title: New developments of the SimCLIM model for simulating adaptation to risks arising from climate variability and change

authors: Warrick, Richard A.

subjects: climate change

abstract: This paper describes these improvements to SimCLIM and demonstrates their application through a pilot study of coastal flood risk from tropical cyclones in a community on the island of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Multiple simulations are conducted with and without climate change, and with and without adaptation. The results thereby give clear indications of the relative magnitude of present and future impacts of tropical cyclones and the relative costs and benefits of adaptation options for reducing the risks.

text: New developments of the SimCLIM model for simulating adaptation to risks arising from climate variability and change This paper describes these improvements to SimCLIM and demonstrates their application through a pilot study of coastal flood risk from tropical cyclones in a community on the island of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Multiple simulations are conducted with and without climate change, and with and without adaptation. The results thereby give clear indications of the relative magnitude of present and future impacts of tropical cyclones and the relative costs and benefits of adaptation options for reducing the risks.

year: 2005

title: Negotiated identities: Christianity and ethnicity in a diasporic Cambodian church

authors: Watson, Peter

abstract: As a global religious movement, Christianity has throughout history come into conflict with the traditional cosmologies of those who choose to convert, drastically changing the ways in which people express their spirituality. While much work within anthropology has focused on the cultural rupture that inevitably comes with conversion to Christianity, in this thesis I contribute to a growing body of work that understands conversion as incorporating both the changing and continuation of culture. This thesis is an ethnography of a Khmer language church in Aotearoa/New Zealand that provides a unique opportunity to examine a faith community embodying both radical change and strong connections to tradition. My investigation into the lived experiences of Cambodian Christians in the diaspora explores how initial decisions to convert, as well as church members’ engagements with society in both Aotearoa/New Zealand and Cambodia reflect both rupture and continuity. As evidence of this I show that Khmer migrants’ decisions to convert to Christianity have been heavily impacted by their ethnic identity, as they, like most Cambodians, look to religion as a way to establish order in a chaotic world. Alongside this, I examine ways in which Cambodian Christians relate to both their own cultural heritage and the wider religious landscape of Aotearoa/New Zealand, showing that the Christian life of CCF members is heavily influenced by both aspects of their Khmer identity and a desire to faithfully worship the Christian God. In exploring these aspects of Christian conversion, I join others in arguing for the need to view conversion as a dynamic and multifaceted process involving more than just rupture or simple syncretism.

text: Negotiated identities: Christianity and ethnicity in a diasporic Cambodian church As a global religious movement, Christianity has throughout history come into conflict with the traditional cosmologies of those who choose to convert, drastically changing the ways in which people express their spirituality. While much work within anthropology has focused on the cultural rupture that inevitably comes with conversion to Christianity, in this thesis I contribute to a growing body of work that understands conversion as incorporating both the changing and continuation of culture. This thesis is an ethnography of a Khmer language church in Aotearoa/New Zealand that provides a unique opportunity to examine a faith community embodying both radical change and strong connections to tradition. My investigation into the lived experiences of Cambodian Christians in the diaspora explores how initial decisions to convert, as well as church members’ engagements with society in both Aotearoa/New Zealand and Cambodia reflect both rupture and continuity. As evidence of this I show that Khmer migrants’ decisions to convert to Christianity have been heavily impacted by their ethnic identity, as they, like most Cambodians, look to religion as a way to establish order in a chaotic world. Alongside this, I examine ways in which Cambodian Christians relate to both their own cultural heritage and the wider religious landscape of Aotearoa/New Zealand, showing that the Christian life of CCF members is heavily influenced by both aspects of their Khmer identity and a desire to faithfully worship the Christian God. In exploring these aspects of Christian conversion, I join others in arguing for the need to view conversion as a dynamic and multifaceted process involving more than just rupture or simple syncretism.

year: 2023

title: The timing of the human discovery and colonization of New Zealand

authors: Sutton, Douglas G.

abstract: In discriminating between the proposed Long, Short and Intermediate Chronologies for New Zealand prehistory, archaeologists have recently voted by a narrow majority that the human commensal, Rattus exulans, was present in New Zealand up to 2000 years BP, although the preferred date of ‘first settlement’ by people was ca 800 years BP. A recalibration of New Zealand chronometric data has resulted in reinterpretations of the date and duration of occupation on critical archaeological sites. A remodelling of the ages of the putatively earliest sites in New Zealand has shown these to indicate only a broadly defined period when settlement occurred rather than the date when New Zealand was discovered (as the Short Chronology advocates have insisted). Finally, comparisons with archaeological research on islands elsewhere in the world have brought with them recognition that the discovery, exploration, initial settlement and colonization of New Zealand by Polynesian voyagers were broadly consecutive processes. This paper reviews a range of current evidence in the context of its current theorization and affirms the Long Chronology, recognizing it as the most plausible hypothesis.

text: The timing of the human discovery and colonization of New Zealand In discriminating between the proposed Long, Short and Intermediate Chronologies for New Zealand prehistory, archaeologists have recently voted by a narrow majority that the human commensal, Rattus exulans, was present in New Zealand up to 2000 years BP, although the preferred date of ‘first settlement’ by people was ca 800 years BP. A recalibration of New Zealand chronometric data has resulted in reinterpretations of the date and duration of occupation on critical archaeological sites. A remodelling of the ages of the putatively earliest sites in New Zealand has shown these to indicate only a broadly defined period when settlement occurred rather than the date when New Zealand was discovered (as the Short Chronology advocates have insisted). Finally, comparisons with archaeological research on islands elsewhere in the world have brought with them recognition that the discovery, exploration, initial settlement and colonization of New Zealand by Polynesian voyagers were broadly consecutive processes. This paper reviews a range of current evidence in the context of its current theorization and affirms the Long Chronology, recognizing it as the most plausible hypothesis.

year: 2008