, debt, and speculative activity. This is related to how the whole concept is vaguely defined. In the absence of guidance, institutions reinterpret resilience in a way that underpins existing market and regulatory logics, such as by increasing capital reserves or lending ratios. As a consequence, the dominant political economy, selected institutions, and to an extent, existing homeowners and speculative investors are privileged in resilience policy. By bringing these selectivities and limits to light we argue for a shift in focus away from an institutional frame to one with a deeper understanding of both the balance of an economy and the wider forces that create and reproduce housing markets.

text: Resilience and housing markets: Who is it really for? Ten years after the Global Financial Crisis, this research examines how resilience theory and rhetoric relating to the economy and housing markets has been translated into policy and practice. The methodology involves a case study of a city (Auckland) with a nationally dominant housing market and high unaffordability. Via secondary literature and a series of interviews we analyse questions connected to resilience from what, how, by whom, and discuss the implications and limits of the approach. The research demonstrates that resilience policies have focused on providing institutional stability to shock, rather than adaptation or transformation to a state that is less exposed to the systemic risks associated with flows of global capital, debt, and speculative activity. This is related to how the whole concept is vaguely defined. In the absence of guidance, institutions reinterpret resilience in a way that underpins existing market and regulatory logics, such as by increasing capital reserves or lending ratios. As a consequence, the dominant political economy, selected institutions, and to an extent, existing homeowners and speculative investors are privileged in resilience policy. By bringing these selectivities and limits to light we argue for a shift in focus away from an institutional frame to one with a deeper understanding of both the balance of an economy and the wider forces that create and reproduce housing markets.

year: 2019

title: Bizarre thoughts, magical ideations, and voices from the unconscious: Exploring issues of anomalous experience

authors: Tamatea, Armon J.

subjects: Maori

abstract: This project was initially concerned with the clinical interpretations of ‘bizarre’ or
‘magical’ ideations (i.e., statements considered to have little or no validity in our
predominant western culture). The first study explored clinical assessment issues
of who determines the validity of expressed beliefs and what kinds of criteria such
decisions are based on in the mental health field. The present study examined a
particular type of magical ideation, an auditory phenomenon involving claims that
forward spoken conversation contains hidden backwards speech embedded in the
vocal sounds. Thirty-two participants were invited to listen to various audio
samples of the alleged phenomenon and provide interpretations of what was heard.
Participants were assigned to four groups, each differing in the level of pre-emptive
information. A comparative measure revealed that priming and suggestion could
not be dismissed as alternative explanations of the reported effects. Clinical and
social implications will be discussed.

text: Bizarre thoughts, magical ideations, and voices from the unconscious: Exploring issues of anomalous experience This project was initially concerned with the clinical interpretations of ‘bizarre’ or
‘magical’ ideations (i.e., statements considered to have little or no validity in our
predominant western culture). The first study explored clinical assessment issues
of who determines the validity of expressed beliefs and what kinds of criteria such
decisions are based on in the mental health field. The present study examined a
particular type of magical ideation, an auditory phenomenon involving claims that
forward spoken conversation contains hidden backwards speech embedded in the
vocal sounds. Thirty-two participants were invited to listen to various audio
samples of the alleged phenomenon and provide interpretations of what was heard.
Participants were assigned to four groups, each differing in the level of pre-emptive
information. A comparative measure revealed that priming and suggestion could
not be dismissed as alternative explanations of the reported effects. Clinical and
social implications will be discussed.

year: 2003