title: "But I still love him": Women talk about love and violence, and counsellors respond

authors: Snowdon, Jennifer Mary (Jenny)

subjects: Feminist new materialist research

abstract: This feminist research enacts a new materialist performance of theory/practice that investigates love-entangled-with-violence in intimate heterosexual partner relationship. The study investigates the double dilemma of a woman’s love-connectivity to her partner that refuses to be unfelt and unthought, despite the disturbance of violence, with the counselling conundrum of how to effectively and ethically respond. The data materials were generated in two cycles of group interviews. The initial waves of data were drawn from narratives told in interviews with women whose intimate partners had subjected them to physical abuses and coercive controls produced through accretions of surveillance, accusation and constraint. These narratives were haunted by intensities of love dis-join-ted. Consequently, the women engaged with counselling or therapeutic programmes. As researcher, I wanted to learn what women had to say about their experiences of therapy and to take these readings of therapy to a group of counsellors in collective documents. In a second wave of interviews, a group of counsellors offered practice accounts of justice-doing, cut together-apart with women’s struggle, refolded into ethical considerations for finding safety. In that sense, both the counsellors and women-in-danger traversed uncertain territory. Collaborative therapeutic practices, such as those the counsellor group described in this research, act as apparatuses for interference and contestibility, and hence, for change. 

The study’s originating questions were about how power/knowledge and domination (Foucault) is exercised in heterosexual partner relationship. The theoretical arc of the study took an early turn towards new materialisms (Barad) and the affective potentialities of human-nonhuman assemblages (Massumi). Entities such as vehicles, guns and a knife, queered the trajectory of the study towards differentiating encounters with the thing power of clusters of actants other than and including humans (Bennett). The analysis of the research materials emerges through a Baradian diffractive approach, which maps the effects of difference. Taking Barad’s proposal for the inseparability of matter-discourse, the study sometimes maps affecting moments for the researcher-self onto the theoretical positions of the thesis. The contributions of this thesis are for counselling practices that attend to matter⇔discourse, including other-than-human bodies. A new materialist iteration of narrative therapy, the culmination of this research work, offers shifts in conceptual accounts of affect, and how to address what matters. These differences-in-the-(re)making are themselves indeterminate and ongoing.

text: "But I still love him": Women talk about love and violence, and counsellors respond This feminist research enacts a new materialist performance of theory/practice that investigates love-entangled-with-violence in intimate heterosexual partner relationship. The study investigates the double dilemma of a woman’s love-connectivity to her partner that refuses to be unfelt and unthought, despite the disturbance of violence, with the counselling conundrum of how to effectively and ethically respond. The data materials were generated in two cycles of group interviews. The initial waves of data were drawn from narratives told in interviews with women whose intimate partners had subjected them to physical abuses and coercive controls produced through accretions of surveillance, accusation and constraint. These narratives were haunted by intensities of love dis-join-ted. Consequently, the women engaged with counselling or therapeutic programmes. As researcher, I wanted to learn what women had to say about their experiences of therapy and to take these readings of therapy to a group of counsellors in collective documents. In a second wave of interviews, a group of counsellors offered practice accounts of justice-doing, cut together-apart with women’s struggle, refolded into ethical considerations for finding safety. In that sense, both the counsellors and women-in-danger traversed uncertain territory. Collaborative therapeutic practices, such as those the counsellor group described in this research, act as apparatuses for interference and contestibility, and hence, for change. 

The study’s originating questions were about how power/knowledge and domination (Foucault) is exercised in heterosexual partner relationship. The theoretical arc of the study took an early turn towards new materialisms (Barad) and the affective potentialities of human-nonhuman assemblages (Massumi). Entities such as vehicles, guns and a knife, queered the trajectory of the study towards differentiating encounters with the thing power of clusters of actants other than and including humans (Bennett). The analysis of the research materials emerges through a Baradian diffractive approach, which maps the effects of difference. Taking Barad’s proposal for the inseparability of matter-discourse, the study sometimes maps affecting moments for the researcher-self onto the theoretical positions of the thesis. The contributions of this thesis are for counselling practices that attend to matter⇔discourse, including other-than-human bodies. A new materialist iteration of narrative therapy, the culmination of this research work, offers shifts in conceptual accounts of affect, and how to address what matters. These differences-in-the-(re)making are themselves indeterminate and ongoing.

year: 2021

title: The Innovative Subject in Education: A Philosophical Perspective

authors: Heraud, Richard

subjects: Innovation

abstract: The field of innovation studies is both very recent and constituted through a variety of disciplines. It has become one of the dominant discourses of the modern research university driving reforms, the changing relationship of the university to the knowledge economy and international rankings of institutions. This thesis reviews these literatures and their implications for a student-centred view. Specifically, the thesis examines the literature of innovation in economics, reviewing and analysing the work of three selected theorists – List, Schumpeter, and Lundvall – and the figure of the innovator as entrepreneur. The predominant economic understanding of innovation treats the process of innovation as a black box and neoliberalism views innovation as a means of increasing productivity, largely ignoring the student's contribution. This thesis argues that students’ capacity for innovation, which is already present in their subjectivities as tacit knowledge is enhanced through the use open architectures and digital platforms that becomes the basis for social innovation as a form of collective intelligence in higher education. This new model of open and social innovation is a very different notion to the standard economic view, bringing to the fore the ethics of collaboration in the service of peer and co-production that is more suited to the digital age of social media.

text: The Innovative Subject in Education: A Philosophical Perspective The field of innovation studies is both very recent and constituted through a variety of disciplines. It has become one of the dominant discourses of the modern research university driving reforms, the changing relationship of the university to the knowledge economy and international rankings of institutions. This thesis reviews these literatures and their implications for a student-centred view. Specifically, the thesis examines the literature of innovation in economics, reviewing and analysing the work of three selected theorists – List, Schumpeter, and Lundvall – and the figure of the innovator as entrepreneur. The predominant economic understanding of innovation treats the process of innovation as a black box and neoliberalism views innovation as a means of increasing productivity, largely ignoring the student's contribution. This thesis argues that students’ capacity for innovation, which is already present in their subjectivities as tacit knowledge is enhanced through the use open architectures and digital platforms that becomes the basis for social innovation as a form of collective intelligence in higher education. This new model of open and social innovation is a very different notion to the standard economic view, bringing to the fore the ethics of collaboration in the service of peer and co-production that is more suited to the digital age of social media.

year: 2017

title: Understanding the Happiness of Māori and the Role of Consumption: Experiences of the Millennial Generation

authors: de Thierry, Ebony

subjects: Māori Well-Being

abstract: Happiness is commonly perceived as the ideal state of being for  all of human kind. Although a universal definition of the term remains elusive, happiness is a goal that everybody wants to achieve. In understanding the different aspects that shape happiness, the literature has shown that this can vary depending on the cultural context. As such, this study investigates the essence of happiness as it is experienced by Māori. In understanding the experiences of the Millennial generation, the role that consumption plays is also explored. This group of young adults have been raised in an era when consumerism and cultural revitalisation are the norm.  

This investigation was guided by hermeneutic phenomenology using a kaupapa Māori research perspective. Through this, thirteen young Māori individuals were interviewed to gain their experiences of happiness. Photo elicitation techniques were utilised as a means to facilitate these interviews. Stories of the participants’ experiences of happiness were crafted and then analysed to explore the role of consumption.

Findings show that the happiness of Māori is shaped by the five themes of; sense of belonging, whānau and relationships, spirituality, achievement and success, and sense of freedom. These themes interrelate as they are underpinned by the collective values of Māori. In particular, the aspects of spirituality and sense of belonging appear to be specific to the Māori realm. These are based on customs, values and beliefs that are inherited from our ancestors yet are still prevalent today. In terms of consumption, happiness can be positively linked to experiential consumption. In this case, it can play three different roles on the happiness of Māori through either; a direct connection, an indirect connection, or a negative connection. For Māori, consumption is more likely to have an indirect connection. This implies that it is able to facilitate, maintain and enhance happiness, but is not essential to creating these feelings. This investigation contributes to the literature in four ways. First, this study serves as a starting point to developing a comprehensive framework of happiness that is specific to the culture, views and values of Māori. This will assist Māori through ensuring that they are accurately represented in policies, frameworks and statistics. Second, it proposes five guidelines for Māori which suggest how they can maximise happiness through consumption. Third, this study provides a more up-to-date understanding of the happiness of Māori at the individual level whilst incorporating the impact of collective values. Marketers, researchers and practitioners can utilise this information in an attempt to aid in improving the happiness of Māori society. Finally, it shows that consumption can continue to be positively related to happiness once basic needs have been met. The positive role that consumption can play on happiness is identified, showing that marketers and consumers can work together to achieve happiness.

text: Understanding the Happiness of Māori and the Role of Consumption: Experiences of the Millennial Generation Happiness is commonly perceived as the ideal state of being for  all of human kind. Although a universal definition of the term remains elusive, happiness is a goal that everybody wants to achieve. In understanding the different aspects that shape happiness, the literature has shown that this can vary depending on the cultural context. As such, this study investigates the essence of happiness as it is experienced by Māori. In understanding the experiences of the Millennial generation, the role that consumption plays is also explored. This group of young adults have been raised in an era when consumerism and cultural revitalisation are the norm.  

This investigation was guided by hermeneutic phenomenology using a kaupapa Māori research perspective. Through this, thirteen young Māori individuals were interviewed to gain their experiences of happiness. Photo elicitation techniques were utilised as a means to facilitate these interviews. Stories of the participants’ experiences of happiness were crafted and then analysed to explore the role of consumption.

Findings show that the happiness of Māori is shaped by the five themes of; sense of belonging, whānau and relationships, spirituality, achievement and success, and sense of freedom. These themes interrelate as they are underpinned by the collective values of Māori. In particular, the aspects of spirituality and sense of belonging appear to be specific to the Māori realm. These are based on customs, values and beliefs that are inherited from our ancestors yet are still prevalent today. In terms of consumption, happiness can be positively linked to experiential consumption. In this case, it can play three different roles on the happiness of Māori through either; a direct connection, an indirect connection, or a negative connection. For Māori, consumption is more likely to have an indirect connection. This implies that it is able to facilitate, maintain and enhance happiness, but is not essential to creating these feelings. This investigation contributes to the literature in four ways. First, this study serves as a starting point to developing a comprehensive framework of happiness that is specific to the culture, views and values of Māori. This will assist Māori through ensuring that they are accurately represented in policies, frameworks and statistics. Second, it proposes five guidelines for Māori which suggest how they can maximise happiness through consumption. Third, this study provides a more up-to-date understanding of the happiness of Māori at the individual level whilst incorporating the impact of collective values. Marketers, researchers and practitioners can utilise this information in an attempt to aid in improving the happiness of Māori society. Finally, it shows that consumption can continue to be positively related to happiness once basic needs have been met. The positive role that consumption can play on happiness is identified, showing that marketers and consumers can work together to achieve happiness.

year: 2012