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    Transnational creative activism : writing activism poetry in response to an international human rights crisis ; &, Border walker poetry collection : a thesis and poetry collection presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Writing at Massey University, Albany . EMBARGOED until at least 17 Nov 2025.
    (Massey University, 2022) Geers, April-Rose
    In this thesis, I explore, analyse, and demonstrate creative writing, and more specifically poetry, as a means of transnational creative activism. In my critical essays, I discuss key practices and principles of creative activism, as a scholarly field, and expand definitions to encompass activism poetry and short stories, focussing specifically on writing that crosses spaces. In my poetry collection Border Walker, I navigate barriers of geography, culture, language, and religion to connect with followers of the Bahá’í Faith suffering persecution in Iran and to take action for their cause. My understanding of transnational activism poetry relies on notions of: imagination and participation, as developed from advancements in creative activism scholarship and reader-response theory; empathy and intimacy, as an intervention in current developments in affect theory; and lyricism and reflexivity, as a means of finding a position from which to speak. In my poetry and my essays, I reflect on my position as an Aotearoa New Zealand woman poet writing about a people and culture once foreign to me, and engage with the ethical issues and potential consequences of my work. This thesis is practice-as-research with publications and was conducted with approval of the Massey University Human Ethics Northern Committee. The weighting is 50% critical essays, comprising a theoretical framework, literary analysis, exegesis, and craft exposition; and 50% creative, in the form of a poetry collection.
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    The graffiti artist : doing the work of the lyric through juxtaposition of disparate social discourse : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Master of Creative Writing, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Ingram, Gail
    One way the lyric has developed over the last century is to accommodate non-poetic social discourses, e.g. languages of prose, genre, profession and cultural groups into the lyric tradition. This thesis investigates the use of discourse to perform the work of lyric. It does so in two parts: in a critical essay and through my own creative work, a manuscript of original poetry that is meant to account for 60 percent of my thesis. The critical component analyses four contemporary poems that do the work of the lyric through this accommodation of social discourse: “A History” by Glenn Colquhoun, “Mountains” by Sarah Jane Barnett, “Torch Song” by Laura Mullen and “Gesamtkunstwerk” by Lisa Samuels. It examines, in particular, these poets’ use of juxtaposition of disparate social discourse as an organising technique that illustrates the process of perception that is integral to lyric tradition. The intensity of the juxtaposition of social discourse increases with each of these poems, challenging some of the more traditional characteristics of what it means to be lyric, such as whether the lyric is “uttered by a single speaker” or “expresses subjective feeling”. But if these poems increasingly seem to fall outside the traditional lyric, this study argues that they in fact do the work of the lyric by treating the disparate discourse as both a representation and product of an increasingly globalised and fractured world. At the same time, the opportunities the poet provides to make links across the contrasting discourses allow the reader to construct an enunciative posture that provides a lens onto the “ache” of living in such a world, and thus recover the subjective experience associated with the lyric. This critical study investigates questions that are also of interest in the creative portion: how to use multiple strands of social discourse in poetry in an effective and relevant way, and how to organise a disparate set of poems into a collective whole. The essay, therefore, informed the creative component of this thesis, a collection of poetry entitled “The Graffiti Artist”. This collection offers juxtapositions of disparate discourses as well as narrative snapshots, each snapshot nevertheless intersecting with and connected to the life of the protagonist, a mother who turns during a time of crisis – personal crises with her children and social crisis in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes – to graffiti art. A narrative in fragments, the poems juxtapose strands of story and types of discourse she encounters in her different roles as graffiti artist, mother and wife. Such discourses include, for example, scientific discourse associated with her scientist son, the medical discourse of mental illness, the discourse of advertising, and the discourse of the earthquake-damaged city she inhabits. By using these techniques to extend defamiliarisation, I aimed to reveal a troubled world through the lens of a graffiti-artist speaker so a reader might see her experience from within, thus effecting a change in perception, and doing the work of the lyric.
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    Ecopoetry and the imaginative impulse : a critical and creative thesis presented for paper 139.861 to fulfill the requirements of the Master of Creative Writing, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Newman, Janet
    This thesis uses two methods of investigation – a critical essay on the poetry of Dinah Hawken and a collection of poetry – to explore the relationship between contemporary poetry and the natural world. The critical essay examines Hawken’s nature poetry published in eight collections in New Zealand between 1987 and 2015. In order to better understand her intentions and techniques, it explores her work alongside an investigation of ecopoetry, a genre that arose in the latter half of the twentieth century. It begins with a brief summary of the rise and various definitions of ecopoetry, and explains how Hawken’s work aligns with the genre’s basic terms of reference. However, it sets Hawken apart from much ecopoetry, arguing that though at times her work explicitly references human environmental degradation, it more often portrays nature as resilient, not vulnerable as nature is typically depicted in ecopoetry. Specifically, this thesis argues that Hawken’s nature frequently models ways for people to better cope in a technological age. Many of her poems draw a link between inner and outer worlds, that is, between nature and consciousness. In these ways, her work is distinct from much ecopoetry which is polemic. Polemic ecopoetry tends to rely on literal descriptions and rhetorical assertion because its primary aim is to raise awareness of environmental concerns. Instead, Hawken’s work often aligns with a critical school of thought that suggests there is a larger catchment of ecopoetry that includes those poems more akin to a Romantic engagement with nature, specifically the notion that nature has a positive effect on consciousness. Such poetry uses the language of figure and imagination. The essay explores the ways in which Hawken has negotiated the tension between the polemic most often associated with ecopoetry and a poetry of perception that is more Romantic in its aesthetics, during the thirty-five years she has been writing about relationships between people and the natural world. The creative component of the thesis is a collection of my poetry that has been shaped and informed by the investigation of the critical essay. My poetry, too, struggles with the tension between poetry of polemic and of perception as it explores relationships between people and nature with an awareness of environmental concerns. In some cases, it adapts strategies and techniques observed in Hawkens work. For example, some of the poems project nature as modeling composure and resilience. By suggesting that nature is important to us, these poems are implicitly ecopoetic. Other poems are more in line with mainstream ecopoetry. For example, some draw explicit attention to environmental degradation, particularly settler deforestation for farming in New Zealand resulting in the loss of indigenous trees and birds and their replacement by destructive exotics. Other poems contemplate the constructedness of landscapes so familiar they seem natural. Throughout the writing of these poems, I have become aware of the need to temper polemic and to aim for perception in order to gain the emotional resonance important in lyric poetry.
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    Narrative bending : the subversion of Watakushi shōsetsu in Ruth Ozeki's A tale for the time being and an abstract from My Amy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Creative Writing, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Molloy, Michelle Rose
    This thesis is comprised of two sections: a critical research essay focusing on Ruth Ozeki’s novel A Tale for the Time Being (2013), and the first part of a novel entitled My Amy. Both sections focus on the fictionality of fiction, as well as narrative structure and the effect of space and time on content, structure, and the organisation of a non-linear narrative. In the critical portion of the thesis I read A Tale for the Time Being in the context of narrative theory, Buddhist philosophy, and the traditional Japanese literary form of shōsetsu, examining how the structure and content of the novel originate from multiple literary and religious traditions. I argue that Ozeki appropriated the form of the Japanese ‘I-novel’ (shōsetsu) in an innovative reimagining of form and tradition, whilst juxtaposing the duality of her hybridised identity as a Japanese-American writer in the meta-textual, non-linear, montaged, semi-autobiographical text, which focuses on the reader-writer-character relationship. In My Amy I employ a non-linear narrative structure to support the flashbacks and trauma experienced by a woman raised in a religious cult, and her later selfdestructive behaviour which is a result of her seclusion in the cult and limited life experience.
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    Children's perceptions of their writing : the knowledge, strategies, attributions, and attitudes children bring to writing : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2002) Willcocks, Madelaine Ruth Armstrong
    Writing is a significant cognitive, educational, personal, and social activity. Children's perceptions of their writing impact significantly on their learning, and are clearly influenced by the instructional programmes and environments they encounter. Children's development as writers during their middle primary school years (years four to six) is significantly under- researched. Four key areas of children's perceptions are of interest to this study: knowledge, strategies, attributions, and attitudes. Consequently, this study seeks to understand children's perceptions of their writing, and the contexts within which these perceptions are developed. A six week ethnographic case study was undertaken, involving eight children and two teachers in one school. The data collection methods of participant observation, interviews, 'think alouds', and document analysis were used to gain a rich understanding of children's perceptions. Data was analysed and validated using qualitative methods. The findings show that children hold diverse and idiosyncratic global perceptions. Children demonstrate a range of knowledge and strategies that they bring to their writing. They are able to describe both common and novel attributions for their successes and failures. Children's attitudes are predictably diverse, and show a strong link with classroom programmes and environments. While children's perceptions are clearly influenced by the classroom programme and environment, this alone does not account for the uniqueness of children's perceptions. While the two teachers in this study offered different instructional experiences, both see metacognition and self-management as having an important role in children's learning. These findings suggest that knowledge and strategy use are of equal importance to middle primary children. Instructional practices loosely based on a cognitive apprenticeship model may be effective in making writing a knowledgeable, strategic, social, and authentic activity. The current curriculum inadequately conceptualises genre and pays only minimal attention to children's development of genre knowledge. This study recommends that longitudinal research into the development of writing expertise in the middle primary years is needed.
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    From Aspiring to 'Paradise' : the South Island myth and its enemies : a critical and creative investigation into the deconstruction of Aotearoa's Lakes District : presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Creative Writing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Wilson, Annabel
    Poetry and film are artistic modes for representing, interpreting and evaluating our environment. Aotearoa’s poets have distilled the meanings we place on ‘places of the heart’ since the first oral histories and lyrics were composed. Kiwi filmmakers have also fixed their gaze on places layered with cultural significance, selecting Edens at various stages of the Fall as settings for their protagonists to mess about in. With New Zealand’s unique position as the last place on earth to be populated, the human response to this landscape is a significant aspect of the nation’s psyche, and the relationship between people and place remains an enduring motif in local writing and cinema. My research stems from an exploration of the poetic and on-screen representations of the Central Otago region as a cultural landscape generated by a variety of spectators. This paper takes an excursion into the high country of Te Wai Pounamu to see how two key places have been sighted in terms of the South Island myth. The first place to be framed is deep in the Matukituki valley. Here, the gaze of the nationalist era is epitomised by the ill-fated Aspiring film project masterminded by Brian Brake and scripted by James K. Baxter. The antithesis of their gaze can be seen in the ‘Paradise’ of Jane Campion’s post-feminist television mini-series Top of the Lake (2013). My interest is in the swing from Brake and Baxter’s romanticizing of Aotearoa’s ‘Lakes District’ to Campion’s brutalizing of it. How has the mythical South Island landscape been established and then fractured by these artists? These issues are also explored in my creative component, which draws upon my critical report in order to devise my own response to the South Island myth through a fictionalized journal / scrapbook entitled ‘Aspiring Daybook’.
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    What are the terms needed to create a theatre play about the legendary Manawatu outlaw Joseph Pawelka that will universalise his story and make it relevant for a contemporary audience? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Creative Writing in English at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2012) Markwell, Carol Ann
    I have always been intrigued by the story of the Manawatu outlaw and ‘Man Alone’ folk hero Joseph Pawelka. In planning this thesis I had two objectives. My first was to test the possibility that I could write a play centred on a historical figure such as Pawelka that would be both mythic and resonant for a modern audience. My second objective was to analyse and reflect upon the entire process of researching and writing this play. My research for the play, Smoke and Mirrors, has been both literary and historical. In order to write with depth and accuracy I needed to research Joseph Pawelka’s life and times and my thesis essay has given an overview and an analysis of my findings. These were taken from books, folk memory, newspapers of the day, files in National Archives, and also from later secondary sources. In literary terms, the thesis has charted the artistic and theatrical choices I made as I developed the play, Smoke and Mirrors, into a work of non-naturalistic theatre. As part of my literary research I explored three plays written in similarly non-naturalistic style – Frank Wedekind’s two (combined) Lulu plays, Bertolt Brecht’s opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, and Mervyn Thompson’s Children of the Poor. The finished version of my play Smoke and Mirrors contains theatrical elements and techniques taken from each of these three plays, and the thesis has recorded this process. The thesis has also included an account of the first production of Smoke and Mirrors in October 2012 in Palmerston North and an overview of the various strengths and weaknesses of the play in performance.
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    Cannibals and survivors : narrative strategies in third culture literature : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Creative Writing at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Ehterington, Bonnie Joy
    In this thesis I look at the narrative strategies at work in my own fiction, The Glass House, and also those at work in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, and examine both in light of the context of third culture literature. Sociologically, the term “third culture” describes those people who are raised outside their passport nations as children, in multiple countries, as expats rather than immigrants. Antje M. Rauwerda takes this term from a sociological context and applies it to a literary one and, in doing so, identifies several key concerns which unite third culture fictions. While Rauwerda focuses specifically on these concerns as representing distinct characteristics in third culture literature that set it apart from other international literatures, my project is focused on how these characteristics manifest themselves through particular narrative strategies in both my own work and that of Martel’s. To conduct my research I look at the construction of third culture narratives from the perspective of both writer and reader. By writing Part 1 of The Glass House, I am able to examine narrative strategies through the writing process itself. Through a critical reading of Martel’s Life of Pi, I am able to unpick the results and effects of these strategies as a reader. In “Cannibals and Survivors,” I argue that by critically examining these strategies, it is possible to see that the freedom to pick and choose the narratives we consume (and how) comes with specific implications for those who have their feet in multiple worlds.
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    Infinite regress : metafictional memoir : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in English at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Rawson, Christopher John
    Writers like James Frey, author of the controversial work A Million Little Pieces, have shown aspiring memoirists the negative consequences of deliberately fabricating portions of a memoir. The question memoir writers now face: how much can an author add to or omit from a memoir before it risks betraying the reader’s trust in the author, which is essential to the proper functioning of memoir as a genre? I discovered I would be unable to produce a coherent or truthful memoir without fictionalising portions of it in a manner that could have subjected me to the same criticisms Frey faced. Because I did not want to produce a wholly fictional work but felt unable to reveal certain aspects of my true life in a straightforward memoir format, I instead made the problem of producing a truthful memoir the central focus of my work. My novella, Infinite Regress, uses metafiction to subvert the genre of memoir as an attempt to work around this issue of truthful self-representation. The analysis following Infinite Regress examines the characteristics of memoir as a genre, how reader response to memoirs hinges on readers being able to trust the memoirist, and the consequences of a memoirist breaking that trust. I then examine metafiction as a possible method of side-stepping the issue of truth in memoir; through use of metafiction, an author can deliberately draw a reader’s attention to the problematic nature of truth in any narrative. Finally, I demonstrate how metafiction does not ultimately represent a solution to the problem of truthful self-representation, and I determine that writing a memoir in a metafictional mode may only be preferable to not writing a memoir at all.