Fundamentaciones Científicas

The purpose of both Chapters Two and Three is to provide background material relating to the subject of national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand, and identity in general. In this regard, Chapter Two outlines the work of three well known and regarded academics who have written extensively on the subject of national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand. The work of these academics, Keith Sinclair, Claudia Bell, and Paul Spoonley, provide three exemplars that chart the primary ways in which national identity has been addressed in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this regard the historian, Keith Sinclair, discusses how key national, international, geopolitical, environmental and economic factors have influenced the formation and development of national identity. In turn, the work of the sociologist, Claudia Bell, challenges accepted narratives of national identity put forward by the likes of Sinclair. In doing so, Bell highlights the fictive nature of many narratives, and the way in which these disguise pressing social and environmental issues. In

comparison, the work of Paul Spoonley, also a sociologist, exemplifies an increasingly prevalent way in which national identity is explained and understood in Aotearoa New Zealand; via the positions of different ethnic identities and

groups including Māori6_{, Pākehā, Pacific peoples, and those from South East Asia.}

As mentioned, the work of all three scholars is well regarded, and their three commentaries provide an apposite representation of the key ways in which national identity is presently thought about and understood in Aotearoa New Zealand.

6_{Māori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. John Wilson (2009) reports that} the original Polynesian settlers discovered the country on voyages of exploration, and some time later, the first small groups arrived from Polynesia, around 1300 AD. Wilson also states “Now known as Māori, these tribes did not identify themselves by a collective name until the arrival of Europeans when, to mark their distinction, the name Māori, meaning ‘ordinary’, came into use” (Wilson 2009).

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Chapter Three draws heavily on a book chapter written by the cultural theorist and sociologist Stuart Hall titled ‘The Question of Cultural Identity’ (1992). In this chapter Hall addresses the ‘crisis in identity’ debate and the argument that old

identities which stabilised the social world have given rise to new identities which, in turn, have fragmented previously understood notions of the unified subject and nation. In this regard, Chapter Three acts as a hinge between the preceding and following chapters. In doing so it situates the accounts of national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand, as discussed in Chapter Two, within the wider field of debates and theories about national identity. It then provides a broad outline of how self identity has been theorised. This sets the scene for Chapter Four, which outlines Bollas’ theory of self identity. As such, Chapter Three provides a fuller and more in-depth understanding of topics discussed in the chapters it proceeds (Chapter Two) and precedes (Chapter Four).

Chapter Four introduces the work of Bollas, and the psychoanalytic theories that inform this thesis. In particular, this chapter discusses Bollas’ conceptualisation of the three orders of knowledge, and the evocative object. Just as Bollas argues that a truly creative formulation of theory must combine the virtues of all three orders of knowing (Bollas 1999:46), I argue that a fuller and more creative understanding of national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand entails viewing the topic via all three orders. This involves understanding the topic via the paternal order; exemplified in Sinclair, Bell and Spoonley’s work, via the maternal order; exemplified in this thesis by the consideration of what it ‘feels’ like to be a New Zealander, and also via the order of the infant; exemplified in this thesis by consideration of the visual and aesthetic aspects of identity.

As stated above, existing academic commentaries fail to reflect back to me, as a New Zealander, the sense that this is what it feels like to be a New Zealander, or that these are the types of experiences that speak to me about my sense of ‘New Zealandness’. In this regard the commentaries of Sinclair, Bell and Spoonley provide not only fitting exemplars of what has been written about national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand; they also reflect the way in which academia

predominantly addresses fields of interest via a paternal form of knowledge or way of knowing. As such I look to Bollas’ notion of the evocative object as a form of knowledge that does articulate or reflect back to me, those experiences or feelings that convey a sense of ‘New Zealandness’. In particular, I argue that the koru motif operates as an evocative object in which the viewers (i.e. myself, and other New Zealanders) experience a sense of connectedness or subjective rapport with the koru motif. To this end, the koru motif forms the primary data

component of this thesis, as discussed in Chapter Six.

In Chapter Five I introduce the work of Jameson and bring to the fore aspects of his work that extend the explanatory power of Bollas’ work in this thesis. Jameson approaches his writing with a mass of theoretical and intellectual horse power.

However, my utilisation of his work does not extend to his uniquely post-Marxist stance or his deeply theoretical and inspired explanations of postmodernity and late capitalism. Instead, I address his unique form of methodology or

metacommentary, and notion of unconscious desire. This chapter also contrasts Bollas’ and Jameson’s viewpoints and concepts, and outlines how the melding of their ideas provides a productive way of extending the understanding of national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand.

In Chapter Six I draw from Jameson’s metacommentary to construct the methodological framework for this thesis. Thus, the metacommentary/

methodology in this thesis establishes the analytical framework and methods which demonstrate how, and in what way, the koru motif operates as a collective and unconscious signifier of national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand. I begin by reconstructing Jameson’s metacommentary into a three-staged approach for examining the data component of the thesis. These three stages consist of examining the manifest content and meanings, latent content and function, and unconscious meanings of the data presented in Chapters Nine and Ten. I also outline how Bollas’ three orders of knowledge and concept of the evocative object fit within this framework. This chapter also discusses the selection of data, how

the data were obtained, and the manner in which the data are presented in this thesis.

As with Chapters Two and Three, Chapters Seven and Eight provide background material for the proceeding chapters. In this regard Chapter Seven provides a brief visual essay on the use of spiral and koru-like motifs beyond Aotearoa New Zealand. Here, I present illustrations of spiral and koru-like motifs that are found in the natural environment, mathematics, art and religious symbolism. The aim of this chapter is to provide the reader with a visual rather than written commentary of the prevalence of koru-like motifs, across time and space. In this regard it reflects a way of knowing that accords with Bollas’ order of the infant. In contrast, Chapter Eight provides a both a written and visual commentary of the koru motif in customary and contemporary Māori culture. This locates the use of the koru motif in contemporary mainstream society in Aotearoa New Zealand,

against the vital and dynamic backdrop of Māori art and design. As such, I discuss

the prevalence of spiral-like motifs in te ana tuhituhi (rock drawing, rock painting and rock carving), whakairo (woodcarving), ta moko (permanent skin marking) and kowhaiwhai (painted scroll patterns). I also provide an outline of the understandings of the spiral and koru motif put forward by well-known and

regarded commentators on Māori art and design: Hirini Moko Mead (also known

as Sir Sidney Mead), Julie Paama-Pengelly, Arthur Gordon Tovey, David

Simmons, Roger Neich, Rawinia Higgins, and Allan Hanson. This chapter also provides illustrations of customary Māori art and design throughout the chapter,

and ends with examples of the koru motif seen in the illustrations of

contemporary artists that I particularly enjoy, that of Reuben Paterson (Ngati

Rangitihi/ Ngai Tuhoe):Shane Hansen (Tainui – Ngati Hine, Ngati Mahunga),

and the tattoo artist Te Rangitu Netana Ngapuhi, Ngati Wai, Te Arawa). Chapter Nine introduces both the data component of the thesis (part one), and the first stage of data analysis (part two). The data component includes the presentation of ten image sets of the koru motif with accompanying text which provides information about the use and meaning of the koru motif in each image

set. The analysis undertaken in this chapter consists of an examination of the manifest meaning of the image sets and accompanying text. Here I listed,

categorised and sorted all the meanings which have been ascribed to the koru motif in the accompanying text. The findings from this analysis are presented in part two of the chapter, whereas the analysis itself, including data tables, is placed in Appendix I.

Chapter Ten is structured similarly to Chapter Nine. Here, a further ten image sets

of the koru motif are presented, though without accompanying text. The image sets in this chapter include a wider cross-section of koru motifs, in comparison to Chapter Nine, where koru motifs specific to national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand were presented. Nevertheless, the images in Chapter Ten illustrate the prevalence of the koru motif as a signifier of identity in Aotearoa New Zealand in local, regional and national contexts. Part two of the chapter presents the findings from the second stage of analysis which examines the latent content and function of the koru motif. As with the first stage of analysis, the analysis, including data tables is placed in an appendix (Appendix II).

Chapter Eleven summarises the findings from stage one and stage two of the analysis, and discusses these in light of the third stage of analysis; that of

unconscious meaning. Here, I re-introduce the reader to Jameson’s understanding of unconscious desire, and put forward the argument, provided above, that the koru motif is informed by an unconscious desire for the maternal order to operate as a valid and accepted form of thinking and knowing within society. This

unconscious desire represents what Jameson refers to as a ‘utopian fantasy’ that emerges in response to the paternal order that operates as the ideologically dominant order, or way of knowing in contemporary society in Aotearoa New Zealand, and represses other forms of knowledge and thinking.

In the final chapter, Chapter Twelve, I synthesise the findings of this thesis, and its aims and objectives. I posit that thinking about national identity in Aotearoa New Zealand from the perspective of the unconscious and aesthetic realms demonstrates that it is possible to think about identity in a way that not only

furthers our understanding of identity, but also that of Aotearoa New Zealand. In light of the melding together of Bollas’ and Jameson’s ideas, I also put forward the view that, within the confines of orthodox academic requirements, this thesis can be understood as an unconscious form of desire to realise ways of thinking in the social sciences that promote the maternal order (i.e. associative/internal) and order of the infant (i.e. visual/imaginary) as productive and legitimate ways of knowing. This unconscious desire can be understood as a response to the ideologically dominant paternal order (i.e. interpretive/external) that operates within the social

sciences, and which silences other forms of knowledge and ways of thinking.