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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If you sound like David Attenborough you’re doing it wrong.

  The power of biases is hard to minimize in Theology because everyone has a bias somewhere on the religious spectrum. Often the religious affiliation of the researcher comes into question. Why would you let someone who doesn't share your belief, tell you how...

The Fine Line

There is a fine line researchers walk when it comes to bonds with participants, one that I had never really thought too much about until the session with Tracey McIntosh, Nicole Perry, Carisa Showden and Jemaima Tiatia-Seath. Although I could not make the discussion...

ANZAC – today and tomorrow

This year, amidst the lock down and the chaos, many New Zealanders are planning the long, arduous trek to the letter box to stand and honour the traditions of a nation, a stationary dawn parade for ANZAC day. Even while relegated to the confines of our properties,...

Change

Various revolutions across the past 200 years have caused changes in social structure, political control, and the movement of our everyday lives. Today I tried to write about the french revolution. It is intriguing to look back upon the past and in their perspective...

Sex through the ages – considering orientation and Orientalism

Dr Patrick Thomsen’s examination of sexual identity in the context of Saïd’s Orientalism led me to consider how while the East-West dynamic certainly penetrates sexual discourse*, we should also consider how perceptions of sexuality change over time. The covert...

Quentin Tarantino: The Art v Artist Conundrum

When I was 16, my dad introduced me to Tarantino’s Kill Bill. It felt revolutionary.    From then on, I was hooked on Tarantino films, both as father-daughter bonding and because they fueled my love of film.   But, like all good things, my love for...

The Eye of the Beholder.

Our second research seminar that was delivered by Erin Griffey and Victoria Munn explored beauty ideals from the Renaissance and how this might be reflected in art produced at the time. Their work involved translating historical beauty recipes from this period and...

The Need to Reflect on Youth Voting Rights.

Professor Jennifer Frost research on youth voting rights and the 26th amendment lead me upon a reflection of what it means to be youth in today's society. The young people who were involved in her research were activists that promoted social change in society. They...

Decision making and Subjectivity

Decisions are power. The decision-maker has agency over the representation, framing, analysis and conclusions drawn from their research. The process of decision making is abstracting - from broad, raw data, into a selection of options. The data is the input and the...

Cats: Our Furry Comrades in Arms

Hey all you cool cats and kittens- lets talk about the forgotten fallen of World War I

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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