Arts Scholars

Koi te hinengaro, koi te arero, koi te mahi!
Sharp of mind, tongue, and work!

Keep up with the latest discussions and thoughts from our Arts Scholars whānau

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More Art Than Science

I may be biased, but the arts faculty…

“The Templars have something to do with everything” or “The Propaganda of Conspiracy”

In Foucault's pendulum Casaubon and Belbo (our protagonists) move from mocking conspiracy theorists from a relative distance, to creating their own elaborate theory (still all in fun), to falling for it and bringing unforeseen consequences down upon themselves when...

Mission Trips and Cross-Cultural Research

"If heroism is driving your mission trip, stay home." 1 Power and inequity are uneasy themes that dictate life for people across all sub-sections of Aotearoa. Our in-class panel discussion regarding how these two topics are treated in cross-cultural academic research...

The Power of Peaceful Protests

When Joe gave his lecture a few weeks it brought up some interesting ideas, but I didn’t imagine just how relevant it would become a few weeks later. With the help of the internet and other technology, protests against systemic racism have spread across the US and the...

Is History Really Relevant?

Jennifer Frost is a researcher who is currently writing a book about the 26th amendment which allowed voting at age 18 in the United States. The inspiration behind Frost’s work was to correct the  mis-interpretation of youth involvement, and people who brought about...

A Conceptual Analysis of Conflict

The eighth paperback Collins English dictionary defines conflict as: [An] opposition between ideas or interests. A struggle or battle. To be incompatible. The Latin root word of conflict is ‘confligere’, or ‘to combat’. While the Latin and second definition interest...

Lost in between.

The research panel discussed the way power sits with those producing academic literature. The production of knowledge historically, and often still today, favours an established western system while side-lining or silencing ideas that are themselves deemed biased or...

The Misconception of Maori Christanity

Week 3’s lecture changed my perception of Maori Christianity. There was the question of whether Maori could be Christian and remain loyal to their identity? I am interested in the relationship between religion and conflict and how it shapes political thought.  

Christian philosophy had a significant influence on Maori political thinking during the New Zealand Land Wars. It formed the backbone of their nationhood, as imperialist ideals were reshaped into the first form of Maori nationalism. Previous generations of tribal politics dissolved as the image of a universal moral community became a component of their nationhood and identity as a single, unified race. The King movement saw the abandonment of tribal division as it was a call to unity, backed by New Testament teachings that Maori society could be advanced in terms of equality. 

Power: An Agent for Transformative Change

During the Artschol 200 panel on ‘Power and Inequality in Research’ brought attention to some of the challenges that I may encounter in my future research endeavors. I am passionate about human rights, art and culture and can see myself in a field of research that...

The need to see the context of conflicts, or, Why does Team Defence Fort Two have so much lore?

When engaging with media the essential nature of context to conflicts becomes obvious as context follows conflict even when not, arguably, needed. An excellent example of this is found in Valve's Team Fortress Two which, despite the game being America's #1 war-themed...

Translation is Positional

Translation is a simple process, right? Take a word in one language, change it into the other language, repeat for the whole text. A tried and true method, except... obviously not, please don't translate things like that. Not even a closely related language, like...

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The World of Fantasy

The World of Fantasy

*content warning* mentions of sexual assault   After Brooke and Hela mentioned Percy Jackson and The Hunger Games during their (amazing!) presentations, it got me rethinking some of the books that I loved growing up, and the increasingly problematic aspects of...

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Like a Peacock

It's been a long year. The world has changed in so many ways in only a few months, yet things are still oddly the same. Time has blurred. Things that have happened only a week ago feel like old hat. Movements have progressed rapidly, and at the same time achieved...

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Tissues, please.

What does it mean to “weep in the archives”? For me, it means connecting emotionally with the history that is - or isn’t - documented. It means expressing empathy with a community or a person separated from you by a vast expanse of time. It means recognising that...

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Rogue One: A Non-Skywalker Story

Rogue One: A Non-Skywalker Story

The first time I watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it was as a casual moviegoer along for the ride. I sat there just soaking in the action and cast chemistry and left little space for thinking about theme or cinematography. Four years and one video essay later,...

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Personal Histories

Personal experiences are a vital part of history. My memory project – interviewing my Grandmother about her memories of war – raised some interesting questions for me about different perspectives and memories of events. I have done a few research projects and...

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An infrastructure of feeling

An infrastructure of feeling

War and conflict are too impactful to be forgotten, even if they aren’t talked about and burrow down into the subconscious. In my memory project, I looked at this idea in relation to my family’s experience of World War Two and explored the consequences of silencing...

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