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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Reflections on Internal Conflict during COVID-19

As coronavirus ravages through the world, I feel odd basking in inner peace. Solitude, and time with my family have left me with hours to enjoy the simpler pleasures that life normally gets in the way of. Picking out tomorrow’s lunch recipe with my family the night...

Who Am I? A short, self-indulgent meditation on my internal struggle.

The past weeks have been a bit rough for me. The lockdown has stifled my self-esteem quite severely, and it’s left me floating without motivation or imperative. I did, however, find the energy to attend the Arts Scholars forum on power and inequality in research. I...

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,...

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...

Our relation to the stories we tell

Dr Thomsen’s personal story is related to, but, uniquely different from those revealed in his research. I think this is both empowering and potentially hazardous. There are of course benefits to working in a familiar space; having connections, understanding jargon,...

Preparedness for Conflict in Domestic and Foreign analysis

When assessing preparedness for conflict, the institutions for peace conflict with the absence of historical precedent. Hence we must look beyond our borders to observe foreign response to conflict: in doing so we facilitate the transformation of livelihood and relationships in a domestic context of conflict.

What would draft resistance look like today?

        There’s an obvious reason why people evaded the draft in the Vietnam War- the belief that the war was pointless and thus pointless to participate in, pointless to risk one’s life in. However, this is not what I want to talk about. Society’s view on draft...

Reparations for Slavery to End Systemic Racism is a Terrible Idea

There have been many proposed solutions to end systemic racism, reparations for slavery being one. Reparations are a terrible idea. Systemic racism is a problem that’s deeply embedded in the system, something that doesn’t go away with a check. Systemic racism is like...

Age through sex: considering masculinity, maturity, and music

Jennifer Frost’s response to the predictably brilliant question posed by Antonia Grant about how the reasoning that fuelled support for the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – that citizens too young to vote were old enough to fight – applied to women – led me...

We Are Never Getting out of Lockdown

Has lockdown caused a certain kind of social alienation that can’t be undone? How can we expect to understand the world without bias when we’re all at home living virtual realities?

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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