The Canterbury earthquakes and the rebuild are generation-defining events for twenty-first century Aotearoa/ New Zealand. This article uses an actor network approach to explore 32 women’s narratives of being shaken into dangerous disaster situations and reconstituting themselves to cope in socially innovative ways. The women’s stories articulate on-going collective narratives of experiencing disaster and coping with loss in ‘resilient’ ways. In these women’s experiences, coping in disasters is not achieved by talking through the emotional trauma. Instead, coping comes from seeking solace through engagement with one’s own and others’ personal risk and resourcefulness in ways that feed into the emergence of socially innovative voluntary organisations. These stories offer conceptual insight into the multivalent interconnections between resilience and vulnerabilities and the contested nature of post-disaster recovery in Aotearoa/New Zealand. These women gave voice to living through disasters resiliently in ways that forged new networks of support across collective and personal narratives and broader social goals and aspirations for Aotearoa/New Zealand’s future.
Today Aotearoa continues to take tentative steps back into level 2 of the Covid-19 response, so you might think it strange that I would be voluntarily stepping back into quarantine. But we’re the stepping back into the history – all … Continue reading →
A PDF copy of pages 300-301 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Coffee Zone Mini Park'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
A PDF copy of pages 306-307 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Salisbury St Garden'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
Part the First Movember is upon us once again, and to celebrate Undershaved Overgrown Archaeology brings to you a brief history of facial hair in Aotearoa. Movember is all about men’s health, and we’ve previously covered health in the blog … Continue reading →
A PDF copy of pages 310-311 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Rotherham Clock Park'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
A PDF copy of pages 296-297 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Piko Shop Site'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be aware that Aotearoa New Zealand is facing a cost-of-living crisis. That weekly visit to the supermarket seems to be getting more expensive each time. Throughout history people have sought ways of … Continue reading →
A PDF copy of pages 308-309 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Beach Garden'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
A Transitional Imaginary: Space, Network and Memory in Christchurch is the outcome and the record of a particular event: the coming together of eight artists and writers in Ōtautahi Christchurch in November 2015, with the ambitious aim to write a book collaboratively over five days. The collaborative process followed the generative ‘book sprint’ method founded by our facilitator for the event, Adam Hyde, who has long been immersed in digital practices in Aotearoa. A book sprint prioritises the collective voice of the participants and reflects the ideas and understandings that are produced at the time in which the book was written, in a plurality of perspectives. Over one hundred books have been completed using the sprint methodology, covering subjects from software documentation to reflections on collaboration and fiction. We chose to approach writing about Ōtautahi Christchurch through this collaborative process in order to reflect the complexity of the post-quake city and the multiple paths to understanding it. The city has itself been a space of intensive collaboration in the post-disaster period. A Transitional Imaginary is a raw and immediate record, as much felt expression as argued thesis. In many ways the process of writing had the character of endurance performance art. The process worked by honouring the different backgrounds of the participants, allowing that dialogue and intensity could be generative of different forms of text, creating a knowledge that eschews a position of authority, working instead to activate whatever anecdotes, opinions, resources and experiences are brought into discussion. This method enables a dynamic of voices that merge here, separate there and interrupt elsewhere again. As in the contested process of rebuilding and reimagining Christchurch itself, the dissonance and counterpoint of writing reflects the form of conversation itself. This book incorporates conflict, agreement and the activation of new ideas through cross-fertilisation to produce a new reading of the city and its transition. The transitional has been given a specific meaning in Christchurch. It is a product of local theorising that encompasses the need for new modes of action in a city that has been substantially demolished (Bennett & Parker, 2012). Transitional projects, such as those created by Gap Filler, take advantage of the physical and social spaces created by the earthquake through activating these as propositions for new ways of being in the city. The transitional is in motion, looking towards the future. A Transitional Imaginary explores the transitional as a way of thinking and how we understand the city through art practices, including the digital and in writing.
A PDF copy of pages 304-305 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Fitzgerald Ave Community Garden'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
Aotearoa's biggest demolition job has entered its final stage. This morning media were given a final chance to walk through Christchurch's Lancaster Park before it is completely brought to the ground. The park's grandstands were badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake, and in 2017, $12 million was set aside for it be pulled down. Nicholas Pointon was there.
A PDF copy of pages 290-291 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Victoria Green'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
A PDF copy of pages 292-293 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Car Park Frontage'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
A PDF copy of pages 302-303 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Outdoor Music Room'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
Tonight on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Ali Jones & Shane Te Pou to discuss No Pay Day - the day that women in Aotearoa effectively begin working for free. Plus the reopening of Christchurch Cathedral. Ali Jones is a communication adviser / writer/Broadcaster/ Christchurch earthquake claims preparer. Shane Te Pou is a former labour party activist and CEO of Mega
A PDF copy of pages 294-295 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Bus Exchange Boundary Seats'. Photos with permission from Greening the Rubble
Response 66 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 71 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 68 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 8 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 59 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 62 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 49 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 2 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 3 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 64 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 11 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 12 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.
Response 17 of 90 to a survey of members carried out by the Canterbury Branch of the TEU following the February 2011 earthquake.