Junctures - The Journal for Thematic Dialogue
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Editorial: ‘network’
Full text linkINTRODUCTION: The theme, ‘network,’ speaks to the idea that relationships between phenomena are more important than—and indeed produce or perform—things and beings themselves. Some such things and beings might typically be regarded as relatively proximate, the connections well-known and reiterated; others more distant and the act of connecting them daring, difficult or speculative. These latter relationships often depend on a willingness to traverse multiple areas of knowledge or disciplines, which is precisely what this journal, The Journal for Thematic Dialogue, encourages. In recent decades, there has been much ‘thematic dialogue’ about the place of human beings in the greater scheme of things. Contrary to dominant tendencies in Western thought since the Enlightenment, a ‘networked’ perspective suggests that the putative intelligence of people does not make them separate from everything else on the planet; but, at the same time, this same intelligence, or an assumption of its distinctiveness and superiority, has succeeded in having an exceptional—to the point of catastrophic—impact on the planet’s ecosystem. If there is any way out of this pickle, or at least of surviving in the midst of it a little while longer, it would seem propitious to regard human beings merely as constituent factors in a much vaster and multitudinous assemblage, constellation or ecology, not as the centre around which everything else revolves, while, at the same time, recognising that this puts us in a place of responsibility—to care for everything else we connect with, for the sake of sustaining the wider network and by extension our place within it
Hyphae Networks of Queer Love: Erasing Binaries and Expanding Masculinities Through the Danmei Novel Little Mushroom by Shisi
Full text linkSet against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic future where as a result of infections due to rapid mutations in most earthly organisms, human civilisation has significantly declined, the Danmei Novel Little Mushroom by Shisi narrates the tale of a mushroom on a quest to recover the spores stolen by some humans. At the beginning of the novel the mushroom attempts but is unsuccessful in saving the life of an injured human, however, in the process the mushroom absorbs the human’s genes and memories, and is able to shapeshift into a human form called An Zhe and thus sets on a course towards the location of human civilisation whereby he encounters Lu Feng the other protagonist of the novel. The research paper examines how this work of speculative science fiction embodies the concepts of post-humanism and queer masculinity and rejects the narratives of strict binaries and the superiority of the human race over others. The paper highlights the novel’s attempt to move away from anthropocentric and heteronormative thinking as the novel engages in narratives that showcase queer love and queer masculinities in a positive way that does not conform and restricts itself to the boundaries set up by a backward society.  
Weaving potentialities and AI:: Patterns are not Inscriptions
Full text linkNgaa tuku o Maahina is a roopuu [group] whose kaupapa [purpose] relates to the multiple interconnected strands of knowledge of ngaa maramataka [site specific lunar calendars]. We are Hagen Tautari, Horomona Horo, Te Taima Barrett, Hollie Tawhiao, Toni Herangi, Ra Keelan and Joe Citizen. At our inaugural hui [gathering], Toni brought along a taonga [prized treasure] which had been in her family for generations – dated 1898, this photolithographed collection in te reo Māori [the Māori language] and English, has copies of He Whakaputanga (Declaration of independence), Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) and other associated papers.
To some, this is might appear to simply be copies of older original documents. In te ao Māori [the Māori world], however, this collection has its own mauri [life-essence], mana [spiritual authority and prestige] and haa [breath] and retains links to the tuupuna [ancestors] through their tohu [signs]. Our koorero [discussion] became centred on its preservation – simply photographing it and uploading copies of it online would make it vulnerable to AI that employ web-scraping and web-crawling practices, to thieve knowledge and assimilate it into a supposedly universalist framework.
This koorero brought to our attention the wider take [subject] of how we should navigate the colonial tendencies of AI – the structural violence that arises from those culturally specific practices that assume a priori truths as universally foundational. By appraising the Eurocentric and human-centric assumptions behind data recognition through the automation of iterative logic loops, we acknowledge the entanglements of historically systemic problems: how cognitivism and positivism underpin supremacist claims of liberatory technological progress; how material realism and representational indexicality have traditionally dismissed and abused indigenous knowledge frameworks; how military-industrial control culture has normalised surveillance and transnational capitalism; and how reductionist methodologies reify libertarian claims of individual freedoms as commodified transactions between atomistic entities.  
Reimagining Kinship Systems and Networks:: Interconnectedness of Aboriginal Ecologies in Australia (Human and Land Rights)
Full text linkAboriginal people in Australia continue to endure the ongoing effects of 250 years of colonisation. However, the social and ontological basis of their Kinship Systems and networks highlights their resilience and resistance against western hierarchies and ideologies. Kinship Systems and networks represent the relationships between culture and nature and do not distinguish between the human and non-human world. The basis of the Kinship Systems and networks extends seamlessly beyond the human into the Ancestral and spiritual realms. As part of the creation process, Land was created first, followed by people and then languages belonging to the Land. Languages are living entities, connecting people with their Country, Ancestors and culture while transmitting intergenerational knowledges within and across thousands of generations. It is impossible to separate one from the other. These entities coexist through and beyond notions of space and time. This inseparable relationship between Land, language, and the rights of Aboriginal People forms the cornerstone of their activism. For example, Aboriginal activists in the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia fight for racial [human] rights and environmental justice consistent with their symbiotic relationship.
Drawing on interviews carried out in early 2023 with Aboriginal activists engaged in the revival of languages and Land rights, this paper will examine how the relationships between sustainability, care for Country and language are articulated in and through Kinship systems and networks. It will explain the deep reciprocity, identified by activists, focusing on environmental care and sustainability of Country, language revival and social justice efforts. 
Teaching Games for Whakawhānaukataka:: Doubling Down on ‘Understanding’ that Kī-o-Rahi is more than just a game — Emphasising Whakawhānaukataka to Promote the Importance of Hauora (Wellbeing)
Full text linkThe purpose of this study was to use the Traditional Indigenous Game (TIG) or taonga tākaro, ‘Ki-o-Rahi’ (KoR) to explicitly promote a better understanding of wellbeing among students. Often in Physical Education (PE) settings, the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) model is employed to educate students in games’ play about playing the game(s). For example, the creators of the TGfU model stated that “the primary purpose of teaching any game [TGfU] should be to improve students’ game performance and to advance their enjoyment and participation in games, which might lead to a healthier lifestyle” (Thorpe & Bunker, 1996, p.30). However, this study reversed this position and instead emphasised promoting Hauora (wellbeing) improvements to students’ lifestyles firstly, with the secondary outcome that it might lead to better game performance (but this was not a primary objective). Essentially, our aim was to determine if the KoR Unit (‘KoRU’) could be used to re-frame a traditional ‘TGfU’ unit and double-down on the ‘Understanding’ to privilege the promotion of Hauora (wellbeing) and to assess if this re-positioning led to improvements in rangatahi lives
Neighbourly Networks:: A Philosophical Approach to Relational Balances of Shared Becoming
Full text linkThis paper argues that currently operative approaches to the protection of Indigenous rights and capabilities cannot help but fall short of accommodating relational, co-creative dynamics of Indigenous being in the world due to insufficient engagement with the participationalist, networked understandings of Indigenous paradigms.
Discussions during the preparation of the United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), in a necessary first step, focused on responses to shared histories of subjugation by colonial powers,(1) and on safeguarding Indigenous rights and capabilities in relation to the powers exercised by what have since become encapsulating nation states.
While the respect implied in the safeguarding of such rights and capabilities constitutes a crucial first step towards fruitful forms of coexistence, its conception from within a predominantly representationalist, Newtonian, post-Enlightenment Western paradigm necessarily falls short – at least as yet – of allowing space for Indigenous forms of networked, often acausal relationships of inter-species kinship to thrive. As a corollary, it also entails limitations remaining operative with regards to any potential networking between networks: to the extent that an Indigenous network’s own ability to thrive is impeded, so is the ability of its neighbouring networks to fruitfully interact with its contribution to inter-network co-creative activity and thriving.
Understandings on their own terms are going to be needed of Indigenous conceptions of agency residing in inter-species relationship, so that space can be opened up for Indigenous societies not only to exercise rights and capabilities at bounded individual or group level, but also to practise participationalist ways of dynamically centering the co-creative agency of relationships. 
Google Earth Augments Viewing the Spectacle of Ruin in Selected ‘In-Between Places’ of Old Industrial Johannesburg
Full text linkSouth Africa is said to have the worst social inequality in the world, and examples of this inequality can be seen in the shack settlements, backyard shacks and hijacked properties in many parts of the city of Johannesburg. These unsafe and neglected ‘interstitial places’ are where the poor live in inadequate housing, squeezed between factory buildings, railway lines and motorways in the city. One of the challenges of capturing visual information about these settlements in these difficult settings is getting access to the areas where photographs can be taken. In Johannesburg, many areas are no longer safe for outsiders to visit. These unsafe, informal and often well-hidden areas can be considered ‘interstitial’ in relation to other areas where middle-income earners live in decent houses in pleasant suburbs with amenities. It is these ‘unsafe’ areas that the author wished to explore as a source of images and impressions for creative works.
This study takes an autoethnographic approach to exploring three neglected suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa (Cleveland, Denver and Jeppestown), which all date from soon after the first discovery of gold in 1886. Through this work, the author hoped to make sense of observed changes within the city and the proliferation of informal, survivalist settlements seemingly arising without town planning interventions. Many open areas and dilapidated buildings are now occupied by low-income earners, perhaps because city governance has been overwhelmed by the thousands of work-seeking migrants arriving in the city on an ongoing basis.
To explore the many visual indicators of poverty in these selected areas of Johannesburg, the author used Google Earth remote sensing images and Google Earth Street View to augment site visits. Google Earth is a valuable research tool, as one can quickly explore marginal areas that are not safe for outsiders to visit. One can also view activities that are not visible from the street – for example, illegal motor repair operations occurring behind high walls. Ethical issuesabound in these acts of anonymous looking at the poor and destitute and finding the picturesque in neglected buildings, dismal living conditions and slums, as well as the privacy and surveillance issues relating to those being observed. This essay will dwell on some of the benefits of the Google Earth virtual globe software, as well as the ethical discomfort that can result when observing people, poverty and informal living places – whether using remote sensing methods and driving around these areas with a camera, or using the images and perceptions gained for personal use as a source of inspiration for art making and fiction writing
Aboriginal Language Revival: The Intersectionality of Language Practices
Full text linkAboriginal language revival is a recent phenomenon in Australia (Rigney 2006; Troy 2012). Prior to British colonisation, Australia had over 250 distinct languages that could be subdivided into 600-700 dialects, clearly, Australia was composed of ‘multicultural and multilingual societies’ (Rigney 2006, 385). Today only 18 Indigenous languages are spoken by all generations of people within a given language group (Social Justice Report 2009).
In response to the urgent need to protect Indigenous languages, in August 2009, the Australian Government launched for the first time a strategy titled Indigenous Languages - A National Approach 2009 (Social Justice Report 2009). It highlighted the Government’s plan to preserve and revitalise Indigenous languages through targeted actions. More recently, in 2016 the state of New South Wales introduced Indigenous languages in the secondary school curriculum, with other states following. Australian universities are increasingly offering tertiary courses (Bagshaw, 2015). Subsequently, the Aboriginal Languages Act 2017 was passed in New South Wales with a 5-year plan to reawaken and nurture Aboriginal languages.
Meanwhile, Australian Aboriginal women play a key role in reclaiming language and their voice in the policy arena by contributing to radical pedagogies and healing through language revival programs. To this end, Indigenous scholars in Australia see their work as drawing on generations of women, particularly in the context of Grandmother’s Laws, and their contribution to resistance, challenge to stereotypes and focus on survival as an outcome (Watson 2015; Behrendt 2019). Grandmother’s law is part of Indigenous law where men and women hold equal positions with reciprocal rights and responsibilities for maintaining societal equilibrium in their own Nations and in their own languages. These interdependent roles are designated as women’s and men’s law and are also referred to as “Women’s Business” (Burarrwanga 2019, p.72) and “Men’s Business” (Canuto et al. 2018). “Grandfathers look outwardly, protecting home community, Land and camp” (Wall 2017). Grandmothers look inwardly, teaching and nurturing younger generations in having respect and responsibility to care for Country, to benefit both Land and people and to maintain cultural connection with family, language, and Land (Wall 2017).
As a result, competing tensions exist in the area of Indigenous language learning with government policies on the one hand providing western models for language learning within educational institutions while on the other, Indigenous community led structures are informing vital ways of re-centring language pathways.
The aim of this paper is to build on and contribute to work in the area of Indigenous languages in Australia by examining the intersectionality relevant to the revival of an Indigenous language in order to understand the ways in which different forms of language knowledges intersect and interact to shape experiences of oppression and privilege to address and challenge systemic forms of inequality and discrimination. It draws on a framework that is informed by the relation between knowledge and pedagogy (Apple 1993; Aronowitz & Giroux 1985) and by Indigenous pedagogy frameworks (Watson & Heath, 2004; Watson, 2015). This framework acts as a useful, yet destabilising factor that brings into question how teachers teach and what systems of knowledge are applied.
The study draws on interviews with Indigenous educators in both an Australian educational institution and a community context to examine the relation between people and society in the process of language revival as well as the challenges posed and solutions offered by the way various forms of language knowledges intersect. 
Examining the Intersection of Cultural Identities: The Malaysian Chinese Experience
Full text linkThis essay aims to present the intersections that constitute the cultural identity of Malaysian Chinese and suggest how their migration and settlement experiences have shaped their sense of who they are and who they are becoming through personal and family histories. I utilise a methodology analogous to the microhistory framework, where the individual assumes an active role in the process of memory formation and exercises agency in the selection, alteration and transmission of memories. This perspective encourages “understanding people in light of their own experience and their reactions to that experience.”1
Most scholarly publications on Malaysian Chinese identity use a macro-level approach, emphasising the study of social and political institutions while giving less attention to personal introspection and micro-level research. A September 17, 2022, New Straits Times article quoted Danny Wong, a Malaysian historian from Sabah, as saying that family history, tales and memoirs help people comprehend both their past and their future trajectory. Wong believes that scrutinising one’s personal history through the medium of family narratives can lead to a critical evaluation of the interconnectedness of familial, communal and national dynamics.
My artworks, reproduced in this article, aim to visually portray these submerged and accumulated layers of intersecting identity through a microhistorical perspective. Through my art, I present the intersecting and multi-layered inner reality that has accumulated traces of lived experiences. This inner reality is distinguished by its multicultural, multi-religious, multi-lingual character and multiracial experiences that combine to influence identity formation, under the impact of constantly changing social environments. The evolution of these inner realities is conveyed using visual assemblages combining printmaking, photography and digital manipulation in order to visually represent the socio-cultural formation of a Malaysian Chinese individual. The artworks reproducedconvey the mutable nature of ethnic identity in conjunction with variables such as geographic location, degree of interaction, era, and age group