News-Board-Eintrag:
“Researching down under”
| News-Kategorie: | |
| Eingestellt von: | Neill Busse |
| Eingestellt am: | 19.11.2008 |
A research trip report by Katharina Luh (16.08.-13.09.2008) In August and September 2008 I completed a research stay in Aotearoa/New Zealand and had the great opportunity to live, write, and research in several archives, museums and libraries in Auckland and Wellington. Within this period I not only got an impression of the country’s scientific environment but also of its people, lifestyle, and cultures. I had the chance to talk to various New Zealand authors, researchers and lecturers working in the field of History, Sociology, English and Maori Studies and exchange ideas about a large variety of subjects.  The first two weeks of my research stay were spent in Auckland. I scanned the catalogues and shelves of the General Library of University of Auckland (UOA) and the Central City Library of Auckland. At UOA I was able to catch up with Ann Pistacchi writing a Phd-Thesis on The Politics of Survivance in Maori Women’s Critical Fictions and Amber McWilliams soon finishing her dissertation on Postcolonial Literature – New Zealand and Australia. I also had the chance to meet Te Tuhi Robust working in Maori Studies and co-supervising Ann Pistacchi’s dissertation. He offered support regarding my bibliography, suggesting further reading on Maori feminism. I was also able to attend a weekly Phd-student meeting at the Department of English Studies at UOA and get to know the university’s procedures of Phd- and postgraduate programmes.  I also had the great pleasure to meet and exchange ideas with New Zealand authors. I was introduced to Beryl Fletcher and talked to her about topics such as the socio-historical climate of the 1960s-1990s in Aotearoa and the changes made to feminist writers in New Zealand during this period. I learned a great deal about New Zealand feminism (Maori and Pakeha), nationalism and questions of belonging and ethnic identity. Furthermore, I conducted a 4-hour-interview with Cathie Dunsford touching on a vast array of issues such as bi- and multiculturalism, changes and continuities in publishing and writing feminist/lesbian/indigenous fiction in Aotearoa/New Zealand as well as issues of gender, ethnicity and postcolonialism in Maori writing. As Cathie Dunsford runs a successful publishing consultancy near Auckland I was also able to get an insight into the funding and cultural politics of New Zealand. I feel very honoured that Cathie supports my work and I herewith want to thank her for the long emails she sent me before, during and after my time in Aotearoa offering so much help and precious input to my project. She has also offered to proof-read my thesis.  At the Sociology Department of UOA I had the chance to talk to lecturer and Postgraduate Advisor Vivienne Elizabeth, a specialist in gender and feminist research, and Claudia Bell working on issues of New Zealand identity and everyday-culture. The other two weeks of my research stay were spent in Wellington where I introduced myself and my research interests to Alice TePunga Somerville, currently based at the Department of English Studies and the Department of Maori Studies of Victoria University. We talked about issues of Maori and mixed-race literature and the possibility of an intersectional approach to New Zealand fiction. I also met Charlotte MacDonald working in the area of New Zealand gender history and visited the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies.  At the New Zealand Film Archive I watched several documentaries on the socio-historical context of Aotearoa/New Zealand from the 1970s up to the present as well as films on New Zealand identity, race relations and New Zealand writers. Additionally, I researched at the Alexander Turnball Library, the National Library of New Zealand and the Te Papa Library Collection. Within these four weeks I had the opportunity to learn more about New Zealand (post)colonialism, Maori and Pacific history and culture by visiting various museums and art galleries, f.i. the Auckland Museum, New Zealand’s National Museum Te Papa Tongarewa, the Wellington Museum City and Sea, the Auckland Art Gallery and the City Art Gallery Wellington. I went to the National Archives in Wellington to see New Zealand’s founding document The Treaty of Waitangi and the Suffrage Petition of 1893 signed by more than 25% of the female population of New Zealand at the end of the 19th century. I visited Bastion Point, an important site of Maori activism and struggle for recognition in the 1980s and did the famous Wellington Writers Walk.  After four weeks of meeting all these supportive and fantastic people and visiting all these fascinating places I feel very privileged and extremely grateful for having been given the opportunity to experience the scientific environment of Aotearoa/New Zealand as well as getting the chance to know some of the country’s diverse cultural realities. It has helped me not only in regard to my research but has also shaped my perception of the contribution I could be making to the scientific landscape of Aotearoa/New Zealand. I feel more motivated than ever before to write my dissertation on Gendering ethnicity and ethnicising gender – Forms and functions of culturally-specific manifestations of femininity and ethnicity in the New Zealand novel from 1970 to the present.A very big thank you therefore goes to my supervisor Prof. Ansgar Nünning and the GCSC at Justus-Liebig-University Gießen who kindly funded my work down under. Without their help I would probably not be where I am now. I also want to thank Wencke Weit who has helped me in so many different ways that I wouldn’t even know where to start. Thank you Cathie for believing in my Mahi/work and all the knowledge you shared with me about mana wahine, the pride and power of women. A big thanks to all the researchers and authors who took the time to talk and/or write to me. Thanks to Oliver and Rebecca Erlewein for showing me around Wellington and all the other participants of my photo-project “Doors – A liminal experiment” – the Carter family, Nina Hannert and Jule Scherer. I will never forget that. Kia ora! Katharina Luh Picture 1 shows Katharina Luh at UOA General Library, picture 2 shows Katharina and Cathie Dunsford in Takapuna, picture 3 shows Katharina in Tongariro National Park. © all pictures: Katharina Luh. |
|
