19 October 2016

Launch of Wairua, Affect and National Days Website

Tēnā koutou katoa,

Te Rōpū Whāriki would like to announce the launch of a website for the Wairua, Affect and National Days research.  The project is supported by the Marsden Fund Council from Government funding managed by the Royal Society of New Zealand.

The project began in 2013 exploring wairua, emotions, feelings and identity around national days particularly focusing on  Waitangi Day and Anzac Day. These days can build and divide, acknowledge and deny, include and exclude. Our research focuses on the affective politics evoked as people relate, engage and grapple with cultural observances and often-charged acts of remembrance in Aotearoa, New Zealand.  Methods include: haerenga kitea (a form of go along interviewing) where we filmed participants as they engaged in an event; media analysis; and individual and focus group interviews.

 The website includes visual images, evolving aspects of the project, links to research outputs and to sites about nationhood in Aotearoa. The website can be found at: http://www.wairuaaffectnationaldays.info