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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Letting the Lions loose

THERE was once a man and a lion travelling together through a forest, debating who was more powerful. Whilst disputing, they passed a statue depicting a man strangling a lion. “Ha!” Said the man. “See there! Look how strong we are, prevailing even over the king of...

The Importance of Youth Voting

I was very intrigued by Jennifer Frost's lecture on the history of the 26th amendment and the voting rights of young people. Historically this related heavily to comparing how men at age 18 could be drafted for war, and women could legally marry. So if they could hold...

Nazis vs Soviets Morality Battle!

The difference between America’s view of Nazis and Marixst-Leninists is pretty staggering. On one hand, you have a brutal regime that committed genocide and other atrocious acts. On the other hand, you have a secretive country that in the time span of just one man’s...

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...

External signifiers of femininity on war machines…

Thought you might find this interesting in the light of our adventures with Christina Aguilera on Monday....Think about the nature of these "pinups" and a warning many of them are more ...well you'll see. They are explicit - and were painted on aeroplanes....

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...

This article seemed to touch on some things from our Monday Session!

“Working Together Is What Humans Are Built to Do”: Social Trust Is Key to Stemming the Coronavirus Crisis Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 2 April 2020.

The Value of Research

Dr Thomsen’s seminar showed me that research, regardless of its specificity, does not exist in a vacuum. Initially, his research on the sexual identity of Korean men living in Seattle seemed abstract to me, in grounding his study in his lived experiences and those of...

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...

Why Won’t Youth ‘Pokemon Go’ To The Polls?

CNN. Clinton drops a Pokemon Go reference at rally. From YouTube. Video, 0.46. March 8, 2020....

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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