Browsing by Author "Johnson, Margaret Caroline"

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    "Remembering" within the Avondale Returned and Services Association (Incorporated) : gossip, social dramas, women's roles, ritual and commemoration, within a voluntary association : a thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Albany
    (Massey University, 2010) Johnson, Margaret Caroline
    “A war has many lives”, appropriate words written by an Avondale Returned Serviceman. The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association was created in 1916 by World War I veterans serving as a place to gather and support each other postwar, giving those who joined a sanctuary of peace, the battlefields of war. These men created a space ready for the next group of men and women to return from World War II. Avondale Returned and Services Association (Incorporated) began in 1933, serving the Avondale community and Avondale returned personnel. Through the years the clubrooms have been a place where service personnel receive support, can relax and enjoy the company of like minded people, family and friends. The clubrooms have seen many changes and milestones; namely allowing women into what began as a “men only” club and creating their own Women’s Sections. With the introduction of membership to family members of war veterans, membership numbers increased dramatically. More recently however, membership was afforded to members of the community. This was necessary because of the decreasing numbers of returned service personnel. The changes have allowed a wide age group of people to experience the R.S.A., ranging in age from teenagers through to some now in their 90’s. This has allowed for a diverse club culture to be established, with many ethnicities mixing in a historic, sacred space, created to remember the wars and honour the dead. There is an eclectic mix of rituals and traditions taking place within the one space, the clubrooms. I have likened these clubrooms to Erving Goffman’s theory of a theatre, with daily performances by many of the actors, taking their entrances and exits on cue. Others will only make a cameo appearance every now and then. Many actors perform solely for the audience, putting on their masks for their performance and removing it on exit, replacing it with another for the next performance in their life. In this thesis it is my aim to give my perspective on the many aspects of what one particular Returned Services Association, situated in a particular place and time is about. My research methods were primarily the anthropological, that of participant/observation, with some interviews and archival research to help make sense of the history behind the Association. Many of the war veterans I interviewed and spoke to informally were happy to share their memories with me, of the Association and also their time at war, adding another dimension to the research, giving a positive feel to the overall benefits of having an Association such as this in the community.
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    Women and poker machine gambling : a phenomenological experience of magic, ritual, and emotionality : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology in Academic Development at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2000) Johnson, Margaret Caroline
    Gambling is a phenomenon that has been present in most societies in a variety of forms for millennia. Poker machines are a more recent invention (since 1895), and have only been a form of gambling in New Zealand legally since 1 April 1988 (Grant 1994:289). More recently the poker machine appears to have become a favoured form of gambling for women and a stigma has become attached to women who enjoy playing the machines. Gambling appears to be a socially and culturally acceptable pastime for men, but not for women, as it apparently contravenes socially constructed ideals of womanhood. There have been reported cases of women gambling on poker machines and destroying their lives and those of their families, through embezzling money to feed their habit; the result for these women has been a prison sentence. While I acknowledge that this is a grave problem, which appears to have become more serious since the arrival of poker machines, I argue that this is only one side of the phenomenon. The other side to this negative discourse, which focuses on the evils of playing the poker machines, is the positive effects that poker machine playing can have for some women, and this is the focus of my thesis. I have interviewed eight women ranging in age from 39-72 and the discussion in my thesis concentrates on the emotions and feelings the women experience and the reasons why they play the machines. I am aiming to portray the subjective reality of the women's lived experience from a feminist perspective using feminist research methodologies, and have undertaken many hours of participant observation in gambling venues around Auckland. Many women will not openly admit to playing the poker machines because of the stigma. Therefore one of my aims was to show that not all women who play the poker machines become pathological gamblers and ruin their lives, in an attempt to begin breaking down this stigma. There are many women who have agency and find playing the poker machines a pleasurable, positive experience, and this is the experience for the women I interviewed.