Art/Research International (Journal)
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Artful Diffractions: (En)tangling with Reflexivity and New Materialist Philosophy
No full textIn this article, we explore the potential of artmaking as a reflexive practice, grounded in the work of feminist new materialist philosophers Karen Barad and Donna Haraway. Barad and Haraway’s philosophies emphasize our entanglement with more-than-human materialities and forces and consider our ethical responsibility to the world. We explore our own artful practices such as collaging, drawing, mapping, and creative writing as reflexive practices that help us consider who we are in relation to our research. These examples provide a grounded description for novice and veteran researchers alike who might be interested in using artful reflexive practices in their own work.
Indigenous Intergenerational Relational Rhythms: Sustaining Tongan Language and Culture Across Time (Tā) and Space (Vā)
No full textThis article unfolds intergenerational sustainability and relational rhythms through Tongan language and culture and the interrelationships between older and younger Tongan people and between Tongans and non-Tongans in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). It also unpacks the interconnected ways in which Tongans as Indigenous people honour the inseparability and sensibilities of knowing–seeing–feeling–doing–being–becoming Tongan across tā–vā (time–space) in language and cultural realities, and their implications on Tongan people’s success in life. I argue that there is still space to strengthen Tongan language and culture through intergenerational relationships between Tongans in loto-Tonga, the motherland, and communities settled in tu‘a-Tonga, the diaspora such as Aotearoa NZ.
Finding Harmony between Decolonization and Christianity in Academia
No full textThis article presents our theoretical musings on practicing decolonization as Christian Tongan academics, recorded and shared within our Australian collective during 2022-2023. We aim to discuss the strength and power that comes from our Indigenous inheritance of God and Tonga, living in diaspora of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (tu\u27a Tonga). Amidst this Indigenous strength, there are also subtleties and crescendos of coloniality taking place in and around us, as well as the complexities and vulnerabilities with which Tongan Christian academics grapple in their sense making and meaning making processes. The significance of this discussion is that Oceanian women’s opinions and experiences of decoloniality are not often considered, particularly within the contexts of academia. We pray this article offers insights into how we can successfully navigate simultaneous private, public, individual, and collective journeys, daily, as Christian academics in the decolonization of these various spaces. This is our contribution as Christian academics, as daughters of Tonga, and wives and mothers of Oceania
Audacious Dancing: Growing Pasifika Leaders for South Auckland through the Performing Arts
No full textAudacious Dancing is an evolving framework for critically considering indigenous Pasifika art-making, legacy-leaving, education, service and leadership through the lens of social justice. Located at the juncture of the performing arts and education for young Pasifika leaders in South Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, and drawing on indigenous scholarship in the performing arts, Audacious Dancing offers a way to consider what it means to be a ‘creative native’, learning and leading across generations, cultures and artforms. The four strands - courageous space, indigenous excellence, critical hope and powerful action - weave intergenerational indigenous knowledges with what it means to be growing up Pasifika in the largest Polynesian city in the world
“To be an Asian Girl”: Examining Identity Construction and School Punishment through Found Poetry
No full textIn this study, we explore how three Asian high school girls from poor/working-class families construct their identity in relation to their experiences with school punishment and anti-Asian sexism rooted in model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes. Using found poetry as a method, along with intersectionality and Asian feminist frameworks, we analyze sister circle and kitchen table focus group interviews and diagramming data. We find that, despite their different ethnicities and geographic locations, participants shared significant experiences and perspectives that centered their resistance to anti-Asian sexism, agency and personhood, and familial responsibilities as a source of motivation to excel academically.
Art/Research Cover: Artwork : "Making Sense" by Kendrea Rhodes
No full textMount Myoko, Japan; Alogopoiesis and climbing mountains. A mixed media artwork by Kendrea Rhodes, comprising charcoal, oil paint, digital art, and photography
Understanding Nursing Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic Through Narrative and Art: A Feminist Exploration in Educational Research
No full textThe resilience and retention of nurses is a complex and urgently compelling phenomenon in the global context, made even more critical given the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explored the stories of nursing resilience told from the perspective of four public health nurses who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, utilizing narrative inquiry and arts-based research underpinned by the feminist theoretical framework. The stories of nursing resilience were shared in group discussions, one-on-one conversations, and artistic collages with artist statements; these articulated the nurses’ thoughts and feelings about resilience while working during the pandemic. Elucidated are the impacts of the institutional power structure in nursing, thoughts on using artistic expression, and images of a black cloud to express nursing resilience. Further research is implicated on the use of art in nursing education, the power structure in health care, and nurses feeling valued by the healthcare institution.
Mana Moana: Understanding the Place of Moana in Aotearoa’s Architecture
No full textOur article is an investigation of the architectural meanings of Moana when located in Aotearoa, as Pacific practitioners, designers, and academics. This article will traverse sensitive topics, such as how Aotearoa’s Pacific peoples relate to Tangata Whenua today and how this is expressed in the built space. How can we navigate Te Tiriti o Waitangi through our voyaging histories, moving beyond the muddy relations within urban conditions in Aotearoa? The phrase Mana Moana is used to refer to the ancestral relationships between Tangata Whenua and the wider Moana, or vast Pacific region, as a positioning framework for our discussions. Mana Moana reinforces connected genealogies of Māori and Pacific peoples across deep time and space beyond the shores of Aotearoa, New Zealand. The article draws on architectural case studies from Aotearoa that investigate placemaking concepts and praxes that provoke, educate, and inspire current and future built environments of Aotearoa, New Zealand
Tauhi Vā, A Tongan Artistic Tradition Continues in Academic Research: : A Book Review of Tēvita O. Ka‘ili’s Marking Indigeneity: The Tongan Art of Sociospatial Relations (2017)
No full textI have purposefully used a narrative approach in my review of Ka‘ili’s (2017) Marking Indigeneity: The Tongan Art of Sociospatial Relations to support my meaning making as a Tongan academic and Pasifika researcher. I considered elements of the text that worked well for me as an early career researcher and that are accessible to Tongan and non-Tongan academics alike. The Oceanian artistic traditions of time (tā) and space (vā) promoted in this book offer a continuation of ancient oral traditions into the contemporary realm of academic literature. In essence, Ka‘ili’s book brings significant understandings of the tā-vā theory into interdisciplinary research spaces and across the global landscape of Pasifika research and academic practice. This is evidenced in the more than 60 Pasifika authors’ citations of Ka‘ili’s book, to date. My recommendation of this book draws upon these facets: the accessibility of the text, the elements of the text, and the global reach of the text
Engaging with Tapa and Ngatu : Creating Space for Storying About Tongan Identity and Culture in Aotearoa New Zealand
No full textThe making and gifting of koloa faka-Tonga (women’s valuables, also known as koloa) has been an integral part of Tongan identity and culture for as long as anyone can remember. Working collaboratively on tapa and ngatu provides space for discussions and understanding, and reflections of Tongan identity and culture. The practice of gifting koloa has continued outside of the Kingdom of Tonga as Tongans migrate for new opportunities, including Aotearoa New Zealand (henceforth Aotearoa NZ). Using two different examples, this article will explore, through talatalanoa, how Tongan family partnerships working with tapa/ngatu in contemporary ways are sites of intergenerational knowledge sharing through art practices in Aotearoa NZ. Sulieti Burrows and Tui Emma Gillies are a mother-daughter partnership of tapa artists who work and reside in Aotearoa NZ and use their time together to share stories and make tapa works depicting what concerns them in contemporary society. Also residing in Aotearoa NZ, Lavinia and Fire Fonua are a mother-son partnership who turn koloa into contemporary personal adornment, alongside Fire’s wife, Sonia. In this article, the four Tongan authors’ reflections on inter-generational knowledge sharing and practices related to koloa making and gifting are described and illustrated using examples of their work. Their diverse stories also reflect on Tongan material culture, and Tongan identity, and demonstrate how working on practices that centre koloa provides opportunities to consider what it means to be Tongan in Aotearoa NZ, and how Tongan ways of being, knowing, and doing are valued as tu’atonga.