The challenges of culture to psychology and post-modern thinking

Someone at a workshop in the Waikato once said to us, “You know a Maori, if they want to, can always learn to be a psychologist, but a psychologist can’t learn to be a Maori”. Cultural knowledge may or may not be accompanied by social science knowledge. Cultural knowledge can stand on its own. Those who possess it, and choose to work in the institutions we are associated with, have gifts this country desperately needs. All our organisations require such people, and they need to be properly resourced, have employment security and control over their work. Their own work away from our organisations also requires adequate resourcing. They can heal their own in ways that we will never be able to. They will almost certainly offer the field rich alternative metaphors and meanings that can free us from the tired old medical, biological and social science ones. This also has implications for those in other branches of psychology, including research, experimental and industrial psychology. There is perhaps a unique opportunity for psychologists in this country of Aotearoa/New Zealand to recognise other ways of describing events, which will lead to creative practices and enable the health and welfare resources to get to those who most need them, on their own terms. It would also enable other people, other workers from other cultures to develop new paradigms, and new shifts in our field. This will not lead to the abandonment of social science, but it will enable that body of knowledge, to sit appropriately along side other realms of knowledge such as gender knowledge, and cultural knowledge, without dominating. A new experience for the social scientists, but I suspect a liberating one

Old and poor or old and cared for?

While child poverty remains a critical issue, ageing is a critical factor in the demographic changes are taking place in New Zealand.  It is assumed in policy circles that belief that home ownership and New Zealand Superannuation (NZS) is a protective factor., but there is a trend towards declining home ownership and increases in poverty in the 65 plus age group.  Policy must reflect the increasing need of this older age group, in addition to addressing child poverty.  it is recommended that policy should address requirements for increased social housing and protection of the value of NZS

Old and poor or old and cared for? Some policy reflections on data from the first two waves of NZLSA

It is customary in New Zealand policy circles to assume that older citizens are financially protected by New Zealand Superannuation (NZS) and their high rates of home ownership. Furthermore, it is assumed that families with children are much more at risk of living below one or more of the various poverty thresholds. The evidence supports this belief and there is, of course, an urgent need to address child poverty. However, the status of NZS and home ownership as protective factors for older people in the years ahead is not guaranteed.&nbsp

The poets’ daughters: Dora Wordsworth and Sara Coleridge

Dora Wordsworth and Sara Coleridge were lifelong friends. They were also the daughters of best friends: William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the two poetic geniuses who shaped the Romantic Age. Living in the shadow of their fathers’ extraordinary fame brought Sara and Dora great privilege, but at a terrible cost. In different ways, each father almost destroyed his daughter. And in different ways each daughter made her father. Growing up in the shadow of genius, both girls made it their ambition to dedicate themselves to their father’s writing and reputation. Anorexia, drug addiction and depression were part of the legacy of fame, but so too were great friendship and love. In this thesis I give the never-before-told story of how two young women, born into greatness, shaped their own histories. In doing I also re-examine the lives of Wordsworth and Coleridge and the significant role Dora and Sara played in their lives, their writing and their legacies. My study of the lives of Dora Wordsworth and Sara Coleridge was written as a biography aimed at a readership beyond academia. While the narrative is based on primary manuscript sources, I have deliberately used the techniques of the professional biographer to create character, pace, conflict and drama. In order to fit within the PhD assessment criteria, which requires me to submit no more than 100,000 words, the material submitted here is an abridged version of a full-length double biography of Dora and Sara. This main thesis is preceded by a short critical essay with some details about the nature of the research as well as assessment of the PhD’s contribution to knowledge

A father in prison is still a father: paternal imprisonment and infant mental health

Recent evidence suggests that school nurses are best placed to raise awareness and support families affected by paternal imprisonment. Less emphasis has been placed on health visitor practice in working with and supporting families with children under the age of five involved in the criminal justice system and yet professionals working in the area offer a potential in addressing the needs of these families. Through presenting findings from a review of the literature undertaken to explore the impact of father imprisonment on infant mental health, this paper seeks to discuss emerging findings from the current evidence-base

Letter to C. P. McIlvaine

Requesting the Bishop to preach his ordination sermon.https://digital.kenyon.edu/mcilvaine_letters/1131/thumbnail.jp

Below the Line: an Analysis of Income Poverty in New Zealand, 1984 - 1998

The economic and social reforms between 1984 and 1999 led to claims of increasing economic hardship, a widening income distribution and adverse consequences on living standards from higher housing costs. This article provides a systematic discussion of those claims, based on an analysis of Statistics New Zealand annual Household Economic Survey. Using a focus group determined poverty line, the paper explores who was poor in 1998, as well as commenting on trends in poverty between 1984 and 1998, on both the basis of disposable income and when this poverty measure is adjusted for relative housing costs. Trends in the incidence and severity of poverty depend crucially on whether an absolute or relative approach is taken to adjusting the poverty line through time. Key Words: Poverty, focus groups, income distribution, trends

Summary of Panel Discussion on Skills and Social Mobility

This paper follows the discussion of a number of factors surrounding skills and social mobility by a broad panel of participants