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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Timeless Beauty

I found Associate Professor Erin Griffey and Victoria Munn’s research investigating the origins of beauty cultures and visual cultures of beauty to be fascinating. By referring to the Renaissance, the ‘Great Works’ they relied on were digitalized manuscripts and...

How to not contribute to ‘Orientalism’ and ‘othering’ in research?

Orientalism that Patrick consulted with in his research is really interesting to me. This bias toward Western knowledge in academia may often hide in plain sight. As he had noted that even his framing of the question, “Why Korean gay men do not come out?” is...

Conflict in America and South Africa

As a first generation Kiwi, my parents grew up in South Africa with racial segregation, and it wasn’t something we ever talked about. It’s only now that we’re having these discussions; something that is crucial in a time of social change. While talking to my parents...

Development Without Conflict – The Tang Dynasty

When we spoke about how the development of a nation or a culture can only really be achieved through conflict, it left me feeling rather despondent. In all of human existence, was every major steppingstone in our cultural evolutions spurred on by a need to overcome...

War and Conflict’s Influence Upon Societal Reform

Change is an inevitable part of human existence, a fundamental component of our history that has so often been bolstered and revolutionised by war and conflict. Like change, conflict and by extension, war, are seemingly inevitable to our existence, events and ideas...

Ancient History for the Girls, Gays and Theys.

Greco-Roman history has always been remembered as a little gay – an accurate but slightly problematic fact that ignores the prevalent paedophilia rife in Ancient Greece and Rome. In the words of John Mulaney, “we don’t have time to unpack all that”. We do, however,...

*women* and my positionality on feminism

Being a women (as I’m sure we can all agree) is hard enough as it is. Now, with growing globalisation and ‘modernity’, we get to grapple with the conflicts of living our lives and other women living theirs. Of course, there is no one way to live life but trying to...

The end, the means, and the manipulation.

While talking about international campaigns and how they work, Thomas Nash talked about there being three key things to consider; who we want to influence, how we want to influence and what we can use to influence. This short phrase really got my mental gears turning...

“Hey Siri – Define Beauty”

Has the definition of beauty changed due to new technologies and resources? During early modern Europe, “Recipe books” were used as a step by step guide to reach beauty ideals. Dr Erin Griffey sourced over 400 recipes that focused on complexion alone. The extensive...

An Anthro Nerd Talks War

I love Anthro106 (issues and history in popular music), so I thought it’d be awesome to bring my new knowledge into art schol. I wanted to explore the music created during wartime and how it was influenced in the aftermath. I decided to focus on World War II and how...

Gender and War

When we talk about war, so often it is in terms of the male soldier or male head-of-state. When women are mentioned, it is often in the lumped phrase ‘women and children’. As we’ve progressed through this term, it has left me wondering: where are the women?  Simply,...

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Hated in our Nations

Hated in our Nations

Spoilers  for episode 6 of season 3 of Black Mirror below.  Civilian casualties are as common as they are condemned. Numbers remind us that governments, be it democratic or authoritarian, kill large numbers of civilians as a military strategy. In his lecture, Thomas...

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Labels and Positionality

Labels and Positionality

Of all the sessions we had this year, one of the most impactful for me was Dr. Madhavi Manchi's session on research positionality. She answered a lot of the questions that I didn't know had been at the back of my mind since I started my Arts degree, the core of these...

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