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Item Remembering and belonging : colonial settlers in New Zealand museums : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University(Massey University, 2007) Wirick, Esther LuciaThis study approaches museums as socially constructed signifiers of group identities. Focusing specifically on museological representations of colonial settlers at museums and historical sites in New Zealand, I analyse how this group is constructed in terms of its association with colonialism, empire, and other historical and contemporary groups in New Zealand. In my results chapters, Pride and Shame and Parts of a Whole, I investigate different ways in which colonial settlers are represented in terms of their relationship to Empire, the nation, and other groups within New Zealand. Representations which position settlers within colonial discourses and portray them as heroic pioneers work to justify their presence in New Zealand on the basis that they earned their place through suffering and hard work. This assertion of place and belonging is then questioned by representations which situate colonial settlers within post-colonial discourses that highly criticise the actions of settlers and the institution of colonialism. Representations of colonial settlers can also construct them as related to a cultural group, usually referred to as 'Pakeha', and part of New Zealand's bicultural and multicultural identities. I examine how biculturalism is represented in different ways and use the concepts of separate biculturalism and blended biculturalism to explore these differences. These different political identities reflect a strong sense of ambiguity and ambivalence over New Zealand's political identity, and emphasise how stories from the past can be used in different ways to justify different perspectives of contemporary social and political relationships.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 RSome 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.