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Picturing Difference an Investigation of Maori Women’S Characters in New Zealand Picturebooks

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Picturing Difference an Investigation of Maori Women’S Characters in New Zealand Picturebooks Picturing difference An investigation of Maori women’s characters in New Zealand picturebooks Kathrin Rochow Mater’s Thesis submitted to the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University for obtaining the Master’s Degree of Social Science in the field of Media and Communication Studies Supervisor: Christian Christensen 2011 ABSTRACT Children’s books have been around since the early 1500s. They reflect the traditional values of the times, yet they still serve as a socializing tool transmitting values from one generation to the next in today’s society (Gooden and Gooden 2001). Only in the latter years of the twentieth century has the picturebook become a serious object of academic study (Lewis 2001). Researchers began to take notice of the (under-) representation of women in children’s books and asserted commonly that reducing sexism in children’s reading materials is crucial for developing an equitable and democratic society. Although previous research has examined the representation of gender and race in children’s literature extensively, there is, however, a major gap, focusing on the portrayal of New Zealand’s indigenous Polynesian people – specifically, the Maori woman. Little is known about the visibility of Maori women in print media (Evans 1994) and even less about their depiction in children’s picturebooks. In order to address this gap in the literature, this paper investigates the visual and verbal representation of Maori women in contemporary New Zealand picturebooks. Following the theories of Peter L. Berger, Thomas Luckmann and George Herbert Mead I developed a model illustrating the circular process of picturebook communication. Moreover those theories serve as a theoretical framework, constituting the subsequent content analysis. As I examined the characters of Maori women in different New Zealand picturebooks, I identified three typifications, constituting the identity of an indigenous New Zealand woman in those narratives. The Teacher, the Entertainer and the Spiritual Maori woman reinvent and reproduce, yet delimit and constrain the identity of Maori women in contemporary picturebooks. Those books fail to intertwine and integrate the two differing cultures of Maori and Pakeha (New Zealander of European descent), in their storyline, and neglect current struggles or conflicts in the social reality of New Zealand. Based on one outstanding book, I drew the conclusion that it is through integrating the two differing symbolic universes of Pakeha and Maori into the storyline, that the multiple roles carried by Maori women can be acknowledged and an authentic portrayal of Maori women is achieved. I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank the International Office of Uppsala University for making this journey possible. Without their support I would have not been able to visit New Zealand as an exchange student and could not have realized this research project. Many thanks to Maria Bargh, lecturer of the Methodology of Maori Research course at Victoria University of Wellington. She was a great inspiration, always willing to help and guide me through the process of developing my research topic. Thanks to my dear friends and flatmates here in New Zealand, Sweden and Germany as well as my parents and sister, for their constant encouragement and support across countries, continents and time zones. Very special thanks go to my friend Veronika Schwarzenberger who proof read my entire thesis and taught me how to withstand the struggles of text formatting and layouting. Du bist die Beste! II Books are only ink on paper. But more than ink on paper, books are people. (Chambers 1996:9) III TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research purpose and research questions ............................................................ 2 1.2 Prior Research ...................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2: CULTURAL BACKGROUND .................................................................. 9 2.1 Maori in New Zealand – a socio-historical context ........................................... 10 2.2 Maori and the media ........................................................................................... 13 Chapter 3: THE PICTUREBOOK .............................................................................. 16 3.1 The nature of modern picturebooks ................................................................... 17 3.2 The interaction of image and word in picturebooks ........................................... 19 Chapter 4: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................ 23 4.1 Social Constructionism ...................................................................................... 24 4.1.1 George Herbert Mead .................................................................................. 25 4.1.2 Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann ..................................................... 26 4.2 The Social Construction of Gender .................................................................... 28 4.3 The Social Construction of Maori Women: Maori Feminist Theory ................. 30 4.3.1 Key themes of Mana Wahine ...................................................................... 34 4.3.1.1 Whakapapa (genealogy) ............................................................................ 34 4.3.1.2 Whanau (extended family) ........................................................................ 35 4.3.1.3 Wairua (spirit) ........................................................................................... 36 4.3.1.4 Atua Wahine (female goddesses) .............................................................. 37 4.3.1.5 Te Tiriti (The Treaty of Waitangi) ............................................................ 38 4.3.1.6 Decolonisation ........................................................................................... 39 4.4 The Social Construction of picturebooks ........................................................... 40 4.4.1 Typifications ............................................................................................... 41 4.4.2 Objectivation and signification ................................................................... 43 4.4.3 Symbolic Universes .................................................................................... 44 4.4.4 Socialization ................................................................................................ 46 4.4.5 The social self ............................................................................................. 48 4.4.6 Language in picturebooks ........................................................................... 50 4.4.7 The Social Construction of gendered Ideology in picturebooks ................. 53 4.5 Conclusion: A Model of picturebook Communication ...................................... 56 Chapter 5: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 58 5.1 Research Approach ............................................................................................ 59 5.2 Method ............................................................................................................... 60 IV 5.3 Data gathering .................................................................................................... 61 5.4 Sampling ............................................................................................................ 61 5.5 Coding ................................................................................................................ 63 5.5.1 The societal coding frame ........................................................................... 63 5.5.1.1 Whakapapa (genealogy) ............................................................................ 64 5.5.1.2 Wairua (spirit) ........................................................................................... 65 5.5.1.3 Whanau (extended family) ........................................................................ 65 5.5.1.4 Atua Wahine (female ancestors) ............................................................... 65 5.5.2 The individual coding frame ....................................................................... 66 5.6 Credibility and Dependability ............................................................................ 67 5.7 Confirmability and Transferability .................................................................... 68 5.8 Limitations ......................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 6: RESULT AND ANALYSIS ..................................................................... 70 6.1 Words around pictures ....................................................................................... 71 6.2 The findings ....................................................................................................... 72 6.2.1 Societal coding ............................................................................................ 73 6.2.1.1 Whanau (extended family) ........................................................................ 73 6.2.1.2 Atua Wahine (female goddesses/nature) ................................................... 76 6.2.1.3 Whakapapa (genealogy/traditions) ............................................................ 77 6.2.1.4 Wairua (spirit) ..........................................................................................
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