Massey Documents by Type
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Item The saint, the béguine and the heretic : laywomen and authority in the late medieval church, c.1200-1400 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Barker, AmeliaAuthority in the late medieval Church was usually vested in clerical men, but it could also be acquired by women, even laywomen. This thesis considers the contrasting experiences of three laywomen who attempted to gain authority: Mechthild of Magdeburg (c.1207-c.1282), Marguerite Porete (c.1250-1310), and Catherine of Siena (1347-1380). One was ostracised, one burnt at the stake, and one was canonised. This thesis examines the factors that explain these divergent fates in order to offer more general insights into the problems associated with female authority. Scholarship on women and authority currently focuses predominantly on the nobility and religious, yet these case studies reveal how non-noble laywomen could utilise certain tools to legitimise themselves and achieve recognition that their words were God’s own. This thesis shifts away from the tendency of current historiography to generalise women’s experiences as universal, as a result of their common gender, and focuses instead on the individuality of their experiences. It therefore considers the impact of different political and geographical contexts on their lives, the importance to them of male support, but also the agency each woman had in utilising clerical authority and hagiographical topoi to prove their authority to late medieval audiences.Item Pesticide poisoning in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2015) Torrington, Ciaran DawnAs a nation for over 70 years New Zealand has used unprecedented amounts of pesticides within our workplaces, homes, lands, communities and our National Parks. The health and environmental hazards from exposure to pesticides is now well accepted within Science, but as an illness pesticide poisoning is not well acknowledged within society. Historically pesticide poisoning has been strongly contested by Science, Government, Medicine, Business & Industry and as a result people who have experienced illness from pesticide poisoning frequently encountered denial or de-legitimisation of their illness stories. Despite the long history of pesticide use in this country no study has considered what it is like to experience pesticide poisoning in workplaces in New Zealand, and this study attempts to redress this lack of research effort. A narrative methodology and theories was employed because it explores an illness experience in depth, allows for marginalised stories such as pesticide poisoning to be explored, and is a popular method for exploring health experiences within the Social Sciences. There were sixteen participants interviewed who had experienced pesticide poisoning in their workplaces in New Zealand. This thesis presents three perspectives of narrative theory of the pesticide poisoning experience. The first perspective is of the overarching narrative of pesticide poisoning in New Zealand which shows how the narratives of this study are distinctly automythology quest narratives. The second perspective is how the narratives are structured to give form and meaning, and within this study the narratives are structured within the domains of the Whare Tapa Wha conceptual model of health and the study demonstrates how this can form a foundation for an embodied perspective of health and identity. The third perspective considers the social forces that surround and influence pesticide poisoning illness stories. The participants reconstruct their sense of identity in response to the illness experience and actively advocate for change within their environment. The narratives of this study are surrounded by the powerful authority over knowledge by powerful institutions who sought to deny their experiences of pesticide poisoning.Item The lived experience of interaction with authority by members of a fringe group (gang) in New Zealand society : an interpretive descriptive analysis : a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University(Massey University, 1995) Manley, Susan EllenThis descriptive interpretive study examines the lived experience of interaction with authority by a fringe group (gangs) in New Zealand society. Using the qualitative methodology of Heideggerian Hermeneutic Analysis, the texts from five interviews are analyzed, interpreted and presented. The participants are asked to tell us what has been significant for them as they experience living in the world. Analysis reveals interpretive phenomenological meanings of motivations, actions, strategies and understandings of their responses to interaction with authority. Extensive findings emerge from their stories in the form of five common themes, two relational themes and a constitutive pattern. The five themes include various forms of dominance, violence, betrayal, submission and manifestation of authority. The two relational themes are epitomized by the way in which members of this group are both 'standing in the shadow' and 'standing in the light' of our New Zealand society when they interact with authority. The constitutive pattern found in their stories reveals the need for 'Creating Places' that keep open a future of possibilities for gangs in our society. The experience of gang interaction with authority is embedded in networks of relationships based in the Gang, the family, the community and the culture of our society and uncovers not only how gangs interact with authority, but how authority interacts with gangs. Their stories reveal everyday events that are recognizable, intelligible and tell us not only how gangs organize their everyday world but what it means for them to profoundly be in the world. Understanding this has the effect of creating a place for gangs that is open to possibilities not only for themselves but for society in general.