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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CANS

How do military and civilian food culture mimic each other? This post is just a train of thoughts that go in many directions, but may also trigger you to think or extend these ideas. However, I would like to start with canned food. As we know from the lecture, it was...

Catharsis and artistic expression: conflicts in context

“New needs need new techniques. And the modern artists have found new ways and new means of making their statements…the modern painter cannot express this age, the airplane, the atom bomb, the radio, in the old forms of the Renaissance or of any other past culture.” -...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

Is Conflict Necessary for Facilitating Social Change?

An unnerving idea proposed in Sinisa Malesevic’s The Sociology of War and Violence I keep returning to is that war is necessary in order to facilitate rapid progress. Although I largely brushed it aside as the product of bellicose sociology and the process of...

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...

More war and food links…

Cooking for Victory? This interview is a fascinating look at the role of Winston Churchill's chef! https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018754010/churchill-s-forgotten-cook-serving-up-victory-in-the-kitchen  

Serve Them Chocolate Hobnob

Reflecting on Stephan Winter's research readdressing historic abuse in Aotearoa, one question stood out to me, (or maybe it was the very appealing image of the biscuit on the slide) What biscuit to serve? When research is built around such sensitive topic, it can be...

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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