Browsing by Author "Parata, Rawinia"

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Our side of the fence : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Creative Writing (MCW), Massey University
(Massey University, 2021) Parata, Rawinia
To write, for me at least, has been a calling. I set out to communicate a story that creates empathy, understanding, reflects cultural diversity, and demonstrates Indigenous stigmatisation. Not as a way to be controversial, or political, or to create an intensified sense of pity for the underdog that in this case is a Maori family; but instead to write about two absolutely ordinary families, nothing extraordinary, yet both entirely human. To do this, I chose to pen a play that uses an episodic structure and polyvocal writing techniques. Through these methods, in which there is no single protagonist facing a single antagonist - no hero or villain, no right or wrong - but a circle of episodes that gradually enlarge our view, I hoped to tell a story of diverse human beings, each facing their challenges. It is in our humanness that differences are celebrated.--Te Po