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Subject: search.filters.subject.New Zealand -- Wanganui

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    A wolf enters the field of the arts in Wanganui after the 2004 local body elections : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Sociology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2006) McKay, Marie
    This research uses a Bourdieuian framework to explore 'the collision' between the fields of local government and the arts at the symbolic site of the Sarjeant Art Gallery in Wanganui, New Zealand. The Sarjeant Gallery Extension Project, conceptualised to make the Gallery more accessible and inclusive, had 84% of the necessary funds committed when it became a key issue in the 2004 local body elections. Once elected the new Mayor, who opposed the Project, swiftly undertook an intensive media campaign to discredit it. Within weeks, the entire Sarjeant Gallery Trust Board had resigned, the Extension Project was abandoned and the artists of the town were profoundly shocked. In response to these acts of symbolic violence by the Mayor, the artists developed a number of strategies that were ultimately unsuccessful in reviving the Project. Pierre Bourdieu's conception of the social space as a site of struggle between fields for the many different kinds of capital he identified resonates with the aim of this research, which was to explore the possible causes and consequences of this monumental clash of fields. Undertaken in three phases, the first two stages of the research mapped the field of the arts in Wanganui and documented the events of 'the collision'. These set the scene for the fieldwork, which took the form of structured interviews with eight agents from the field of the arts who had been involved in devising strategies to respond to the attacks on their field. Bourdieu's analysis of the field of the arts as autonomous explains why its agents looked for support for the Sarjeant Gallery Extension Project from the national field of the arts instead of its own social space. This meant that the Project never gained the wide support and political leadership it needed to take it through to completion and that calling on funding from local government became fraught with difficulty even though the Project was predicated on social inclusion. His notion of habitus, an unspoken set of values and beliefs within fields, explains why the agents within the field of the arts responded the way they did to the attack on their symbolic capital, with some agents abandoning the site of struggle and others engaging in strategies that were ultimately ineffective in constructing an included and supportive public that could have persuaded the politicians of Wanganui to invest in art.
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    Aspects of prohibition and drunkenness in Wanganui, 1880 to 1920 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History
    (Massey University, 1973) Burtt, Andrew Keith
    By the 1880's and early 1890's a number of social problems were demanding increased public attention throughout New Zealand. Problems such as larrikinism, disease, labour disputes, drunkenness and the whole question of Chinese immigration and immigrants, were but a few among many being raised both through newspapers and Parliament. A gap between aspiration and reality seemed to be making itself apparent. Also the feeling that New Zealand would be immune from such concerns, that had plagued England, was rapidly being exposed as false. Moreover the passage of time was making it apparent that they were not merely transitory problems, associated with the initial settlement of the country, but were in fact growing with the society. Increasing urbanisation also heightened this public awareness by making these problems more apparent. Yet despite this realization and appraisal there seemed to be little accurate investigation of the problems at the national level. This was in spite of the fact that some degree of knowledge of the areas of concern was possessed at the local level, for example, the prevalence of drunkenness and Chinese immigration and immigrants on the west coast of the South Island. As a result, broad generalizations concerning the problems at the national level were made and readily accepted by many New Zealanders. A recent thesis, by P.F. McKimmey, which examines in part the general problem and patterns of drunkenness in nineteenth century New Zealand, bears out the above general concern raised by contemporaries. He states: New Zealand in the nineteenth century was a society plagued by drunkenness and problems associated either in fact or in the firm opinion of a number of New Zealanders with drink. From the 1830's to the 1890's in every settlement, one of the salient features of life was the widespread drunkenness. P.F. McKimmey, "The Temperance Movement in New Zealand 1835 - 94," Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Auckland, 1968. pp. 29 & 10.