title: Understanding 'the National Sport for New Zealand Women': A Socio-Spatial Analysis of Netball

authors: Marfell, Amy Elizabeth

subjects: Netball

abstract: Since the early 20th century, netball has been heralded ‘the national sport for New Zealand women’ and it continues to represent one of the few team sport environments not characterized by the interests and participation of men. Created by and for women, netball promotes and preserves a sense of women-onlyness. There is, however, a link between netball and femininity that has gone largely unexplored among contemporary studies of sport.
	This research focuses on the social production of netball space and the ongoing and complex relationship between netball and heteronormative femininity in New Zealand. Drawing upon interviews with 16 recreational players and ethnographic fieldwork conducted over two years, I examine how women experience, negotiate and challenge notions of gender, sexuality, corporeality and subjectivity in spaces of netball. Adopting a poststructural feminist interpretation of Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory, I demonstrate how the relationship between women’s sporting bodies, space and social relations is mutually constituted.
In this thesis, I explain spaces of netball as reproducing and celebrating particular gendered and sexualized identities and thus, prioritizing a relatively narrow but culturally valued heteronormative feminine athletic ideal. Whilst some women enjoy and are empowered by the social conditions of this sport, the power relations operating on and through netball spaces can also work to subordinate and exclude alternative or ‘other’ femininities and bodies. Yet, as my research reveals, netball also offers opportunities for resistance as some netballers engage in oppositional politics and/or use this space to disrupt normative discourse. This is particularly evident in the ways some players resist the involvement of men, how mothers use netball space to obtain momentary reprieve from the expectations of motherhood, and how pregnant, ‘fat’ and older bodies challenge the discursive construction of the contemporary (feminine) athletic ideal via their participation in this sport. To this end, this research not only demonstrates the social geography of netball in the everyday lives of New Zealand women, but also the potential of theoretical syntheses between Lefebvre and feminism for offering productive new ways to think about the interrelationships between active bodies, identities, space, power and resistance in sport and female physical culture.

text: Understanding 'the National Sport for New Zealand Women': A Socio-Spatial Analysis of Netball Since the early 20th century, netball has been heralded ‘the national sport for New Zealand women’ and it continues to represent one of the few team sport environments not characterized by the interests and participation of men. Created by and for women, netball promotes and preserves a sense of women-onlyness. There is, however, a link between netball and femininity that has gone largely unexplored among contemporary studies of sport.
	This research focuses on the social production of netball space and the ongoing and complex relationship between netball and heteronormative femininity in New Zealand. Drawing upon interviews with 16 recreational players and ethnographic fieldwork conducted over two years, I examine how women experience, negotiate and challenge notions of gender, sexuality, corporeality and subjectivity in spaces of netball. Adopting a poststructural feminist interpretation of Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory, I demonstrate how the relationship between women’s sporting bodies, space and social relations is mutually constituted.
In this thesis, I explain spaces of netball as reproducing and celebrating particular gendered and sexualized identities and thus, prioritizing a relatively narrow but culturally valued heteronormative feminine athletic ideal. Whilst some women enjoy and are empowered by the social conditions of this sport, the power relations operating on and through netball spaces can also work to subordinate and exclude alternative or ‘other’ femininities and bodies. Yet, as my research reveals, netball also offers opportunities for resistance as some netballers engage in oppositional politics and/or use this space to disrupt normative discourse. This is particularly evident in the ways some players resist the involvement of men, how mothers use netball space to obtain momentary reprieve from the expectations of motherhood, and how pregnant, ‘fat’ and older bodies challenge the discursive construction of the contemporary (feminine) athletic ideal via their participation in this sport. To this end, this research not only demonstrates the social geography of netball in the everyday lives of New Zealand women, but also the potential of theoretical syntheses between Lefebvre and feminism for offering productive new ways to think about the interrelationships between active bodies, identities, space, power and resistance in sport and female physical culture.

year: 2016

title: RAPD Analysis of East Antarctic Pottia heimii Populations

authors: Dale, Tracy Maree

abstract: Pottia heimii contributes significantly to the sparse terrestrial vegetation in East Antarctica, especially within the Dry Valley region. Using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD), levels of genetic variation were investigated in several East Antarctic P. heimii populations. The initial stage of the study optimised the RAPD protocol specifically for antarctic P. heimii. RAPDs gave similar profiles for genetically identical P. heimii tissue (shoots joined at the base) and were able to detect DNA differences between individual shoots within a moss clump, confirming the usefulness of RAPDs for P. heimii population studies. 
Genetic distance matrices calculated from RAPD banding patterns were presented as dendrograms and used in an Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOV A). Using single moss shoots, a significant level of genetic variation was detected within three 50 metre transects collected in the Miers Valley. The genetic spatial structure within these transects was random indicated by the distribution of genotypes. This suggested wind was the most likely agent for local propagule dispersal. No genetic subdivision existed between the transects, therefore individuals could be considered to be taken from a single population. Comparison of individuals from Miers Valley, East Garwood Valley, Bratina Island and Edmonson Point showed the first three Southern Victoria Land populations could be considered as a single larger population genetically distinct from the more northerly Edmonson Point population. The level of genetic variation within all the East Antarctic P. heimii populations analysed was considered significant.

text: RAPD Analysis of East Antarctic Pottia heimii Populations Pottia heimii contributes significantly to the sparse terrestrial vegetation in East Antarctica, especially within the Dry Valley region. Using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD), levels of genetic variation were investigated in several East Antarctic P. heimii populations. The initial stage of the study optimised the RAPD protocol specifically for antarctic P. heimii. RAPDs gave similar profiles for genetically identical P. heimii tissue (shoots joined at the base) and were able to detect DNA differences between individual shoots within a moss clump, confirming the usefulness of RAPDs for P. heimii population studies. 
Genetic distance matrices calculated from RAPD banding patterns were presented as dendrograms and used in an Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOV A). Using single moss shoots, a significant level of genetic variation was detected within three 50 metre transects collected in the Miers Valley. The genetic spatial structure within these transects was random indicated by the distribution of genotypes. This suggested wind was the most likely agent for local propagule dispersal. No genetic subdivision existed between the transects, therefore individuals could be considered to be taken from a single population. Comparison of individuals from Miers Valley, East Garwood Valley, Bratina Island and Edmonson Point showed the first three Southern Victoria Land populations could be considered as a single larger population genetically distinct from the more northerly Edmonson Point population. The level of genetic variation within all the East Antarctic P. heimii populations analysed was considered significant.

year: 1997

title: Traditional plant harvesting in contemporary fragmented and urban landscapes

authors: Wehi, Priscilla M.

subjects: ethnobiology

abstract: Ecosystem fragmentation and destruction can lead to restrictive administration policies on traditional harvesting by indigenous peoples from remaining ecosystem tracts. In New Zealand, concerns about endangered species and governmental policies that focus on species and ecosystem preservation have resulted in severely curtailed traditional harvesting rights. Although provision has been made for limited gathering of traditional plants from government-administered conservation lands, it is unclear how much harvesting is undertaken on these lands and elsewhere and what this harvest might consist of. We interviewed seven expert Maori elders from the Waikato, New Zealand, to identify plant species they currently harvested and from where. We compared these data with the data we collected on permits issued for plant collecting on conservation lands in the same region. We sought to gain information on indigenous plant harvesting to determine the extent of permitted harvesting from conservation lands in the Waikato and to identify issues that might affect plant harvesting and management. Elders identified 58 species they harvest regularly or consider culturally important; over 50% of these species are harvested for medicinal use. Permit data from 1996 to 2006 indicated no apparent relationship between species of reported cultural significance and the number of permits issued for each of these species. Currently, few plant species are harvested from conservation lands, although some unofficial harvesting occurs. Elders instead reported that medicinal plants are frequently collected from urban and other public areas. They reported that plant species used for dyeing, carving, and weaving are difficult to access. Elders also discussed concerns such as spraying of roadsides, which resulted in the death of medicinal species, and use of commercial hybrids in urban planning. Local government may have an increasingly important role in supporting native traditions through urban planning, which takes account of cultural harvesting needs while potentially reducing future harvesting pressure on conservation lands. We suggest that active participation by the Māori community in the development and management of urban harvesting resources will result in positive outcomes.

text: Traditional plant harvesting in contemporary fragmented and urban landscapes Ecosystem fragmentation and destruction can lead to restrictive administration policies on traditional harvesting by indigenous peoples from remaining ecosystem tracts. In New Zealand, concerns about endangered species and governmental policies that focus on species and ecosystem preservation have resulted in severely curtailed traditional harvesting rights. Although provision has been made for limited gathering of traditional plants from government-administered conservation lands, it is unclear how much harvesting is undertaken on these lands and elsewhere and what this harvest might consist of. We interviewed seven expert Maori elders from the Waikato, New Zealand, to identify plant species they currently harvested and from where. We compared these data with the data we collected on permits issued for plant collecting on conservation lands in the same region. We sought to gain information on indigenous plant harvesting to determine the extent of permitted harvesting from conservation lands in the Waikato and to identify issues that might affect plant harvesting and management. Elders identified 58 species they harvest regularly or consider culturally important; over 50% of these species are harvested for medicinal use. Permit data from 1996 to 2006 indicated no apparent relationship between species of reported cultural significance and the number of permits issued for each of these species. Currently, few plant species are harvested from conservation lands, although some unofficial harvesting occurs. Elders instead reported that medicinal plants are frequently collected from urban and other public areas. They reported that plant species used for dyeing, carving, and weaving are difficult to access. Elders also discussed concerns such as spraying of roadsides, which resulted in the death of medicinal species, and use of commercial hybrids in urban planning. Local government may have an increasingly important role in supporting native traditions through urban planning, which takes account of cultural harvesting needs while potentially reducing future harvesting pressure on conservation lands. We suggest that active participation by the Māori community in the development and management of urban harvesting resources will result in positive outcomes.

year: 2010