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Item Systematic Literature Review of the Natural Environment of the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand, from a Conservation Perspective(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-09-30) Zakharovskyi V; Németh K; Margalida AThis research presents a literature review of published scientific literature on the Coromandel Peninsula, a well-known region of the northern part of the North Island of New Zealand. It contains many biological, geological, and historical features and is well known for beautiful scenery, resulting from a volcanic rock-dominated terrestrial environment influenced by oceanic factors at the coast. All these factors have combined to make the Coromandel a popular tourism destination for New Zealanders and offshore visitors. In researching the current state of knowledge of the region, we searched three scientific databases to define the main ways of studying the region. The results demonstrated a high interest in biological and environmental factors, reflected in the type and scale of conservation measures applied to flora and fauna of the region. Additionally, specificity of geological evolution was a highly examined subject, in the context of hydrothermal alteration as related to gold and silver mineralization resulting in extensive exploration and mining. Meanwhile, indigenous cultural aspects of the land were not recognizable as expected within Western scientific literature, even though the region contains sites recognized as some of the earliest Māori habitations. Therefore, we suggest future studies to expand our understanding of scientific, cultural, and social aspects of the region as applied to the field of conservation in the region.Item Petric Bodies, Hanging on to Dear Life(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 12/12/2022) Preston J; Brennan, TMusing with Petric Bodies, Hanging on to Dear Life is an essay that critically reflects on the live performance work “Becoming Boulder”, which occurred on 31 January 2015 as part of the Science Communication Art New Zealand Intercreate Symposium at New Plymouth, New Zealand. I performed a contact improvisation with a large andesite boulder, in a king tide, on a stormy day, at a culturally significant place for an extended period of time. Written using the present tense and as a dialogical text, the essay employs ekphrasis and practices geo-poetry to colour the scene and critically contextualise the potentials and limits of empathetic engagement with another form of organic assemblage. Complexities that come with being a foreigner or immigrant, well-versed in contemporary New Materialist discourse, and dwelling in a land rich with indigenous knowledge are voiced amongst gestures to get close to, identify with, and perform as an ancient, far from dead weight, body. While musing and critically contextualising on the potentials and limits of empathetic engagements, the essay seeks to exemplify the value of material situated learning that occurs in the space of making or doing of durational, experimental, site-responsive performance works.
