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    Once more, with feeling : an enquiry into The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa's exhibition Gallipoli: the scale of our war : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Museum Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
    (Massey University, 2016) Haig, Nicholas Graham
    This thesis examines The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa’s exhibition Gallipoli: The scale of our war. Conceived in partnership with Weta Workshop and formulated during a period of institutional uncertainty, Gallipoli was ostensibly created to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. This research investigates what this exhibition and the methodologies and practices deployed in its development reveals about how Te Papa interprets its public service role, and concludes that Gallipoli signals an intensification of its hegemonic function. Marked by a discursive engagement with critical museology and theoretical perspectives pertaining to the ethics of memorialisation and practices of governmentality, in this thesis a transdisciplinary approach is adopted. Employing a qualitative and grounded theory methodology and inductive processes, anchoring the research are interviews with Te Papa staff and Gallipoli visitors, documentary evidence, exhibition ‘text’ analysis and autoethnographic reflections. This thesis suggests that Gallipoli is characterised by a distinctive ‘affective public pedagogy’. Further to this, it is argued that Gallipoli not only has significant implications for Te Papa’s pedagogical functions, but also for conceptions of subjectivity, citizenship and nationhood in New Zealand in the twenty-first century. It is contended that recent developments at Te Papa have further problematized its exogenous and endogenous relations of power, and that the ritualised practices of affect afforded by Gallipoli are ideologically prescribed. It is also determined that Te Papa’s legislative responsibility to be a ‘forum for the nation’ requires reconsidering.
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    The role of a museum (Te Papa) in the rejuvenation of taonga puoro : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Museum Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Tamarapa, Awhina
    This thesis examines the role of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in the rejuvenation of taonga puoro (Maori musical instruments). The purpose of this study is to examine the Museum’s relationship with taonga puoro practitioners. This thesis documents the foundation of the Haumanu taonga puoro revitalisation group and their relationship with Te Papa. Therefore I have selected instrumental figures – Dr. Richard Nunns and Brian Flintoff, to elucidate their insight on this topic. The late Hirini Melbourne remains a constant and treasured presence throughout the process for Nunns and Flintoff. However, the focus of the thesis is to identify what has Te Papa done and can do better, to help facilitate the rejuvenation of taonga puoro, based on the years of developing a relationship with the Haumanu group. Furthermore, within this context, I examine my own practice as a Maori Curator at Te Papa. The central question to this study is the role of Te Papa, in terms of its relevance to one particular sector, the Maori cultural practitioners and revivalists. The challenge is: how much is Te Papa willing to risk, in relaxing control - to be relevant to the needs of this community? Four key research questions are explored: what has Te Papa done to help facilitate the rejuvenation and maintenance of puoro, what could Te Papa be doing more of to nurture the rejuvenation and maintenance of puoro; what are the key factors that support an achievement of these objectives: and, what are the challenges for the future. Te Papa documentation from 1995 to 2014 is also a primary source. As a Maori Curator at Te Papa, I reflect on my role and the tensions between personal, cultural and professional roles that the rejuvenation of taonga puoro creates. The thesis argues that cultural revitalisation, as a process of ‘liberation’ (Kreps 2003a) has a transformative power, to redefine the significance of taonga in museums as cultural and spiritual inspiration for present and future generations. The ‘creative potential’ (Royal 2006) paradigm opens up a future for knowledge development that museums should be a part of. This potentiality has cultural and social benefits, which is identified as a restorative healing process, a philosophy of health and wellbeing, a form of ‘hauora’ (healing). This inductive research shows that the role of a museum is important to practitioners’ but there are contradictions and paradoxical issues to museum practice that make situations complex. This research reveals that ‘taonga puoro, taonga hauora’ is a model that can transform museum practice by operating not just to preserve materiality, but the intangible aspects of a peoples’ living culture.
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    Foreign ethnology collections in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Museum Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1996) Livingstone, Rosanne
    Museums today face many challenges. Some of these affect parts of collections which, as a result of changing policies and practices, have become inactive and/or no longer relevant to the mission of the museum. At the same time these changes have resulted in new collections being developed. The subject of this study is foreign ethnology collections (excluding Pacific) held in four metropolitan museums in New Zealand, focusing in particular on those in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The development of the foreign ethnology collections in these museums shows that they followed a similar pattern to museums in general, and colonial museums in particular, although each has its own unique history. As a result of its early policy and practices the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa has smaller, more disparate collections than the other three museums, and unlike these museums nearly all of its foreign ethnology material was passively acquired. Current policy and practices in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa relating to the foreign ethnology collections have meant that they are virtually inactive. In comparison, the foreign ethnology collections in the other metropolitan museums are fairly active. In addition to the existing collections all four metropolitan museums are developing a new type of foreign ethnology collection relating to the cultural diversity of this country, in particular Asian immigrant groups. The future for these new collections is promising. The future for the other foreign ethnology collections, however, is less certain, especially for those held in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa although there is potential for them to become at least partially active. It is proposed that the development of a national computer database would assist in making decisions about the future development, management and use of all foreign ethnology collections.
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    "Telling the New Zealand story" : national narratives in three long-term exhibitions at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Media Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Davies, Megan Jane
    This thesis is an examination of the national narratives contained in three exhibits in The Musem of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. It examines the existence of the state and the nation, and their involvement in museum development, and applies this theory, and selected theories of Roland Barthes, Sergei Eisenstein, and Walter Benjamin, to the subsequent analysis. Broadly, the position taken is that museums are one of a number of institutions that perpetuate national narratives in order to bind nations together and discourage anti-state sentiment, and this position is validated in the analysis of three long-term Te Papa exhibits, Exhibiting Ourselves, Parade, and Golden Days.