School of People Environment and Planning

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Start date: 2010End date: 2019

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    In what ways did the 2014-2015 Ebola Viral Disease outbreak in Sierra Leone affect women? : an examination of gender and human rights in a major disease outbreak
    (Massey University, 2015) Oakes, David
    Ebola Viral Disease (EBV) is a filovirus with a high mortality rate that ravaged the West African region intensively in the 2014/2015 period, with some cases persisting into 2016. The rapid advance of the illness was characterised by the near collapse of the health system of Sierra Leone, as medical and nursing staff fled or succumbed to the disease. The statistics concerning mortality rates from the illness in West Africa reflect an epidemic in which more women than men have died. These statistics parallel the gendered mortality rates of many natural disasters, and it is clear that epidemics and disasters, when they occur, often reflect pre-existing gender inequalities. This is a fact recognised within the policy structures of many large international NGOs when planning humanitarian response. The reasons for these disproportionate figures are explored within this report using a human rights perspective. This report draws on academic and grey literature, and a small-scale survey of workers involved in caring for those suffering from Ebola, to explore how a person’s level of risk to an event like Ebola and their capacity to respond to or prepare for it, can be affected by a person’s gender, level of poverty, social class, age, ethnicity, and the pre-existing human rights landscape. Human rights are intended to be universal, but as this report will demonstrate, there are many factors limiting the implementation of basic human rights in relation to gender and humanitarian action. This study explores some of the reasons why more women than men died from Ebola in Sierra Leone and why, as many of the survey respondents reported, women suffered disproportionately during the outbreak. The reasons for this are outlined within the findings, but include cultural practices around mortality, gender roles within society, a lack of education leading to an inability to take up preventative health messages, and pre-existing bias against women at many levels of society.
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    'Walking the tightrope' : pregnant women & malnutrition in Aotearoa : how the Sustainable Development Goals 2 & 5 reframe the current discourse
    (Massey University, 2018) Raven, Briony
    In 2015 a new global development platform, called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched and for the first-time developed nations were included in the development agenda. Poverty, food insecurity and inequality in the developed world are now encompassed within this global platform and are open to international standardisation and critique. This presents significant challenges for developed/western countries who have previously looked outwards at developing nations as the subject of the development gaze. This desk-based study explores how developed countries are responding to this new paradigm by looking at a case study in Aotearoa, New Zealand. This case study focusses on SDGs 2: empowerment & 5: food security to address how we can reframe the current discourse on pregnant women and malnutrition in Aotearoa. Using a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to interrogate the current discourse across three platforms this study has three key findings (themes). Firstly, pregnant women are singularly responsible for ensuring adequate nutrition; secondly, a healthy pregnancy requires women to be educated to adhere to complex food guidelines; and lastly the use of fear and monitoring of women to motivate adherence. An overarching or ‘grand theme’ which is summarised as ‘walking a tightrope’ finds that women are expected to achieve unrealistic nutritional targets within the realities of everyday life. However, the SDG’s provide an opportunity to reframe the ‘problem’ of malnutrition in pregnancy to one of food security and empowerment of women. This ‘reframing’ more appropriately addresses the complexity of issues which underlies malnutrition and provides a framework for government and social policy to robustly address malnutrition for pregnant women. This report therefore concludes that this new global focus on developed countries presents a significant opportunity for them to adopt development frameworks to achieve the SDGs.
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    Para Kore : an alternative voice for a zero waste world : a research project presented to Massey University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Institute of Development Studies, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Banfield, Jane
    Issues of solid waste pollution are viewed as a serious threat to the global Sustainable Development Goals. Waste minimisation in New Zealand centres around a loose government policy framework underpinned by a neoliberal belief in market-driven solutions from the business sector. The traditional ‘waste hierarchy’ model (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle-Recover) remains at the core of legislation, while the more recently developed ‘Circular Economy’ model is increasingly viewed by both state and business sector as offering new hope. However, strategies for waste minimisation in New Zealand are still failing to reduce waste, as exemplified by the annual growth in waste-to-landfill rates. Given the failures mentioned above, this research looked to investigate the merits of an alternative indigenous approach to waste minimisation based upon a different epistemology. Framed by a hope-filled post-development outlook, an in-depth critique of current literature regarding mainstream waste minimisation strategies was undertaken alongside a qualitative case study with Para Kore Marae Inc., a Māori not-for-profit organisation active in 12 regions of New Zealand. The study revealed there are contradictions within mainstream waste minimisation strategies. Resolution of waste issues is constrained by political adherence to neoliberal economic theory which promotes continuous growth in production and consumption. A dominant metanarrative around waste has developed allowing the collective impact of factors incompatible with waste eradication to remain unacknowledged and unaddressed by state actors. The Para Kore model contrasts significantly with technocentric state-led approaches. Para Kore Marae Inc. views solid waste issues through the spiritual lens of kaitiakitanga, the relationship and consequent responsibility of each person to the natural world. For participants adopting a Para Kore approach, intrinsic motivation developed to align waste reduction behaviours with personal values and cultural principles. In addition to reducing waste-to-landfill, the Para Kore approach resulted in holistic improvements to individual and community wellbeing. Cost and time constraints to waste reduction were not found to be an issue. The most significant challenge to the model was ‘burnout’ experienced by the ‘champion’ facilitators. The Para Kore approach is identified as reflecting the emergent post-neoliberal political framework, the ‘Politics of Belonging’. It is concluded that Para Kore’s approach has significant value not only in engendering waste reduction behaviours within organisations and households but also in reinvigorating individual and community wellbeing.
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    "They come because they know the teachers are gringos" : a post-colonial exploration of the perceived value of volunteer English teaching in Lima, Peru : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Thomas, Johanna
    Over the past three decades, there has been a growing trend among young people from developed countries to spend time undertaking short-term voluntary activities in developing countries before, during or after university. This phenomenon is known as ‘volunteer-tourism’. Although typically unqualified, volunteer-tourists participate in a wide range of activities, including English language teaching. There is, however, limited exploration on the dynamics of English language education through volunteer-tourism. Furthermore, literature on the role of English in development indicates an uncritical and positive bias towards English as an international language and a tool of ‘development’. This research thus contributes to current literature in two key ways, considering both the dynamics of volunteer-tourism and English language, in a post-colonial context. The research explores the perceived value of volunteer English (EFL) teaching in both elite and disadvantaged communities of post-colonial Peru. Focusing on a volunteer English teaching agency that operates in both public and private schools in Lima, interviews were conducted with both private and public school staff and former students, agency representatives and volunteers, as part of a qualitative study. A post-colonial lens was adopted to frame the research, addressing the following research questions: • What motivates different actors’ involvement in volunteer English teaching programmes and how do they perceive the value of volunteer English teaching and the English language itself? • How is volunteer English teaching and the English language experienced and perceived in elite and disadvantaged environments by different actors? Drawing on a post-colonial analytical strategy, the research discussion highlights three key themes. Firstly, the perceived value of volunteer English teachers is dependent on their having a positive and willing attitude rather than any form of qualification. Furthermore, their role ambiguity means they are absolved of much responsibility both in and outside of the classroom. Secondly, the value of volunteer English teaching lies in its characterisation as a ‘cultural exchange’, whereby volunteer teaching assistants provide ‘authentic’, linguistic and cultural exchange with Peruvian school students, host families and staff. Finally, stepping into the wider context in which the research is situated, English language is seen by Peruvian participants as a way of ‘opening doors to the world’, with direct associations made by all participants between English and the discourse of ‘development’. Overall, the research reveals power relations and subjectivities that are embedded in post-colonial power structures. Elite members of the host community benefit more from the programme and from the English language than those who are less advantaged, and generalisations are made about different groups of actors based on stereotypes that embody post-colonial ways of thinking. Uncritical promotion of the English language as a tool for personal and national ‘development’ is symbolised by notions of superiority regarding the volunteers and the ‘world’ from which they originate. This suggests that neo-colonial processes may also be involved in spreading the English language and its associated ‘culture’. Nevertheless, while local initiatives such as this one may reproduce systemic inequalities, the positive impacts that participants feel they have experienced should not be overlooked. As such, further research into the overlap between English language and volunteering is required to continue unpacking how these areas interact and operate within underlying power relations, expanding the focus from perceived value, to tangible impacts.
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    Trafficked women as empowered agents? : exploring the experiences of trafficked women from Sonagacchi, Kolkata : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters of International Development at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Rea, Phillipa
    This thesis explores the freedom experiences of trafficked women from Sonagacchi, Kolkata, and argues that freedom for women trafficked into the sex trade is more complex than simply equating freedom to empowerment or exit from the sex trade. The trafficking of human beings is a major development issue, highlighted in the recently developed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which sets a target within SDG five, eight and sixteen to eradicate trafficking in all forms by 2030. To be able to reach this goal, a broad understanding of trafficking in needed. Research in the field of human trafficking is relatively recent with the majority of studies focusing on rescue and rehabilitation as the only means of exit from a trafficking situation. This thesis adds to the body of research on trafficking, by exploring the exit strategies of women who successfully exited a trafficking experience and seeking to understand the processes in women’s empowerment and agency. Field work took place in Sonagacchi, Kolkata the largest red-light area in India over a six-week period. A narrative inquiry method was used to hear the life stories of five women who have successfully exited their trafficking situation as well as interviews with four social workers. The findings of this study identified strategies that facilitated trafficked women’s exit from the sex trade. In addition, the processes of empowerment and agency that women experienced were explored, highlighting that individuals can experience empowerment processes and ssome degrees of agency even in exploitative environments. The idea that exit from the sex trade and empowerment equate to freedom is challenged within this study. It is recognised that freedom is contextual, personal and cultural in nature, and that in the context of the West Bengal sex trade, experiences of freedom encompassed contentment and well-being. The main implication of the findings of this research is that trafficked women experience empowerment and agency in the midst of their trafficking experience, but that experiences of freedom are more complex than the literature suggests, and women require healing and wholeness in order for freedom to be actualised.
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    What's on the menu? : how the cuisine of large-scale, upmarket tourist resorts shapes agricultural development in Fiji : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Laeis, Gabriel C. M.
    Tourism is an economic backbone for many developing countries, especially small island development states (SIDS). Nevertheless, scholars have argued that tourism is a globalising and, potentially, colonising force that may not be a sustainable path for the economic and cultural development of such countries. Even though international tourist numbers are growing, economic leakages are high in developing countries. This is partly due to a significant share of food being imported for tourists, despite local food production. Research on the impediments of agriculture-tourism linkages in developing countries has so far taken mostly an economistic approach, finding a variety of supply, demand, marketing and policy related factors. To allow for a more holistic approach, this study takes a cultural perspective and investigates how the cuisine of large-scale, upmarket tourist resorts shapes agricultural development in SIDS, such as Fiji. Sahlins’ (1992) theory of cultural change is combined with the corporate community development framework (Banks, Scheyvens, McLennan, & Bebbington, 2016) to explore the agency of Fijians in negotiating the impact of Western-dominated tourism. This study employed ethnographic methods in a case study approach during a four-month field trip to Fiji. Participation and observation in a resort kitchen, field visits to other resorts, farms and food intermediaries, 38 interviews as well as document analysis enabled a rich representation of local viewpoints on food, culture and tourism. Large-scale resorts present Fijian cuisine either in the form of tokenistic ‘island night shows’, or in fusion concepts that cater to a few affluent guests. Fijian chefs rarely perceive their own cuisine as valuable, due to decades of Western-dominated tourism. The use of local produce is accordingly low and purposeful development of tourism-agriculture linkages is rare. Farmers, on the other hand, recognise resorts as a valuable market. Nevertheless, many Indo-Fijian farmers turn towards food exporters as a more reliable and predictable business partner. Indigenous food producers engage only to a degree that they deem valuable for their own socio-cultural needs and goals. Findings suggest that small-scale resorts, catering to niche markets, might be more conducive to local integration and sustainable tourism development. Policy-wise, developing the agricultural agenda of SIDS to match the requirements of Western diets might have environmentally and socially detrimental implications.
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    Fostering a new approach : how alternative care models in Greece are meeting unaccompanied minors' rights : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Finlay, Liselle
    Unaccompanied minors seeking refuge in Greece are met with woefully inadequate care structures for meeting their needs. Despite the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child [CRC] stipulating children’s entitlement to appropriate care arrangements, there is a gap between this rhetoric and the reality of alternative care provision for minor refugees. Significantly, institutions are prioritised over familybased solutions. There is also a lack of research addressing the processes of power and exclusion in refugee hosting countries, and how these structural conditions influence unaccompanied minors’ situations and their wellbeing. To address these issues, this study adopts a socio-political construction of children’s rights to understand both how different care models are meeting unaccompanied minors rights, and why these models were selected. In conceiving rights as a socio-political process, this thesis addresses issues of power and agency in the navigation of rights. Tensions between restrictive migration policy and commitment to the CRC will be shown to compromise care provision for unaccompanied minors through conscription to control over care. Despite the overarching structural limitations, young people in this study find avenues for exercising their agency, albeit often risky ones. What emerges is a need to understand both young people’s vulnerabilities and strength, and how they are both these things in different parts of their lives. This thesis presents results of fieldwork largely undertaken in Athens over a six-week period in 2018. A cross-section of care providers engaged in the welfare of unaccompanied minors participated in the study. Also interviewed were the foremost experts in Greece’s child protection system: young people who themselves have experienced these care models. Findings reveal the impact migration policy has had in undermining care provision for unaccompanied minors, and the corresponding tensions that emerge for NGOs looking to address urgent needs and find sustainable solutions. This study recorded that rights violations and risks are occurring. It also explored the barriers and opportunities to expand the spectrum of care options and strengthen optimal care, which were identified as family and community-based alternative care initiatives.
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    Beyond women's empowerment : exploring the role of men in family planning among the Mangkong ethnic group in Lao PDR : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development, Massey University, Palmerston North, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Lorkuangming, Vanly
    Since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, men’s involvement in family planning (FP) has been actively promoted as the pinnacle to women’s empowerment, and consequently, gender equality. Previous studies have found that when men are involved in FP, they can become more supportive when decisions about reproductive issues need to be made, which has positive implications elsewhere. Laos as an ethnically diverse country, means making FP universally accessible for its people has been challenging. It is especially problematic for ethnic minorities in rural areas where women are more vulnerable and marginalised, resulting in a high level of unmet need for FP among ethnic women. With ethnic minorities even less participation is evident, coupled with the fact there is a paucity of research on topic. This thesis therefore aims to explore the involvement of Mangkong men in FP. The fieldwork was conducted in seven villages in Nong District, Savannakhet province, Lao PDR. The research is qualitative in design and data was collected via semi-structured interviews with 13 couples, two women and five key informants. Other methods included informal observation, used as part of building rapport and learning about gender roles and lifestyle among the Mangkong, as well as document analysis. This study found that men’s involvement as FP service providers raised awareness of FP among men and women, while men’s involvement as targets of FP programmes improved and increased participation in counselling, integrated outreach, for example. However, this suggests that men’s involvement in FP alone cannot increase women’s empowerment unless broader strategic and practical gender needs are also addressed. Theoretically, the study calls for culturally specific models of empowerment, as the empowerment framework adopted in this study, which was based on Western feminist theories, cannot fully explain Mangkong women’s understandings of empowerment. Findings also suggest that if true empowerment in FP is to be achieved, it is necessary to focus on both men and women as individuals, couples and clients who have the rights to access FP information and services, thus meeting their individual needs. Both men and women are necessary agents of change for gender equality.
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    Power, empowerment and children in Dhaka's poor urban communities : understanding and measuring children's empowerment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of International Development at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Hamilton, Harley
    This thesis is about children, power and empowerment. It seeks to both understand and measure power and empowerment from the perspectives of poor urban children living in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Children have been largely overlooked in development studies literature and although empowerment and measurement have been mainstreamed into development practice, children’s perspectives on these two essentially contested concepts are marginal. This thesis contributes to existing understandings of children’s power and empowerment, with a specific focus on poor urban children living in Dhaka. To do this, this thesis draws on two competing research paradigms, those of interpretivism and positivism respectively. I show how these two research paradigms can be brought together into a single mixed methods methodology when employed to answer distinct, but related research questions. This enabled me to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and analytical strategies: task-based visual methods employed in a creative art and storytelling workshop; a qualitative thematic analysis; indicator construction; a survey and a descriptive statistical analysis. Bringing together these two competing research paradigms allows for the in-depth, contextual knowledge that qualitative research uncovers, with the ability to use this knowledge as a basis for measurement. In this thesis, I draw on empirical evidence uncovered through my research methods and insights from post-structuralism, development sociology and the literature on the relationality of childhood to argue that power can be viewed as boundaries to action. Boundaries of power exist as social structures that demarcate fields of action, possibility and imagination and are not resources that any actor has or uses but instead exist as boundaries which constrain all actors. I explore five boundaries of power that were highlighted by my research participants: personal relationships with family and friends; access to material and financial resources; the natural environment; education and children’s work. I present 34 indicators of empowerment I created that were derived from these boundaries of power. I discuss the survey and descriptive statistical analysis I undertook to measure these indicators with a small group of poor urban children. These indicators are therefore context specific and intended to be relevant and meaningful to those who are to be affected by development. They are a tool that could be used by development practitioners to measure a baseline of the relative empowerment or disempowerment of children in Dhaka and to track and measure change over time. Drawing on both my qualitative and quantitative findings, I show that viewing power as boundaries is not to claim that all power relations are equal. Instead I show that actors are placed in differential positions within power’s boundaries and have different channels for action. I suggest, therefore, that empowerment can be reconceptualized as a temporal issue that should first seek to expand the channels for action available to actors within power’s existing boundaries, and second, to shift the formation of the boundaries themselves to provide new conditions for future agency.
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    (De)constructing 'refugeeness' : exploring mediated discourses of solidarity, welcome and refugee (self)representation in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Slade, Natalie Frances
    The tragic photo of Alan Kurdi ignited protests of solidarity and compassion across the Western world in support of refugees. In New Zealand, refugee advocates and media commentators urged the government to increase the refugee quota and welcome in more refugees. Although discourses of solidarity and welcome stem from humanitarian concern, they also risk encouraging a regime of compassion and charity that speaks more about ourselves and how we feel. Refugees are framed as objects of ‘our’ moral responsibility, stereotyped as helpless vulnerable victims without agency. These discourses consequently produce a generic type of refugee – an imagining of ‘refugeeness’ – that consigns individuals to an anonymous presence, silenced and marginalised by the very act of solidarity and protest that is performed on their behalf. Situated within a post-development and post-humanitarianism paradigm, and an actor-oriented approach to discourse and agency, this research aims to explore refugee representation and discourses of solidarity and welcome in the New Zealand mainstream media, and how people from refugee backgrounds experience and contest dominant discourses of ‘refugeeness’. Using critical discourse analysis, this research critically examines the discursive constructions of refugees and solidarity in the New Zealand mainstream news media, and the power dynamics involved in the production of discourse. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with refugee advocates and former refugees are employed to create spaces for participants to share their stories and experiences, enabling voices to be heard, misconceptions to be challenged, and new meanings to be constructed. The emergence of themes in this research highlight the relationship between discourses of solidarity, humanitarianism, and imaginings of New Zealand national identity. Within these discourses, refugees are stereotyped in a particular way that calls on the New Zealand public to respond. However, as the title of this thesis suggest, meaning is not infinitely fixed. Refugees may be labelled by discursive structures, but they will also use their agency to deconstruct and redefine the refugee label for their own ends, creating space for the construction of their own identities in the process.