View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UC Research Repository Lost in Cultural Translation: A Reflective Journey A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Teaching and Learning in the University of Canterbury by P.H. George University of Canterbury 2010 1 Contents Lost in Cultural Translation: A Reflective Journey ............................................................ 1 Contents .............................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 4 Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1: Introduction – pull up a chair ............................................................................ 6 Chapter 2: Methodology- finding a voice ......................................................................... 17 Chapter 3: What I learnt by writing my story ................................................................... 31 Chapter 4: The view from the Pacific window - good puppet .......................................... 36 Chapter 5: Literature review – the voices of others .......................................................... 47 Chapter 6: Cultural context ............................................................................................... 67 Chapter 7: Expectations – taking their culture and accepting the bumps ......................... 82 Chapter 8: Barriers – stopping success ............................................................................. 97 Chapter 9: Navigation – through the rough waters and away ......................................... 116 Chapter 10: Conclusion – now off to school .................................................................. 136 References: ...................................................................................................................... 144 Appendix 1: My story .................................................................................................... 152 Appendix 2: My Journal ................................................................................................ 162 Appendix 3: Transcription of conversations with Ina (30/8/2008) ................................. 165 Appendix 4: Information for participants and consent forms ........................................ 172 2 3 Acknowledgements I would like to express sincere appreciation to Dr. Elaine Mayo and Prof. Janinka Greenwood for their guidance and never ending encouragement in the preparation of this manuscript. To Dr. Elaine Mayo, thank you for growing and weaving this thesis and allowing me to think. Being able to read between the lines during some dark days and finding voices that I thought were silent. To Prof. Janinka Greenwood, thank you for getting me started on this journey, the data analysis, and not giving up on me. To my Mum and Dad (Martilda Akenanua Taraupoko George and Upokoina Poona David George), my late wife, Te Aomihi Mereana George, my children, Jason, Tamra - Michelle, and Sam, and my critical friend - brother, Pupa, thank you for always being there when the going got tough. Also special thanks to the school, parents, students, and teachers for telling your stories to me. 4 Abstract This research explores the ways in which high school boys who identify themselves as being from the Pacific Islands make sense of their educational world, and how they navigate through a small city high school in the North Island of New Zealand. Using semi-structured interviews, information is collected about the lives and experiences of the boys and some of their parents and teachers. When their narratives are analysed, three themes emerge: expectations; barriers; and navigation. During the thesis process my focus shifts to include reflections from my own life history to provide additional insight. This leads to the discovering and adding of voices, all different but all mine: The Pacific Islander, The Academic, and The Obedient Puppet. Within and alongside these voices, the revealed presence of hegemony, cultural capital, and deficit theorising make themselves felt. Collectively, all elements contribute to understanding the boys’ journey through high school. The findings suggest that the parents of boys currently at school possess or are gaining insights into the workings of education. As a result, they are more able to assist their children than those of my generation. Alongside this new parental knowledge the boys are also making changes in how they navigate and utilise strategies through high school. The school itself is making fewer changes than either the parents or the boys, and the changes that are taking place are dependant on the presence or absence of initiatives by innovative teachers. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction – pull up a chair This research is about identifying strategies that allow Pacific peoples to be successful in the classroom and in their lives. We dream; we need strategies to make those dreams a reality; this research seeks to expose the strategies that are working for the boys I worked with. By using “we” in the sentence above I show that I have my origins in the Pacific, and that my dreams are not mine alone. Throughout this writing I use language that slips into the idiomatic because the flow is more natural for me and because translation into formal language would lose meaning. I use italics to indicate when I am using this deliberate ploy. As the New Zealand population increases, the number of Pacific people in New Zealand also increases. With this increase comes economic growth and this centres on school education. Every person in this Nation has a role to play. Pacific peoples struggle to be successful in the classroom, yet every grandparent and parent wants their grandchild or child to be successful in school. This thesis investigates the experiences of Pacific Island boys who attend a rural Bay of Plenty high school in New Zealand. In the first part of this thesis I write about my struggle to find voice. I feel, and have always felt, secure. I grew up in a happy home with both parents born in the Cook Islands and was relatively successful at school and involved with school life. In my adult life, my late beloved wife, Te Aomihi Mereana (Ngati Porau, Ngati Whakaue), and I raised three treasured children in a world where we were immersed in the lives of our extended Pacific Island and Maori families in a rural North Island city. During my career I have carried my particular love of sport into my work as a teacher and latterly a teacher educator. The academic work of writing this thesis showed me that I am able to take part in many, very different conversations, using many different voices: but I struggled to 6 write in the way my supervisors expect in a thesis. The greatest challenge to me was to move beyond my emotional responses and to adopt an academic voice. When first confronted with this challenge, I began seeing the academy as alien and Pakeha (Western) and thesis writing as something to be endured, as a task to be done, some hoops to jump through. But writing this thesis has changed how I think about myself – my identity is changed – and I see that I can use an academic voice and at the same time retain the voices that have served me well through my life. For this reason, I am showing more than one voice as I write – sometimes I insert words into paragraphs, sometimes I write complete paragraphs in italics. I include imagery and poetry in various ways – and at others I use two or more ways of writing. This thesis celebrates a variety of voices or ways of speaking and ways of being heard. I found as I worked through the process of writing that I began to reflect upon and analyse my own experiences in ways that were new to me. My roots, my family stories, and my patterns of learning as a second generation New Zealander whose parents emigrated from the Cook Islands provided insights into the experiences of the boys and their parents. This thesis, therefore, views the experiences of Pacific Island boys through the lens of my own experiences. I want to find out and seek to identify strategies that will work toward achieving our dreams. I enjoy people. Being born to parents who provided me with a loving and happy upbringing; going to and enjoying school; going to university and training to be a teacher, has given me knowledge of how it may be for other Pacific peoples. And I may have something to add to the kai table (educational world) when this thesis is completed: by writing about my educational experiences, reading and listening to other Pacific researchers, and adding to the growing pool of Pacific researchers looking at Pacific peoples' issues. As the Pacific population increases in New Zealand it becomes more important that these people understand and utilise the educational system, to make an economic contribution to their families, to their People, and to New Zealand. The sooner they create successful 7 working models, or strategies, and place them into their families and communities, the sooner they will be able to stand alone and become successful contributing members of New Zealand society. Pull up a chair I call this chapter "Pull up a chair" because I want to invite a particular kind of reading of this work. I am trying to