title: South African boys in New Zealand: Immigrants' retrospective accounts of adapting to life in a new country during adolescence

authors: White, Teswell Terrence

subjects: immigration

abstract: It is now estimated that around 50 million displaced persons (highest number since the end of World War 2), and as many as 10 million are ‘on the move’ between countries at the present time. Mass migration is now undoubtedly be one of the biggest issues demanding global attention. A major concern for the United Nations over the next few years will certainly be how to deal with mass migration. The dominant messages from the mass media and politicians are dominated by ‘political correctness’, but fail to focus on the main issue of how newcomers and their children will function in their new location after arrival. Whilst the discourses of assimilation are becoming more pronounced, the question might then justifiably be asked, ‘What happens to the children of newcomers after arrival?’ This is a critical question in every sense and raises the issue of immigrant youth adaptation and experiences of identity and place in this age of shifting demographics, large-scale migration, and multicultural communities.

Not long ago most of the people who came to New Zealand were coming from parts of the United Kingdom with relatively few coming from anywhere else. Relatively little is known about the psychosocial adaptations and self-identities of young immigrants coming of age in the compound multiethnicity of contemporary New Zealand. Therefore, the overall aim of this study was to better understand the complexities of contemporary youth adaptation, at a time when immigrants into New Zealand are coming from an increasingly diverse range of nations. Specifically, the aim was to offer insights into how personal, social and cultural factors might combine to shape male adolescent experiences, and how these insights may be of use to teachers who work with this age group in culturally and ethnically diverse contexts. 

I used detailed one-to-one interviews and drew on a social constructionist theoretical framework, to map the complex ways in which the boys said they negotiated, navigated, contested and resisted their engagements with the different discourses and stories about them that operate in their high school environment. Much of the analysis included an examination of how they reconstructed adolescence from a position of young adulthood. The sort of data that I collected is not designed to offer a logical set of generalized statements about the immigration. Rather, the individualised comments offer a glimpse into the complexity of the individual experience of adapting to life in a new country for South African boys. 

The findings of this study tend to suggest that there is a lot more going on in the lives of immigrant boys than what essentialist categories assume. Identity uncertainty and confusion and surveillance and policing of school masculinities were key themes raised during the analysis of the interviews. A main argument in the study is that cultural and ethnic identities for South African boys were defined through the possibilities offered to them in their social contexts. The themes draw attention to a distinctive contradiction between cultural messages from home to ‘remain rooted’ in their heritage culture versus messages from the host to either ‘fit in’ or to be socially excluded. This home/host contradiction had different meanings for individual boys, and this varied across the different ethnic groups. 

The findings also tend to suggest that the masculine identities that South African boys constructed and lived out were not fixed and unproblematic but rather fluid and in constant flux. They show the role of schooling in the shaping of a range of different male heterosexual subjectivities, and how the subject positions that the boys inhabited held different configurations of threat and promise of social inclusion based on their particular South Africanness. Although these findings are not representative of all South African boys in New Zealand, they do suggest some of the ways that immigration and masculinity might intersect during adolescence and the ways aspects of masculine identity expressions come to reflect the social relations at school.

text: South African boys in New Zealand: Immigrants' retrospective accounts of adapting to life in a new country during adolescence It is now estimated that around 50 million displaced persons (highest number since the end of World War 2), and as many as 10 million are ‘on the move’ between countries at the present time. Mass migration is now undoubtedly be one of the biggest issues demanding global attention. A major concern for the United Nations over the next few years will certainly be how to deal with mass migration. The dominant messages from the mass media and politicians are dominated by ‘political correctness’, but fail to focus on the main issue of how newcomers and their children will function in their new location after arrival. Whilst the discourses of assimilation are becoming more pronounced, the question might then justifiably be asked, ‘What happens to the children of newcomers after arrival?’ This is a critical question in every sense and raises the issue of immigrant youth adaptation and experiences of identity and place in this age of shifting demographics, large-scale migration, and multicultural communities.

Not long ago most of the people who came to New Zealand were coming from parts of the United Kingdom with relatively few coming from anywhere else. Relatively little is known about the psychosocial adaptations and self-identities of young immigrants coming of age in the compound multiethnicity of contemporary New Zealand. Therefore, the overall aim of this study was to better understand the complexities of contemporary youth adaptation, at a time when immigrants into New Zealand are coming from an increasingly diverse range of nations. Specifically, the aim was to offer insights into how personal, social and cultural factors might combine to shape male adolescent experiences, and how these insights may be of use to teachers who work with this age group in culturally and ethnically diverse contexts. 

I used detailed one-to-one interviews and drew on a social constructionist theoretical framework, to map the complex ways in which the boys said they negotiated, navigated, contested and resisted their engagements with the different discourses and stories about them that operate in their high school environment. Much of the analysis included an examination of how they reconstructed adolescence from a position of young adulthood. The sort of data that I collected is not designed to offer a logical set of generalized statements about the immigration. Rather, the individualised comments offer a glimpse into the complexity of the individual experience of adapting to life in a new country for South African boys. 

The findings of this study tend to suggest that there is a lot more going on in the lives of immigrant boys than what essentialist categories assume. Identity uncertainty and confusion and surveillance and policing of school masculinities were key themes raised during the analysis of the interviews. A main argument in the study is that cultural and ethnic identities for South African boys were defined through the possibilities offered to them in their social contexts. The themes draw attention to a distinctive contradiction between cultural messages from home to ‘remain rooted’ in their heritage culture versus messages from the host to either ‘fit in’ or to be socially excluded. This home/host contradiction had different meanings for individual boys, and this varied across the different ethnic groups. 

The findings also tend to suggest that the masculine identities that South African boys constructed and lived out were not fixed and unproblematic but rather fluid and in constant flux. They show the role of schooling in the shaping of a range of different male heterosexual subjectivities, and how the subject positions that the boys inhabited held different configurations of threat and promise of social inclusion based on their particular South Africanness. Although these findings are not representative of all South African boys in New Zealand, they do suggest some of the ways that immigration and masculinity might intersect during adolescence and the ways aspects of masculine identity expressions come to reflect the social relations at school.

year: 2016

title: Teaching tips comprehension strategy instruction: Teaching narrative text structure awareness

authors: Dymock, Susan

subjects: education

abstract: Research shows that students who have a good understanding of narrative text structure have fewer problems comprehending stories. Research also suggests that many students require explicit instruction in how to comprehend this text type. While some children are able to figure out the more elaborate structure of narrative text on their own (i.e., that stories have a plot, characters, setting, and theme), there are others who are not so lucky. Teachers play an important role assisting students to develop a good understanding of narrative text structure awareness. This article briefly outlines what research has to say about comprehension strategy instruction and then describes how teachers can go about teaching a comprehension strategy, narrative text structure awareness with the aim of enhancing children's comprehension of this text type.

text: Teaching tips comprehension strategy instruction: Teaching narrative text structure awareness Research shows that students who have a good understanding of narrative text structure have fewer problems comprehending stories. Research also suggests that many students require explicit instruction in how to comprehend this text type. While some children are able to figure out the more elaborate structure of narrative text on their own (i.e., that stories have a plot, characters, setting, and theme), there are others who are not so lucky. Teachers play an important role assisting students to develop a good understanding of narrative text structure awareness. This article briefly outlines what research has to say about comprehension strategy instruction and then describes how teachers can go about teaching a comprehension strategy, narrative text structure awareness with the aim of enhancing children's comprehension of this text type.

year: 2007

title: Te reo Maori, philosophy and colonialism: A conversation with Maori philosopher Carl Mika

authors: Peters, Michael A.

abstract: Kia ora Carl
Some advice if you have the time... I have been asked to give a paper at Uppsala on philosophy of language and autonomy. I want to focus on colonialism and use some examples from the colonial history concerning te reo Maori. I did a little research at the time of the Royal Commission in 1988 but have lost touch with the literature. Are there a couple of strategic texts you would recommend?
Nga Mihi

Kia ora Michael
You tend to get two types of writing about the language: its revitalisation; and its link to the natural or spiritual worlds – which is to do with philosophy in a particular sense, but in my view doesn’t have an eye towards the “autonomy” part you raise (i.e. isn’t cognisant enough of colonialism). The latter writing theorises around the traditional place of language, or describes it as a traditional phenomenon. I’ve been considering writing something for some time on it, but just haven’t gotten around to it.
You could discuss it in terms of how current uses of it in government policy etc. force the Maori language to become no more or no less than its English counterpart. So, for instance, language is an arbitrary (Saussure) thing that has very little in the way of “essence” in its own (autonomous) right. Terms like “whakapapa” equate precisely with “genealogy” but their interconnecting sense is lost in that translation. From a Maori belief, it could be argued that everything contains an essence, including words, and this essence precedes our interaction with language. In a way, language very much opens up a worldview, including the autonomy or essence of things in the world and their interconnectedness. pp. 101–110

text: Te reo Maori, philosophy and colonialism: A conversation with Maori philosopher Carl Mika Kia ora Carl
Some advice if you have the time... I have been asked to give a paper at Uppsala on philosophy of language and autonomy. I want to focus on colonialism and use some examples from the colonial history concerning te reo Maori. I did a little research at the time of the Royal Commission in 1988 but have lost touch with the literature. Are there a couple of strategic texts you would recommend?
Nga Mihi

Kia ora Michael
You tend to get two types of writing about the language: its revitalisation; and its link to the natural or spiritual worlds – which is to do with philosophy in a particular sense, but in my view doesn’t have an eye towards the “autonomy” part you raise (i.e. isn’t cognisant enough of colonialism). The latter writing theorises around the traditional place of language, or describes it as a traditional phenomenon. I’ve been considering writing something for some time on it, but just haven’t gotten around to it.
You could discuss it in terms of how current uses of it in government policy etc. force the Maori language to become no more or no less than its English counterpart. So, for instance, language is an arbitrary (Saussure) thing that has very little in the way of “essence” in its own (autonomous) right. Terms like “whakapapa” equate precisely with “genealogy” but their interconnecting sense is lost in that translation. From a Maori belief, it could be argued that everything contains an essence, including words, and this essence precedes our interaction with language. In a way, language very much opens up a worldview, including the autonomy or essence of things in the world and their interconnectedness. pp. 101–110

year: 2015