Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Filters

Settings

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Nationalism

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Prominent New Zealand flags and changing notions of identity : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Mulholland, Malcolm
    Prominent flags have played an important role in signalling and generating collective identities in New Zealand’s history, but to date there has been little scholarly research in this field. This thesis investigates factors that have shaped attitudes towards prominent flags in New Zealand, and to what extent have they changed over time. It does so with reference to their role in promoting national identity in general, as well as investigating the role of flags in Māori communities. As such, there is also a particular focus on the role of flags acting as symbols of unity and dissent. The thesis argues that flags were adopted early by Māori and have continued to reflect a spectrum of Māori identities; that transnational influences are present regarding prominent flags in New Zealand, especially the influence of Australia; that the New Zealand Flag and Union Jack reflect a dual identity and a period of New Zealand identity coined as ‘recolonization’; that the New Zealand Flag is an example of an ‘invented tradition’ that was particularly prominent in arguing against changing the New Zealand Flag during the 2015/2016 flag referenda; and finally, it argues that New Zealand could be identified as a ‘teenager’ of ‘Mother Britain’, given the increasing number of citizens who are comfortable replacing the current New Zealand Flag.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Images and identity : the demonstration of New Zealand's national identity through the propaganda of the Second World War : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Master of Arts in History, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) McLean, Jessica Anne
    From introduction: This thesis, then, will examine the way in which the New Zealand government selected, produced, and disseminated propaganda and publicity material aimed at the home front in order to determine the extent to which there was a national sense of a unique New Zealand experience in the years 1939-1945. The first chapter puts the research in context, examining the literature around propaganda and national identity as well as detailing the government bodies and figures referenced in this work. My second chapter examines the New Zealand-produced propaganda, seeking to determine what was distinct about New Zealand’s publicity. This chapter gives an overview of the aspects of New Zealand material that were distinctive, including visual symbols and references to life on New Zealand’s home front. This second chapter acts as a summary of how New Zealand material was identifiably made in New Zealand for a New Zealand audience. My third chapter deals with the use of British material, which was requested by New Zealand for various reasons. I examine how British material was used to supplement the New Zealand-produced propaganda, not replace it, and how the British Ministry of Information methods and material were used to inform the working of the New Zealand Publicity Department. The most notable aspect of British material in New Zealand was the alterations made in order to make it suitable for circulation; the introduction of New Zealanders into the material was common. The film Next of Kin, which was significantly altered for release in New Zealand, is used as a case study to illustrate the way in which British material was used by the Publicity Department, and the chapter also analyses why British material was not the dominant aspect of New Zealand’s publicity campaigns. My fourth chapter examines the way in which New Zealand interacted with the propaganda of the other dominion nations. Material was frequently sent back and forth between New Zealand and the other dominions, and, as with British material, was used as examples by the Publicity Department. The New Zealand government was very aware of what worked elsewhere and whether it would also be successful in New Zealand, and I again use Next of Kin to demonstrate how New Zealand did not blindly follow any other nation, even Australia. I also examine the way in which New Zealand’s special relationship with Australia manifested in the exchange of publicity material. In the fifth chapter, I look at the way the New Zealand government interacted with the New Zealand public and the sense of public accountability that drove many of the nation’s publicity campaigns. The government was particularly sensitive to the opinions and reactions of the public, taking note of compliments and complaints and attempting at all times to avoid what might be upsetting. New Zealand’s propaganda campaigns also had a distinctly ‘personal’ touch, as J.T. Paul, Director of Publicity, cultivated a close relationship with the public. Finally, in a concluding discussion chapter, I bring these concepts together with the literature to assess the extent to which the propaganda of New Zealand reflected a distinct national identity. By examining the way the Publicity Department combined publicity from Britain and the other dominions with the material produced locally, I am able to evaluate the effectiveness of a uniquely New Zealand approach, which communicated a distinct New Zealand experience of WWII – concluding that by WWII New Zealanders had a strong sense of national identity and their country’s unique place in and contribution to the international war effort.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Banal nationalism and New Zealand human geography : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Geography at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1999) Henry, Matthew
    Nationalism has often been linked with the 'irrational other', and consequently, as a form of nationalist discourse, the routine articulation of national identities in 'Western' nations has often been overlooked. In order to uncover the routine nationalism of 'Western' nations the thesis draws upon the theoretical concept of 'banal nationalism' in combination with poststructuralist ideas of a performative subjectivity. Using this approach the thesis presents a discursive analysis of a series of human geography texts presented in the New Zealand Geographer between 1945 and 1990. During this period the thesis identifies a series of epistemological discontinuities in New Zealand human geography, partly reflecting New Zealand human geography's position vis-à-vis Anglo-American human geography. However, the thesis also identifies a common thread in New Zealand human geography, that reiterates human geography's relevance to 'the nation' Through the banal and rhetorical reiteration of 'the nation' in New Zealand's human geography discourse the thesis argues that New Zealand human geography has performatively constituted the New Zealand 'nation' as the unimagined context for social life. In this sense the thesis suggests that, rather than merely reflecting the social context in which New Zealand human geography is situated, through the performative unimagination of 'the nation', New Zealand human geography is a partly constitutive of that 'nation'. Consequently, the thesis notes that geographers need to maintain, and develop, a critical attitude towards the banal elements of social life, because it is through these banal elements that myriad forms of power are expressed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Utopian ingredients : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University College of Creative Arts, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Stowers, Kieran
    A Utopia is a symbolic better world, an imagined future society (Portolano, 2012, p119). Visual Communication Design is able to bring food and people to the table of discussion about themselves, New Zealand’s history, its future and what values or principles should guide New Zealand society in the 21st Century. Food is a great conduit for any community engagement and plays a central role in New Zealand society as a catalyst for communion – anywhere from the family to fale, from the marae to Parliament and beyond. Utopian Ingredients is a designed potluck dinner party toolkit. By adapting tikanga Maori engagement principles, Western dinner customs and incorporating Pasifika design elements, the unique functional quality of the toolkit is to augment national identity and investigate what values should shape the future of New Zealand and explore what place it holds in the world. Currently, a governmental review of New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements examines the possibility of drafting a single codified constitution, with a preamble that outlines the core tenets and characteristics that guide our society. Using food as a conduit for community engagement, the designed dinner set questions, provokes, engages and guides participants to establish their own preamble concepts by sharing memories, feelings, thoughts, beliefs and desires they hold. As New Zealand’s increasingly diverse population grows, Utopian Ingredients facilitates robust discussion about how and what New Zealand’s constitutional preamble could express both visually and experientially. The transaction of values can be a messy business – however, civic ompetencies are enhanced when participants are encouraged to ‘play with their food’ and engage with difficult and often emotionally undeclared values, while collaborating to establish multiple enduring constitutional preambles that imaginatively depict participant’s aspirations for New Zealand’s future and identity.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Identifying with Empire : the N.Z. School Journal from 1907 to 1940 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Miller, Stuart R
    Some researchers have seen the conferring of Dominion status upon New Zealand in 1907 as a definitive moment in the move toward a truly national identification independent of Britain. Others point to the significance of the bloodletting on the battlefields of Gallipoli or the 1930s Depression as being key moments in the emergence of a uniquely New Zealand identity. Some more recent scholars have challenged that view, claiming that the period in question saw a tightening of ties to Britain rather than a loosening. As an official publication distributed to all children of primary school age in New Zealand, The School Journal was instrumental in fostering in its readers a sense of place and belonging. The key focus of this study is to identify the official view as to where that place was and to whom New Zealand-born children owed loyalty. The study falls into two main parts. The first looks at the way in which the Journal was used as a unifying text by fostering an allegiance to the Royal Family and to notions of racial superiority. The second part explores some of the ways the Journal attempted to account for the often problematic presence of Maori within the larger narrative of triumphal settlement. The conclusion is that the Journal was consistent in its attempts to align the loyalties of New Zealand’s children with the British Empire. It was the love of Mother Country that was promoted first by the Journal. The children were taught to be proud of New Zealand and New Zealanders but only insofar as they were small parts of the larger nation—Britain.