Annotated bibliography

COLONISATION NZ

Sorrenson, M.P.K. “How to Civilise Savages: Some ‘Answers’ from Nineteenth-century New Zealand.” Ko Te Whenua Te Utu/Land is the Price, edited by M.P.K Sorrenson, Auckland University Press, 2014, pp. 55 – 67

This article was very enlightening on how the Maori were considered as savages and how the Europeans treated them as such, and took it upon themselves to ‘civilise’ them. Maori were seen as violent, indulging in war and cannibalism. The author explains that the Europeans did attempt to understand them; “Cook and his companions began to unravel some of the apparent irrationalities of Maori savagery. They inquired closely and persistently into the nature of Maori cannibalism and found — correctly, as it turned out — that this was a means of utu, of taking revenge upon one’s enemy” (57). Christianity was also used as a tool of civilisation. The best quote in the book is “tried to turn Maori into brown-skinned Pakeha” which is an excellent summery of colonisers trying to overtake everything especially cultural differences.

Paul Tapsell. “Taonga, marae, whenua - negotiating custodianship: a Maori tribal response to Te Papa: the Museum of New Zealand” Rethinking settler colonialism: History and memory in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and South Africa, edited by Annie E. Coombe, Mancheaster University Press, 2006, pp. 86-100.

This was an interesting read about how, in the Maori culture, stories and histories are passed down orally. “Of all my elders Tomairangi remained my closest guide and mentor, someone I could always turn to for advice concerning all things Maori” (87). He exemplifies the importance of objects in his culture and the information and significance they can possess. This helped me understand why last year’s project was so difficult for me, I offended because I misrepresented an important object and couldn’t understand why, then found it very difficult to find out the information I needed because I was looking in the wrong place – books.

Jo Smith. “Aotearoa/New Zealand: An Unsettled State in a Sea of Islands.” Settler Colonial Studies, vol. 1, no.1, 2011, pp. 111-131

Smith explains that it wasn’t only people who arrived on ships; they brought produce, cargo, western law, religion and gendered and classed relations. The reading also put me onto some good artists to research such as Michael Parekowhai, John Pule, Lisa Reihana, Shane Cotton and Colin McCahon in relation to art that responds to colonial discourses. Smith wrote “Many Pakeha argue that through the fact of long-term occupation, Pakeha are now indigenous to Aotearoa/New Zealand” (124) which follows the idea that that is how Maori became indigenous (weren’t born on the land).

Sorrenson, M.P.K. “Colonial Rule and Local Response: Maori Responses too European Domination in New Zealand since 1960.” Ko Te Whenua Te Utu/Land is the Price, edited by M.P.K Sorrenson, Auckland University Press, 2014, pp. 145 – 157

This reading was more about the land wars that went on in New Zealand as a result of colonisation and how millions of acres of land belonging to the Maori were confiscated. “New Zealand became self-governing within twenty years of its foundation as a British colony; thereafter the fate of Maori, already a minority in their own land, rested largely in the hands of the European colonists” (145). Sorrenson exemplifies that New Zealand became one nation under the predominant rule of the Europeans and explains his fears that Maori will lose their cultural identity.

Avril Bell. “RECOGNITION OR ETHICS?” Cultural Studies, vol. 22, no 6,2008, pp. 850-869.

This reading states that the legacy left from white settler people and their Western ideals makes it difficult for the co-existence of our cultures due to the ‘superiority of western civilisation’. That the survival of indigenous cultures relies on their ability and willingness to assert their cultural differences especially in a political form. The author makes the point that in South America the Natives still had their reservations whereas in New Zealand there is no distinction of land like that and we all live in such close proximity. This resulted in intermarriage, therefore many generations of mixed cultural people which carries (and dilutes) Maori blood.

Sorrenson, M.P.K. “Treaties in British Colonial Policy: Precedents for Waitangi.” Ko Te Whenua Te Utu/Land is the Price, edited by M.P.K Sorrenson, Auckland University Press, 2014, pp. 40 -54

This reading was all about Treaty language and the similarities between the Treaty of Waitangi and others around the world, how they can be misinterpreted through translations to different languages. It only caught my attention because it draws similarities to South African colonisation; “The most likely parallel with New Zealand, since it was a settlement colony, is South Africa, but there appears to be no precedent for Waitangi there. Perhaps that is not surprising since the original Dutch East India Company and the Trekboers of the frontier were not in the habit of signing treaties of cession with the Khoi, the San or the Bantu-speaking tribes of the eastern Cape. Nor was there any substantial change when the British took over the Cape from the Dutch, and additional territory on the frontier was added to the colony” (42-43).

Batten, Juliet. Celebrating the Southern Seasons. Tandem Press, 1995.

Batten believes that we are all one from the Earth Mother even though she has different names in different cultures and proves her ideas by drawing similarities between paganism religion from Europe to Maori spiritualities and beliefs (and also explains how Christianity has had the same dominating effect on them). “Much of the Celtic imagery is resonant with that of Maori spiritualilty; for example, the sacredness of the colours red, white and black, and the spirals that densely twisted and turned throughout their art work” (18 + 19). Christianity was a force brought to NZ by the European settlers and was used as a tool to ‘civilise’ the native Maoris. Christianity was also the force that almost demolished Pagan practices in Europe.

Leonard Bell. “Auckland’s centrepiece: unsettled identities, unstable monuments.” Rethinking settler colonialism: History and memory in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and South Africa, edited by Annie E. Coombe, Mancheaster University Press, 2006, pp. 100-120.

This reading describes John Logan Campbell who was Scottish born and a pioneer European settler and was called the “father of Auckland. In 1901 he gifted a 230 acre site to be made into a public park, (on the slope of 1 tree hill), which had been a Maori pa (fortified settlement) for 300 years until the 1790s. He constructed a “larger than life” (100) statue of himself at the entrance of the then called Cornwell park in 1906.This intrigues me because a settler had land to ‘gift’ and also gifted a massive statue of himself – as if he was trying to place himself physically in a cultural place. There has been backlash about it which is expected but it is very interesting to learn why some people are against it and others (from the same culture) support it.

Swainson, William. Smith Elder, 1859. (Digitized on the 11th October 2007).

This was a great way to look into the way the European settlers saw the Native New Zealanders. It was especially interesting to have everything they tried to change (food, clothes, farming, religion) explained in such great detail. You actually get a sense of the change in the Maori culture near the end due to the influence of the British culture.

COLONISATION SA

Garb, Tamar, editor. HOMELANDMARKS. Haunch of Venison, 2008

This book raises the importance of the effect people and events have on places and how marks are left on them. Home Land Marks is an exhibition from South Africa that contains artworks that have responded to Apartheid, the displacement of people. It makes a strong connection between human emotion and physical place; “Terror and territory went hand in hand in Apartheid South Africa”(9). It also talks about ‘material culture’ such as objects (signs prohibiting coloured people) becoming part of South Africa’s history. This book is great to explain how physical land can hold so much culture and history for a place and the people who live there.

Apartheid the South African Mirror. Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona (CCCB), 2007

This book was the best to get more detail into South Africa’s history of both colonisation and apartheid. The first colonisers where Dutch and the second British. They fought over land causing the Boer wars and its resources such as diamonds. It caused the Anglo-Boer wars of 1880-1881 and 1899-1902. Then there was apartheid when the ‘white tribes’ went against the black and coloured people. The white people had privilege and everyone else was left to poverty. The book invited readers to reflect on racism and the forms of discrimination and segregation between and/or cultural differences between different human groups. It was also interesting to find out that “In 1870s to the 1930s there were authentic ‘human zoos’ that with varying degrees of paternalism presented groups of indigenous people from their colonised areas” (16) which I did not know happened in South Africa but did know it happened in the islands.

BEADS

Liza Lou. Durban diaries. MM Art book printing & repro, 2012

This book is written by the artist Liza Lou recollecting her time spent in Durban South Africa. Originally from Los Angeles, this artist works with beads, a material strongly tied into the cultural commodification system in South Africa. This book is a detailed diary of her day to day experiences with, and about, the lives of the 15 Africans she hired to help create her art work. The interesting part to me is that it focuses on these people’s lives, how these experiences change and cause development in her work. For example she started the 15 women on gluing beads to canvas, the way she had been working with the material but now incorporates methods of weaving in her work, taught to her by the African women. The book offers an insight into a world that I vividly remember from when I lived in South Africa and comforts me that another artist is working with beads in a non traditional way.

Morris, Jean and Eleanor Preston White. Speaking with Beads. Thames and Hudson, 1994

This book exemplifies the symbolic language of beads to send coded messages in amongst tribes in South Africa. The colour, size, material and pattern created with them are all representations that are unknown to outsiders. Beads were used as a traditional and cultural material but started being used to sell to tourists who were intrigued by them, who treated beaded objects as ‘ethnic art’. Africans noticed their growing popularity and started making the objects specifically to sell which got more money in return than average jobs but was commercialising their own culture. It is very important to know the importance and the histories of the material I am working with so found great value in this book. “contemporary beadwork ‘speaks’ not only of personal adornment and money making, but also, on the appropriate occasion, of nationality and ethnic identity” (89).

Gianturco, Paola and Toby Tuttle. “South Africa: Dinah and the Ndebele Bead Women.” In Her Hands Craftswomen changing the world, Forward by Alice Walker, The Monacelli Press, 2000, pp.114 – 167

This book was interesting to me because it started off with histories of how the decedents of Dutch and German settlers were referred to as ‘Afrikaaners’, what I am, and how these ‘Afrikaaners’ starved, killed and used Africans. These points are used as a starting explanation to exemplify that Ndebele women resurrected beading practises as a way to react against the Afrikaaners ‘effort to decimate ethnic identity’ (117). I am using the material that was used in a reaction against my ancestors. It is quite an unsettling idea.

Jewell, Rebecca. African Designs; British Museum Pattern Books. British Museum Press, 1994

This is one of the books that I found interesting but not as important to my project as others. It explains that patterns are related to regions, the geography and economy of the areas. The good thing about the book is that it acts as a cross reference because it also contains information mentioned in previous readings such as the Dutch as they migrated, took land and killed farmers on the way, how the art styles (beads predominately) is classified by tribe and function, how it helps establish identities, how beads act as symbols and how beads are now treated as a craft and sold in a commercial market.

Hector, Valerie (2013). "Chinese Bead Curtains, Past and Present." BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers, vol. 25, no. 1/5, 2013, pp. 40-71. Available at: https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol25/iss1/5

I can across this article when looking into bead curtains after I had decided what I wanted to do for my final examination installation. I had pitched my idea to my group and they suggested that I don’t install the piece over an entrance so people aren’t walking through something that represents a life. I agreed and started to wonder if what I was making could still be considered a bead curtain. Then I found this: "At least one writer of the imperial era commented on the mnemonic potential of bead curtains. Meng (2003, 2004) refers obliquely to this writer by subtitling her articles jishi zhu, which may be translated as “remembering beads,” “memory beads,” or “beads for remembering things.” Which supports my conceptual reasons behind my art work.

ART

Bell, Leonard. The Maori in European Art. A.H & A.W REED LTD, 1980

The main point that I got from the book was that in the early times of settlements Maori were depicted a lot but as dark Europeans – their features weren’t shown in likeness. It was a romanticised image of a ‘noble’ savage which was an obsession, a trend in the 18th century. The author questions the realism of the portrayals, it does not accurately represent their physicality or psychologically. The only difference was they had weaponry and moko. The more interesting part of the book was the histories it gave such as Christianity being a means of control for the colonising power, how representations of the Maori in paintings increased around the Treaty (1840) then decreased after WW2.

Barrow, T. The Decorative Arts of the New Zealand Maori. Charles E Tuttle Company Inc, 1973

This book is a visual guide to all the different art forms in New Zealand. It was also very interesting to find out that Maori ancestors were seafaring Polynesians who sailed to New Zealand from the Cook Islands. “Maori art is the result of the adaption of a tropical island culture to an environment rich in resources of wood, stone, and bone” (8). It also exemplifies the fact that their histories and stories are orally passed down generations not in a form of written language. Since I had done so much research on South African art I decided to look into New Zealand arts as well in which this book has been very interesting.

PAKEHA

Ranford, Jodie. “’Pakeha’, its origin and meaning.” MaoriNews.com,Kingston Strategic (NZ) Ltd, date unknown, http://www.maorinews.com/writings/papers/other/pakeha.htm

When I first arrived in NZ I was asked if I was a Pakeha and I did not know what it meant. So I asked classmates and got really offended when I was told it meant white pig. Since then I have resented the term Pakeha. After some research I found that there are other possible meanings:

• Paakehakeha - Gods of the ocean who had the forms of fish and man, This theory is supported firstly by the idea that white people, like the Paakehakeha, came from the sea, and secondly because the word ‘Paakehakeha’ contains a reduplication of the maori word ‘keha’ meaning ‘pale’”

• Patupaiarehe - Beings with fair skin and hair who gave people the secret of fishing with nets

• Pakepakeha - Mythical, human like being, with fair skin and hair who possessed canoes made of reeds which changed magically into sailing vessels

Even after reading this I still do not accept the term because it mostly refers to white New Zealanders.

Claudia Bell. Inventing New Zealand everyday myths of Pakeha identity. 1st edition, Penguin Books, 1996.

Pakeha National identity was built on land and things/objects because their family and traditions were back in Britain. But as their numbers increase then their National identity becomes more predominant and influential. It had influences from where they came from; allegiance to the British crown, language, customs, social rituals, food traditions. The book is very informative about the concept of national identity, how cultural identities can be lost within them as everyone is grouped together. That a “‘national identity’ is plainly a politically motivated intention, fostering a fake unity expressed in terms like, ‘in the nation’s interests’” (8), that it is used as an influential tool over members of society. Souviners, advertising, products, TV programming and much more are used to create and distribute the idea of National Identity.

Orbell, Margaret. The Illustarted Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend, Canterbury University Press, 1995.

This was a great introductory reading for me to establish a basic knowledge of Maori ‘fairies’. It was enough information to draw up some ideas but it was also good because it helped me realise that it was an unreachable task for me to take on with such little time left and alos takes me too far away from what I have been researching previously.

BICULTURALISM

Raj Vasil. Biculturalism. Victoria University Press, 1988

This book was the most infuriating one for me to read because I did not agree with it at all but I do understand their point of view. The author explains that biculturalism means two cultures and that NZ should be a bicultural nation of Maori and the ‘other’. My issue with that is many cultures (mine included) are being ignored and grouped together into one category when we are nothing alike and our cultures deserve to be acknowledged and respected. Multiculturalism seems to be ‘offensive’ because it goes against what was promised in the Treaty.

Carolyn Stirling. “Biculturalism in New Zealand Secondary Schools.” In Progress Conference Paper, Massey University, 2003.

This paper was written by a MFA student of Massy University and even though it is strongly based in education and is a survey of schools children’s understandings, the address to Biculturalism and Multiculturalism is very valid and helpful to my research: This research really broadened the topic for me; “‘Biculturalism means two, multiculturalism means more than two’. This simplistic definition of biculturalism and multiculturalism is satisfactory as a rudimentary definition, however this shows little understanding of the deeper philosophical issues that underpin these complex concepts.” She explains how the Treaty of Waitangi, enshrines biculturalism as the relationship between Maori & Pakeha. To claim that New Zealand is, could or should be multicultural is to negate the Treaty of Waitangi and the tangata whenua status of Maori. This is why biculturalism is still so important but I still believe it is unfair to other cultures.

CULTURAL APPROPRIATION:

Rosemary J. Coombe. "The Properties of Culture and the Politics of Possessing Identity." The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties: Authorship, Appropriation, and the Law, Duke University Press, 1998, pp. 208-247.

https://books.google.co.nz/books?hl=en&lr=&id=E2XdJdvQpQ8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=cultral+appropration&ots=DE4Z2dARWO&sig=T3bj7Q1Ks2vvJjCXd_UsXnZuYv0#v=onepage&q=cultral%20appropration&f=true

Talks mainly about writers and the controversy about them depicting cultures that weren’t their own, sparking discussions on if and when it is or isn’t appropriate to ‘tell someone else’s story’ and if it was considered ‘stealing’ that culture. One of the conclusions it came to was that someone can only write about another’s culture if they were working in collaboration with someone from that culture (this way offense and stereotyping can be avoided). It is also suggested that when using a story that doesn’t belong to you, you should quote directly, not paraphrase, so that the story belongs to the person who told it. “The use of Native motifs, imagery, and themes in the ‘spirituality’ marketed as New Age religion is particularly offensive, both because of its commodification and its distortion of native traditions” (239). SO IMPORTANT.

Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao. " Introduction to Cultural Appropriation: A Framework for Analysis." Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, edited by Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao, Rutgers University Press, 1997, pp. 1-29.

https://books.google.co.nz/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BhAhb2lf49oC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=cultral+appropration&ots=g25-Nv9l3N&sig=Q7FSvzGe8B38H8zLif35IyZCTus#v=onepage&q=cultral%20appropration&f=true

This was a great source for me to fully understand what cultural appropriation is because it is written in an easy to understand way; “The term has been defined as ‘the taking – from a culture that is not one’s own – of intellectual property, cultural expressions or artefacts, history and ways of knowledge.’” This book contained many essays on the topic so I could get a wide understanding of it. Another thing it explained which was really reassuring for me is the fluidity of culture; it is a fluid concept and therefore it can be difficult to understand where the lines are and when you have crossed them (this has been my problem the entire project).

Lenore Keeshig-Tobias. " Stop Stealing Native Stories." Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, edited by Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao, Rutgers University Press, 1997, pp. 71-73.

This author explains the power of stories, the importance they have to each culture which is why they are only passed down verbally (majority of the time) and explains that that is why it is not advised for them to be written down by someone from a different culture if at all; “Stories show how a people, a culture, thinks. Such wonderful offerings are seldom reproduced by outsiders” (71). It explains that these stories reflect ideas, attitudes and beliefs of a culture group and that is why they are so important.

Jonathan Hart. "Translating and Resisting Empire: Cultural Appropriation and Postcolonial Studies." Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, edited by Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao, Rutgers University Press, 1997, pp. 137-168.

This author discusses the economic, political and societal side of cultural appropriation. He questions its legality especially if the stories are written without the permission of the cultural group they are about. He talks about colonisation and how this has affected culture because it prioritizes its own over the culture they have colonised, therefore making them a minority, an interest for people to write about. His conclusion is that the right of possession of anything cultural (including ideas and verbal stories) should be questioned or contested to make sure that it is not appropriated by someone of another culture.

CULTURAL HYBRIDITY:

Robert J.C Young. "Hybridity and Diaspora." Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race, Routledge, 2005, pp. 1-27.

The main point in this reading is the idea that the English culture ‘lacks’, that it is boring, so actively seeks out other cultures for entertainment. “The many colonial novels in English betray themselves as driven by desire for the cultural other” (2-3). This began in the colonial era but has now become part of the English cultural identity, has encouraged cultural hybridity. This quote; “Fixity of identity is only sought in situations of instability and disruption, of conflict and change” (3) is very interesting to me because that is exactly what I am doing; I am trying to establish my identity in a new country surrounded by many new cultures. It especially is relevant because I have English ancestry.

Homi K. Bhabha. Location of Culture. Routkedge, 1994

This was a very difficult read for me and I found it difficult to understand the first time through. After I read other texts evaluating this one and talking about the same concepts I found it easier to readdress this one. I knew I had to do it as the ideas in this chapter, interrogating identity, are intrinsic to my research. It talks about the importance of languages, the differentiation of yourself to the ‘Other’, touches on colonial concepts, identity, the visual part of identifying identity and the importance of physical placement. I need to read further chapters to investigate his concept of cultural hybridity.

Homi K. Bhabha. Location of Culture. Routkedge, 1994

Chapter: The postcolonial and the postmodern: The question of agency. This chapter was more difficult to read and understand than the other. The concepts are harder to get my head around but from what I do understand, it is about a space, a pause between the sign and the signified (Bathes) in which other influences/ideas originate. It is the influence from the person which can change it dependant on what they know or have experienced. It also notes how we only acknowledge other cultures as differences of our own, they become the ‘Other’ and are used as a point of difference in discussion.

Rutherford, Jonathan. “The Third Space: Interview with Homi Bhabha.” Identity: Community, Culture, Difference, edited by Jonathan Rutherford, Lawrence and Wishart, 1990, pp. 207-221

This was a much easier text to understand I think because it was in the format of an interview. It reiterates how the third space is created and how it works (especially in the sense of cultural hybridity) and how this came about in after colonialism/modernism as the dominant culture using the ‘Other’ or attempting to hide it. He emphasises that it is difficult for cultures to easily co-exist and that culture is a symbolic action/practise. The third space is used as a form of identification, not identity. Hybrid cultures contain elements of the prior influences.

I am still making my way through Homi Bhaba’s essays on cultural hybridity and was struggling with them so decided to read around it a bit:

Easthope, Anthony. “Bhabha, hybridity and identity.” Textual Practice, vol.12, no.2, 1998, pp. 341-348. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, doi: 10.1080/09502369808582312

Emphasis on a ‘space’ between identities which opens up a possibility of cultural hybridity. Breaks hybridity into 3 parts so it is easier to understand;

1) biology – genetic components from different parentage and the offspring is considered a hybrid.

2) Ethnicity – the access to 2 or more ethnic identities.

3) Culture – access to 2 or more cultural identities.

Questions whether anyone or anything is actually pure anymore because if nothing is then the term hybridity gets cancelled out. Mentions Mikhait Bakhin (language hybridity).

Ginsburg, Shai. “Signs and Wonders: Fetishism and hybridity in Homi Bhabha’s ‘The Location of Culture’.” CR: The New Centennial Review, vol.9, no.3, 2010, pp 229-250.

This author claims that Bhabha celebrates colonial desire and pleasure through hybridity, that the idea of the unknown is fetishised because when something is strange it can be feared, by making it an attraction makes the unknown is less scary and quite accessible to research and admire. As European fetishism penetrates non-European territories, it produces hybridity. As the colonisers move around it creates gaps in which other cultures can fill creating hybridity, shifting power. The difference between fetishism and hybridity is made clear: Fetishist fixation takes place prior to the perception of difference and hybridity takes place after colonial intervention.

Robert Boyed, Peter J Richerson. "The cultural Inheritance system." Culture and the Evoutionary Process, The university of Chicago Press, 1985, pp. 32.-80

This reading was helpful for me to understand where an individual originally gets a sense of culture; it is a socially attained thing through behaviours and ideas, we obtain opinions from the people around us. Boyed makes a connection between genetics and cultural inheritance because you pick up cultures through ‘social learning’ and since most time in the critical developmental years is spent with parents, they are the main teachers, therefore a child will inherit the parents culture. Because of this nature of culture, it is often a group experience through sharing.

Gunesch, Konrad. “Education for cosmopolitanism?” Journal of Research in International Education, vol. 3, no. 3, 2004, pp. 251-275. Sage Publications, DOI: 10.1177/1475240904047355

The article introduces and proposes ‘cosmopolitanism’ as a personal cultural identity form, a feeling of being ‘at home in the world’, not being anchored in one place or with one culture. Cosmopolitans are interested in the survival of diverse cultural identities and are well travelled, therefore, know about and respect many different cultures. They are free from national prejudices. I looked into it because I wanted to know if I would fit into this category because of my multiple cultural influences but I don’t because I am not well travelled to these places and don’t fully understand the cultures.

Paul Meredith (Ngati Kaputuhi/Pakeha). “Hybridity in the Third Space: Rethinking Bi-cultural Politics in Aotearoa/New Zealand.” Te Oru Rangahau Maori Research and Development Conference, Massy University, 7-9 July 1998, pp.1-7

This was very interesting because it put something I have been reading about (cultural hybridity) in a close to home context because it is written by a New Zealander. “In this paper I invoke Homi Bhabha’s notions of hybridity and the third space and offer some introductory comment as to what these concepts might mean for a project that seeks to redesign the laws and institutions for a bicultural Aotearoa/New Zealand” (1). Hybridity is explained as something used to describe the construction of cultural identity in a colonialised space. The third space (an interlinking concept) is explained as a place where other positions are able to emerge, negotiate and find meaning. Meredith pulls it into a NZ context by questioning ‘What is a real Maori?’

Editor, Pnina Werbner and Tariq Modood. Debating cultural hybridity multicultural identities and the politics of anti-racism, Zed Books Ltd, 1997

“Hybrid cultures are ‘monstrosities’ that challenge local cultural order.” This is an opposing position to a lot of the reading I have previously done that have been more accommodating of the hybrid concept. I understand why, they are interested in the purity of cultures, especially those which were colonised and are now a minority. Their individualisms get lost in the process of hybridisation and there is a fear that the culture can be altered completely. They explain that hybrid culture and cosmopolitism are strongly linked to modernism and that the reason we should not exchange and hybridise culture is that is we keep mixing all their elements together they will all become the same and lose their attraction.

LANGUAGE:

Young, Robert J.C. “English and the Language of Others.” European Review, vol. 17, no.1, 2009, pp.203-212. The University of Auckland Library, doi: 10.1017/S1062798709000660

By using the British colonisation of India, Young explains the effects it has on the local language spoken, and how it is spoken, in the colonised area. Hindi got ‘infected’ with English words creating Hinglish, a common dialect used by the locals. This way English (versions of it) have travelled around the world. It hasn’t overpowered all other languages but has definitely altered it, become hybridised. I find this particularly interesting because I have seen this happen in South Africa. Dutch and English merged to create Afrikaans which is one of the main languages spoken in South Africa now.

Alford, Barry. “Bakhitin and language theory: Beyond a unified field theory.” The Centennial Review, vol.39, no.3, 1995, pp.445-454. JSTOR,

URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23739356

Language is a form of expression, a way to form narratives, to explain events, histories and emotions. It is something that is shared in society for people to make connections and understand each other. Alford argues that language should be evaluated to show how social construction takes place but I just used the reading to find out the fundamentals of language in society and how it is used by individuals and societies to create identities.

Lagopoulos, Alexandros Ph. “Saussure and Derrida: The Semiotics of Limitlessness.” American Journal of Semiotics, vol. 28, no. ¾, 2012, pp.231-255. PhilPapers, 10.5840/ajs2012283/416

This was a very helpful reading in order to understand Saussure’s semiotic discourse by breaking it down into two parts; the first being the signifier – which is what is doing the representation, the language words, and phrases and secondly is the signified – how the sign is received and interpreted. The author refers to these two things as the fundamental units of the language systems, therefore, communication. There is a definite importance of the position between these two aspects and their values; they do not exist without each other.

Benjamin J. Newman, Todd K. Hartman, Charles S. Taber. “Foreign Language Exposure, Cultural Threat, and Opposition to Immigration.” Political Psychology, vol. 33, No. 5, 2012, pp. 635 – 657. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9221.2012.00904.x

This source was about a group experiment of how people feel and react to different languages and what affect it can have in society and for the foreign language speakers. It was encouraged by the influx of immigrants to America and how the locals were reacting to them. The Americans feared their culture was being ‘contaminated’. “one participant in the focus-group study confessed that being around immigrants who speak another language appears arrogant and rude, and another stated it made her feel excluded and unimportant” was in addition to many complaints of language barriers. Due to then perceiving non-English speakers as a cultural threat there is support for more restrictive immigration policies.

Barthes, Roland. Elements of Semiology. First American edition, Hill and Wang, 1968

This was a needed reading for me because Homi Bhabha kept referring to culture, language and the hybridity of them in term of semiotics. So I needed to gain a full understanding of the concepts involved which is all included in this book in an easy to understand way. It does help decipher other readings I have done and also has an important part in my work and the reception of it which I need to include/work out.

Roberge, Paul T. “Afrikaans: considering origins.” Language in South Africa, edited by Rajend Mesthrie, Cambridge university press, 2002, pp. 79-103

This was a very interesting read because I found out that there is a lot more to the origins of Afrikaans than I have previously expected. I thought it was just a hybrid between English and Dutch but it was actually also influenced by the natives attempting to speak Dutch to communicate with the Settlers that came to the Cape.

OTHER:

Parkin, David. “Mementoes as Transitional Objects in Human Displacement.” Journal of Material Culture, vol.4, no.3, 1999, pp.303-320. Sage Publications,

I previously looked into souvenirs as a concept of travelling cultural objects and came across this reading which is interesting although not vital for my research/project. This reading is about object of use in two different ways by refugees. The first is practical use objects that are needed for survival and the second are objects that are traditional, used to keep their culture when moving to a different place. These objects are used to “re-establish or re-define personal and collective origins.”

Frank M. Kirkland. “On Du Bois’ Notion of Double Consciousness.” Philosophy Compass, vol.8, no.2, 2013, pp. 137-148. doi: 10.1111/phc3.12001

I actually came across this concept in a reading from an Anthropology paper I took in semester 1 and it mostly talks about the African American experience but it is the concept (removed from the context) that I find so interesting and relatable to my art research. W.E.B Du Bois coined the term ‘double consciousness’ as a way to describe being a black man but also acknowledging how other people perceive him. It is “characterized as a kind of socio-psychological and, sometimes, sociohistorical disposition”. It is described as a perception of yourself and knowing the perceptions of others about yourself and understanding both. Du Bois refers to ‘‘double consciousness’’ as ‘‘this sense of always looking at one’s self”.

Knaller, Susanne. “Scattered Voices. Some Remarks on a Narrative Theory of Postcolonial Storytelling.” The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory, vol. 74, no.2, 1999, pp. 99-115. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, DOI: 10.1080/00168899909597392

The most interesting thing from this reading is the concept of the level of ‘substance’ in a narrative being able to differentiate between ideological and historical narratives, how narratives can be seen as political issues and how there is possibility of different perspectives and positions depending on its reception. Knaller involves culture and its survival through storytelling/narratives. This is really important to my research because I now realise that the way I write things is just as important as what I write so I need to consciously work on that.

Said, Edward, Orientalism. Pantheon, 1978.

This was a very interesting read because even though I am not working with term/concept of ‘orientalism’ itself, the reading still acted as a cross reference for a lot of the culture research that I have been doing. The role of the Europeans in culture influencing and why they did it, the stresses put on the minority culture and the attitude of colonialist were main themes I picked up in the pages I read. It was interesting to see the same concepts come up that I have been studying through Bhabha.

Hall, Stuart. “Encoding/decoding”. In Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, 1972-79, pp. 128-38. Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies

This was a great information source on the different ways audiences receive texts and also why they may or may not read them as you had intended. As this has been happening with my art work I felt like it would be important to understand why. I am encoding my work in a way that only people who have lived in South Africa would recognise the signs and symbols which is why the NZers are left without anything to grasp onto for meaning. I need to code it in a way that they will have at least one thing to understand and work with. It may be a very useful tool for me when developing my own work.

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined communities Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition, Verso, 2006 (original was published by Verso in 1983)

I found this reading very difficult to understand because it was so loaded but it was good to get the basics of the concept of imagined communities. It helped to have an understanding of nationalism beforehand. It also has a strong link to the concepts of culture and languages (also religion) which I am working with in my research, it’s a great was for all of the information to become linked – relate to each other.

Robertson, Natalie. “Can I take a Photo of the Marae? Dynamics of photography in Te Ao Maori.” UNFIXED Photography and Postcolonial Perspectives in Contemporary art. Edited by Sara Blokland and Asmara Pelupessy, Japsam books, 2012, pp. 97-105

This was a great reading to understand why Maori don’t want people taking photos inside the Marae. There is a fear of it being commercialised and misused as well as their belif that an images or carving of a face holds the spirit of whoever’s face it is so don’t want to spread it. It is interesting because it is something I never would of considered but it is also very important because it exemplifies the importance of asking as to not offend. Respect is the most important thing when dealing with other peoples cultures.

IDENTITY:

Hall, Stuart. “The Question of Cultural identity.” Modernity An Introduction to Modern Societies, edited by Stuart Hall, David Held, Don Hubert, and Kenneth Thompson, 1st Edition, Blackwell Publishers, 1996, pp. 595-634

This is a very interesting reading about how identities are developed and formed (and also broken or split) for both individuals and groups. It talks about individual identity being learnt from what is seen and picked up as well as group identities being formed as a way of power, to portray unity. These movements in identity are all linked to social and political issues of the times the changes occurred in, Also points out that identity is only an issue when it is in crisis. Very important for my essay.

SHAME:

Aschieri, Filippo. “Shame as a Cultural Artifact: A Call for Self-Awareness and Reflexivity in Personality Assessment.” Journal of Personality Assessment, vol. 89, no. 6, 2016, pp. 567-575. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2016.1146289.

This was more of a scientific explanation of shame, how it comes from ‘microaggressions’, how shame is a ‘social emotion’. How it is socially acquired but then is turned personal by the person experiencing it. It has the power to cut off relational and emotional connections. The reading goes further to explain how to overcome shame by talking about it and creating a “more compassionate self story”.

Jessica Rohan, Sally Newman & Joumana El Alaoui. “Reflections on Shame and Guilt: An Intergenerational Dialogue.” Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, vol. 12, no. 4, 2014, pp. 448-453. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, DOI: 10.1080/15350770.2014.959422

This was a very short reading that illustrated the differences in opinions about shame from people of different generations and upbringings. All three contributors agreed that guilt is a personal feeling where as shame is a more social feeling. More social in the way that people know what you have done wrong rather than guilt which is internal.

Bierbrauer, Gunter. “Reactions to Violation of Normative Standards: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Shame and Guilt.” International Journal of Psychology, vol. 27, no.2, 1992, pp. 181-193. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, DOI: 10.1080/00207599208246874

Exemplifies that a “person’s identity or self is part of their social environments or a result of social relationships” meaning that people are influenced (their identities) by the social world around them so it can be affected/changed/disturbed by moving/relocating. He also states that guilt is self critism and that shame is “a reaction to criticism from others”.

Hollan, Douglas. “Cultures and Their Discontents: On the Cultural Mediation of Shame and Guilt.” Psychoanalytic Inquiry, vol.32, no.6, 2012, pp. 570-581. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, DOI: 10.1080/07351690.2012.703898

This reading discusses weather happiness is connected to culture and it is concluded that change or disruption in ones culture can be difficult, that life in new communities can be challenging. It is broadly about how differing social and cultural conditions affect happiness.

Bates, Jess Holly. Real Fake White Dirt. Anahera Press, 2014

This was suggested by a class mate to read and I found it very interesting (well what I could understand). I am not familiar with spoken word especially in written format so had to read it a couple times to fully understand what I was reading. There are a lot of references in it that I don’t understand and I think that is because I wasn’t brought up here so don’t know the people or events she refers too. It is still helpful in the way that it shows that she is also guilty of what it means to be a ‘Pakeha’.