Dying to research: An autoethnographic exploration of researching Māori and whānau experiences of end-of-life care

The authors critically reflect on the autoethnographic process involved in navigating a smooth pathway towards investigating dying, death and bereavement for Māori whānau (families) in a way that supports and gives voice to their experience. This study, based in the Māori & Psychology Research Unit at The University of Waikato, is supported by a Health Research Council Erihapeti Rehu-Murchie Career Development Award. It explores the “end-of-life” journeys of Māori and their whānau in South Auckland and Waikato, through the dying process and subsequent challenges of bereavement. The researcher’s journey from novice to someone fully enmeshed in the struggles and triumphs of conducting research with Māori is examined. There is reflection on the challenges and issues that have emerged since settling on this research topic. These include ethical concerns, and the processes and outcomes associated with negotiating tensions between a shifting academic objectivity and the development of a methodology requiring subjective reflexivity

Williams’s Pragmatic Genealogy and Self-Effacing Functionality

In Truth and Truthfulness, Bernard Williams sought to defend the value of truth by giving a vindicatory genealogy revealing its instrumental value. But what separates Williams’s instrumental vindication from the indirect utilitarianism of which he was a critic? And how can genealogy vindicate anything, let alone something which, as Williams says of the concept of truth, does not have a history? In this paper, I propose to resolve these puzzles by reading Williams as a type of pragmatist and his genealogy as a pragmatic genealogy. On this basis, I show just in what sense Williams’s genealogy can by itself yield reasons to cultivate a sense of the value of truth. Using various criticisms of Williams’s genealogical method as a foil, I then develop an understanding of pragmatic genealogy which reveals it to be uniquely suited to dealing with practices exhibiting what I call self-effacing functionality—practices that are functional only insofar as and because we do not engage in them for their functionality. I conclude with an assessment of the wider significance of Williams’s genealogy for his own oeuvre and for further genealogical inquiry

Photography as an act of collaboration

The camera is usually considered to be a passive tool under the control of the operator. This definition implicitly constrains how we use the medium, as well as how we look at – and what we see in – its interpretations of scenes, objects, events and ‘moments’. This text will suggest another way of thinking about – and using – the photographic medium. Based on the evidence of photographic practice (mine and others’), I will suggest that, as a result of the ways in which the medium interprets, juxtaposes and renders the elements in front of the lens, the camera is capable of depicting scenes, events and moments that did not exist and could not have existed until brought into being by the act of photographing them. Accordingly, I will propose that the affective power of many photographs is inseparable from their ‘photographicness’ – and that the photographic medium should therefore be considered as an active collaborator in the creation of uniquely photographic images

Training or education? Negotiating a fuzzy line between what “we” want and “they” might need

In this article, we reflect on what we consider to be an over-reliance among many in golf – including coaches, sport psychologists, and governing bodies – on a training-dominated vocabulary. To do so, we adopt a narrative approach to explore: i) the kinds of stories which circulate in golf; and ii) the stories women professional golfers told of their development and progression during life history interviews. By analysing these stories, we hope to provide a contrasting perspective on golfers’ long-term needs and show that alternatives to a training-dominated vocabulary are both possible and desirable. Through these reflections, we aim to present some more general insights concerning how to negotiate the fuzzy line between what “we” (as coaches, psychologists, governing body officials, performance directors, etc.) want and what “they” (players) might need in development terms. We conclude by suggesting an education-based alternative to the current training-dominated discourse which offers a healthier path to player retention, wellbeing, development, and progression in golf

Recovering the Spirit of Mystagogy in the Contemporary Churches

(Excerpt) The restoration of the catechumenate in the Roman Catholic tradition since the promulgation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) in 1972 has been a most surprising pastoral success. Given its size and complexity one might have predicted that the RCIA would simply be ignored or dismissed as irrelevant

Thinking geo/graphically: The interdisciplinary space between graphic design and cultural geography

In relation to the understanding and representation of everyday life and place, it is clear that many cultural geographers are beginning to explore what one might call “creative” qualitative research methods, the majority of which draw on the discipline of fine art. In particular, the use of film and sound within research is increasing, as are calls for conference submissions and journal articles relating to such work. Such developments within cultural geography mirror those across qualitative research within the broader social science arena, and for geographers the use of this type of media is perhaps a way to contend with the ongoing, relational nature of place and the representational challenge that brings. In contrast, the perception of the traditional medium of print seems to be that it is lacking the fluid nature of film or sound, only capable of generating representations of place that are too “static” or “fixed.” However, this paper proposes that interdisciplinary collaboration between cultural geography and graphic design offers much with regard to the development of print-based creative methods for understanding and representing everyday life and place. It suggests that the form of the book offers an opportunity to develop geo/graphic work that engages both form and content in a holistic way, enabling the production of a space of interpretation and multi-sensory exploration for the reader. Such work engages with contemporary debates around representation, and positions the reader’s interaction with the book as both cognitively and performatively embodied. For the researcher, the geo/graphic design process also functions as an analytical tool, one that, through the development of the material form of the work, re-situates them in place and enables further reflection and understanding