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- Volume 1, Issue 1, 2013
Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies - Volume 1, Issue 1, 2013
Volume 1, Issue 1, 2013
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A necessarily better place: Images of New Zealand in the Slovak mass media
By Peter BarrerNew Zealand and Slovakia have some things in common in spite of their distance from each other. Both countries have similarly sized populations and national identities attached to strong agricultural heritages. Also, both countries have faced isolation – New Zealand’s geographical ‘tyranny of distance’ and Slovakia’s one-time political position at ‘the forgotten centre’ of Europe. Although bilateral economic, political and person-to-person links between the two countries are on a negligible level, Slovaks certainly know of New Zealand even if very few have actually been there; their knowledge and image of the country is primarily constructed from the Slovak mass media. This article examines the image of New Zealand in the Slovak mass media from 2010 to 2012: a period which saw the first ever football encounter between the two countries at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, as well as an event in New Zealand (the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake) which was covered by the Slovak media. The images of New Zealand presented herein will contribute to the wider discussion of popular perceptions of New Zealand in the region of central Europe.
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Should they stay or should they go? A discourse analysis of factors influencing relocation decisions among the outer islands of Tuvalu and Kiribati
By Roy SmithThe low-lying atoll states of Tuvalu and Kiribati have gained international attention due to their vulnerability to climate change and associated sea-level rise. They have been referred to as ‘sinking islands’, with some commentators predicting that they could become completely uninhabitable within a generation. This work acknowledges that climate change is having a negative impact on these island communities. However, it would be too simplistic to only focus on this as the key factor in patterns of migration from the outer islands to the urban centres of each state. There are multiple drivers for both internal and international migration, and also for the desire to reside in these communities for as long as they remain habitable. Through fieldwork interviews with residents of Vaitupu, an outer island of Tuvalu and Abaiang, an outer island of Kiribati, this work seeks to understand the key determinants in residents deciding whether or not to relocate. Interviews were also conducted with former members of these communities that are now resident in the urban centres of Funafuti (in Tuvalu) and Tarawa (in Kiribati). Further context was supplied via interviews with government officials, donor agencies and civil society groups.
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The Australian and New Zealand governments’ responses to Britain’s decline in the 1960s: Identity, geopolitics and the end of Empire
By Jack DoigUntil the 1960s, the Australian and New Zealand governments were firmly committed to the British Empire and they framed their countries as British nations on the edge of Asia and the Pacific. Britain’s first attempt to join the European Economic Community in 1961, and its withdrawal of the vast majority of its military forces from the Asia–Pacific region in 1968, signalled the extent of its decline as a global power. Britain’s decline profoundly challenged the governments of Australia and New Zealand because this threatened the British settler-nationalism that predominated in each country, which were dependent on British economic and military strength. This development had the potential to radically alter the world-views of the government and cause them to reconsider the way they defined their nations and the policies they used to ensure their economic and military survival. This article will analyse the two governments’ responses to these events and consider how this affected political rhetoric in Australia and New Zealand and the extent to which it caused them to redefine their geopolitical understandings of the nation.
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The recent past as historical representation: The New Zealand film Out of the Blue (2006)
By Tory StrakerNew Zealand’s cinema is comparatively young, with almost 90 per cent of its film production having occurred within the last 35 years. Significantly, within this industry, films have repeatedly turned to representations of the past, in what appears as an attempt to understand the cultural growth of a nation. An important, but often-overlooked element within historical recreations is the concept of recent history and its relevance on-screen. This will be explored in this article with a study of Robert Sarkies’s film Out of the Blue (2006), which is based on New Zealand’s worst mass shooting, the Aramoana tragedy in 1991. Historical films are made at different cultural points in a nation’s creative history. It will therefore be necessary to not only consider the depictions of history but the different cultural attitudes of the period in which a film was made. This article addresses the importance of history for cultural production, and the manner in which recreation of the past is achieved through important aspects such as mise-en-scène. Finally, this article constructs an understanding of the effect of contemporary culture on the portrayal of New Zealand history and the interrelationship of fiction and fact in establishing a popular cinema.
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REVIEWS
AN ACCIDENTAL UTOPIA? SOCIAL MOBILITY AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF AN EGALITARIAN SOCIETY, 1880–1940,ERIK OLSSEN, CLYDE GRIFFEN AND FRANK JONES (2009) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 472 pp., ISBN 978 1 877372 64 3 (pbk), NZ$49.95
BEYOND THE SCENE: LANDSCAPE AND IDENTITY IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, JANET STEPHENSON, MICK ABBOTT AND JACINTA RURU (EDS) (2010) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 224 pp., ISBN 978 1 877372 81 0 (pbk), £18.50
MAKING OUR PLACE: EXPLORING LAND-USE TENSIONS IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, JACINTA RURU, JANET STEPHENSON AND MICK ABBOTT (EDS) (2011) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 240 pp., ISBN 978 1 877372 88 9 (pbk), £18.50
SEEDS OF EMPIRE: THE ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSFORMATION OF NEW ZEALAND, TOM BROOKING AND ERIC PAWSON (2011) London: I.B. Tauris, 296 pp., ISBN 978 184511797 9 (hbk), £59.50
A GREAT NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER? REAPPRAISING WILLIAM FERGUSON MASSEY, JAMES WATSON, LACHY PATERSON (ED.) (2011) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 176 pp., ISBN 978 1 877578 07 6 (pbk), NZ$40
INDIA IN NEW ZEALAND: LOCAL IDENTITIES, GLOBAL RELATIONS, SEKHAR BANDYOPADHYAY (ED.) (2010) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 269 pp., ISBN 978 1 877372 85 8 (pbk), NZ$49.95
CHANGING CONTEXTS – SHIFTING MEANINGS: TRANSFORMATIONS OF CULTURAL TRADITIONS IN OCEANIA, ELFRIEDE HERMANN (ED.) (2011) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 384 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 3366 4 (hbk), US$58.00
INTERPRETING CORRUPTION: CULTURE AND POLITICS IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS, PETER LARMOUR (2012) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 208 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 3514 9 (pbk), US$49.00
FROM KAI TO KIWI KITCHEN: NEW ZEALAND CULINARY TRADITIONS AND COOKBOOKS, HELEN LEACH (ED.) (2010) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 208 pp., ISBN 978 1 877372 75 9 (pbk), NZ$40
DIRECTORY OF WORLD CINEMA: AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, BEN GOLDSMITH AND GEOFF LEALAND (EDS) (2010) Bristol: Intellect Books, 320 pp., ISBN 978 1 84150 373 8 (pbk), £15.95
MAKING FILM AND TELEVISION HISTORIES: AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, JAMES E. BENNETT AND REBECCA BEIRNE (EDS) (2012) London: I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd, 320 pp., ISBN 978 1 84885 944 9 (pbk), £19.99
HOME, LAND AND SEA: SITUATING MUSIC IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND, GLENDA KEAM AND TONY MITCHELL (EDS) (2011) North Shore: Pearson, 292 pp., ISBN 978 1 442516328 (pbk), NZ$78.99
THE FRAME FUNCTION: AN INSIDE-OUT GUIDE TO THE NOVELS OF JANET FRAME, JAN CRONIN (2011) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 222 pp., ISBN 978 1 86940 486 4 (pbk), £23.95
SWEET AS: JOURNEYS IN A NEW ZEALAND SUMMER, GARTH CARTWRIGHT (2011) Auckland: Allen & Unwin, 306 pp., ISBN 978 1 87750508 9 (pbk), NZ$39.99
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