About Us

Page navigation: The Humanities Research Network Te Whatunga Rangahau Aronui | Creating Cultural Knowledge | A Virtual Infrastructure | Disclaimer | Using the Humanities Research Network | Contact Us | Sponsors | Te WhÄ?inga Aronui The Council for the Humanities | Purpose and Objects | Board of Trustees | What is the Humanities-Aronui? | The Humanities Society's Strategic Plan 2001-2006| Contact Us

The Humanities Research Network

Te Whatunga Rangahau Aronui

Linking minds and energies in the arts, culture and the humanities

The Humanities Research Network Te Whatunga Rangahau Aronui (HRN) is designed to encourage new ways of thinking about the overlapping domains of knowledge which are represented by the arts, humanities, social sciences, other related fields like law, and matauranga MÄ?ori, and new relationships among their practitioners.

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Creating Cultural Knowledge

The HRN is intended to support the creation of cultural knowledge as a broadly based, multi-professional and multi-organisational practice. It will provide a representation of the humanities-aronui in all its dimensions, from cultural archive to cultural production in many different organisational and professional settings, and in a variety of languages and media. It will become bilingual because it must include MÄ?ori modes of knowledge creation.

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A Virtual Infrastructure

The aim is to create a virtual infrastructure as a major step towards strengthening the humanities-aronui as a critical aspect of New Zealand's research and development capability. The network will provide a "one-stop shop" where those engaged in any aspect of the humanities-aronui in New Zealand, in any organisational or private location, can make themselves and their interests known to others and can access a comprehensive range of information about the sector in New Zealand and internationally.

The HRN will be dynamic, both in the interactivity between individuals and organisations which it will make possible, and in the account it will give of on-going evolution and development within its domain. It will provide information (or means of access to information) crucial for policy development, increases in research funding, and organisational development, and an on-line forum for the discussion of current issues and the formation of policy positions. It will permit better planning of conferences, visitors, and meetings because of the calendar of future activities nationally which it will provide.

The wider the participation in the HRN by those working in the sector, the more value it will have, especially as it will facilitate the identifying of shared interests and evolving domains of research.

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Disclaimer

Te WhÄ?inga Aronui The Council for the Humanities (the Council) uses all reasonable skill and care to ensure that the information contained in this website is accurate at the time of posting. If you find any information on this website that you believe may be inaccurate, please advise the Web Administrator.

Users of this website are advised to confirm event information published on the website with the organisers of events.

So far as the law permits, the Council accepts no responsibility for any loss suffered by any person due to reliance (either in whole or in part) on the information contained in this website, whether direct or indirect, and whether foreseeable or not. It is not responsible for the content of other websites linked to or referenced from this website.

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Using the Humanities Research Network

The Humanities Research Network is intended to provide a means for the exchange of professional and personal information in a manner consistent with accepted standards of public communication.

The user is required to take all reasonable precautions to maintain the integrity of passwords and other security mechanisms.

The Humanities Research Network must not be used to:

1. Create or distribute chain letters, "junk" or "spam" mail;
2. Send anonymous email, or forge email messages to make them appear to come from another person;
3. Disrupt another person's activities or reasonable use;
4. Harass another person or send unwanted or offensive material;
5. Intentionally introduce, distribute, propagate or create viruses;
6. Engage in illegal activities. Illegal activities include the unauthorised uploading, downloading, or otherwise transmitting of:

   6.1	Copyrighted materials;
   6.2	Defamatory or illegal information or materials; objectionable materials in terms of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993;
   6.3	Offensive, harassing, derogatory, or discriminatory materials within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1993 or the Harassment Act 1997;
   6.4	Material about individuals which is being used for a purpose other than that for which it was collected, in breach of the Privacy Act 1993.

If these provisions are not observed, the user's access to the website will be suspended while the situation is investigated.

Contact Us

The Humanities Research Network
Site Administrator: Dr Louise O'Brien
admin@humanitiesresearch.net

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Te WhÄ?inga Aronui The Humanities Trust of Aotearoa New Zealand

Te WhÄ?inga Aronui The Council for the Humanities is a trust which is broadly representative of professional work in the arts, humanities and culture. It was launched at Archives New Zealand in Wellington on 24 November 2005 by the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Dr Michael Cullen.

It takes over the role of the Humanities Society of New Zealand Te WhÄ?inga Aronui (HUMANZ), which was established in 1993 by a wide range of organisations with interests in the humanities concerned about the marginalising of the humanities in public policy and funding.

The Council for the Humanities aims to create a national organisation that

• is aware of the intense processes of cultural change internationally and nationally which are influencing every aspect of society and culture; and
• is built upon a bicultural conception of cultural knowledge, appropriate to New Zealand society, and upon the working relationships across the spectrum of interests and organisations identified with the cultural sector and education established by the Humanities Society, nationally and internationally.

The old classifications of arts and humanities no longer successfully describe the principal kinds of knowledge or technologies of communication characteristic of twenty-first century society. They are being replaced in government policy by terms like knowledge society, information, culture and heritage, even while science and technology retain their now conventional position as the knowledge of most economic value.

The Council aims to become a strong national public organisation representing the interests of those engaged in the creation, transmission, and preservation of cultural knowledge.

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Purpose and Objects

The Trust has the following charitable purpose:

To promote recognition of the value of the humanities-aronui in the creation, conservation and transmission of knowledge essential to personal well-being and the cultural, social and economic development of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Acknowledging the partnership principles under the Treaty of Waitangi in its practices and policies, the Trust shall carry out its purposes by:

• engaging in research-based advocacy;
• securing the inclusion of the Trust in the process of public policy-making;
• promoting the public awareness of the value of the humanities-aronui in a democratic and inclusive society;
• recognising distinction in the humanities-aronui;
• encouraging cooperation between institutions engaged in work in the humanities-aronui;
• supporting the formation of networks amongst individuals engaged in work in the humanities-aronui;
• engaging in discussion and cooperation with related organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas; and
• engaging in any other lawful activities conducive to the fulfilment of the Trust's purpose.

Definition of Scope

The humanities-aronui are those bodies of knowledge and those modes of enquiry and reflection concerning what it is to be human. They include those areas of learning traditionally known as the humanities, arts and social sciences.

The Treaty Partnership

Te WhÄ?inga Aronui The Council for the Humanities acknowledges Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of our nation and as our guide for establishing any institutional arrangements with Tangata Whenua of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Consequently, the Council is committed to recognising the importance of matauranga MÄ?ori as an indigenous taonga and its unique role in establishing and supporting the contemporary strategic development of the humanities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Council is further committed to facilitating the ongoing involvement by MÄ?ori scholastic communities in achieving the mission and goals of the Council.

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The Trust Board

Te WhÄ?inga Aronui The Humanities Trust of Aotearoa New Zealand
is to be known by the names of the Trust Board

Te WhÄ?inga Aronui The Council for the Humanities

List of Trustees

Professor Ken Strongman (Chair)
Pro Vice Chancellor
College of Arts
University of Canterbury

Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Deputy Chair)
Director Arts and Collections
Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand

Professor John Drummond (Treasurer)
Dean of the School of Language, Literature & Performing Arts
University of Otago

Professor Rob Allen
Pro Vice Chancellor, Learning and Teaching
Dean, Faculty of Applied Humanities
Auckland University of Technology

Penny Carnaby
Chief Executive/Chief Librarian
National Library of New Zealand

Professor Don MacRaild
School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations
Victoria University of Wellington

Professor John Morrow
Dean of Arts
University of Auckland

Dr Jan Pilditch
Associate Dean Academic
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
University of Waikato

Haami Piripi
Chief Executive
Te Taura Whiri I Te Re MÄ?ori MÄ?ori Language Commission

Professor Warwick Slinn
Head, School of English and Media Studies
Massey University

Dame Cheryll Sotheran
Director, Creative Industries Sector
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise

Te Kenehi Teira
Kaihautu
New Zealand Historic Places Trust

Keith Webster
University Librarian
Victoria University of Wellington

Assoc Professor Lydia Wevers
Director, Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies
Victoria University of Wellington

Secretary to the CH
Dr Brian Opie

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What is the "Humanities-Aronui"?

The "humanities-aronui" or New Zealand humanities is a rapidly evolving body of knowledge, engaging aspects of the arts and social sciences as well as the traditional humanities within the bicultural context of the Treaty partnership and the multicultural context of a globalising world order.

From the beginning of the Humanities Society, the nature and scope of the humanities-aronui has been a major preoccupation. Three statements have been developed:

1. THE RESEARCH POLICY (1996).

   The humanities-aronui are that body of knowledge and those modes of enquiry and reflection which concern what it is to be human, including our inhumanity and our relation to the non-human. In the Western tradition, the humanities have been identified with literacy and with value laden knowledge, the core requirements for establishing and maintaining a civil society. They connect the texts of the law with those of religion, philosophy, ethics, economics, history, science, technology, the arts and architecture.

   In the more holistic MÄ?ori world view te kete aronui (the basket of secular or profane knowledge), one of nga kete wananga (the three baskets of knowledge), may encompass theoretical and practical knowledge about the sciences as well as the humanities. The other kete contain ritual knowledge and occult knowledge (about witchcraft, evil, war), respectively. Love, compassion and peace ensure that wananga aronui is used for benevolent purposes but the possibility remains that it will be used instead for evil and destructive purposes.

   The humanities-aronui are diffusive. Because it is value laden, knowledge in any aspect of the humanities-aronui may be (but is not necessarily) significant in any other aspect; because its medium is language in whatever mode (spoken, written, in print, on television or the information superhighway) humanities knowledge cannot be pure or universal knowledge but is always caught up in the processes of social and cultural change. Its ultimate "products" are citizens capable of playing a full part in the shaping of their society, beyond the economic roles of producers and consumers.

   The humanities-aronui are also accumulative: new knowledge is not necessarily better than old knowledge; specialist knowledge exists in a spectrum with popular knowledge and local knowledge rather than providing the only correct account. The texts of the past are always available to be read, viewed or heard again by anyone in the present and have power to modify the future.

2. The Knowledge Policy Research Group of the Humanities Society developed the following working definition of Cultural Knowledge:

   Cultural knowledge is understood to refer to a nation's whole stock of knowledge (including science and technology), as that knowledge is shaped by values, beliefs and traditions, as well as the knowledge created by artists and by people in the ordinary processes of social living.

3. Planning for the HRN produced this account of The Work of the Humanities:

   The distinctive work of the humanities is interpretation of culturally significant texts. This work is based on research into the origins, nature and transmission of these texts, which may be in a variety of languages and media forms. It establishes authoritative versions of these texts and places them in their historical and cultural contexts. By providing new ways of understanding them, the humanities connects new generations to their cultural foundations and sustains creative cultural adaptation in times of social and environmental change.

   Interpretation also creates new texts whose purpose is to increase understanding and provide critical analysis of cultural values and social practices. Culturally significant texts are created in all parts of a society, and those who create them – scientists as well as artists and media professionals, curators of the cultural archive as well as teachers and public servants, historians as well as economists and politicians, architects as well as lawyers, town planners and business people – are contributing to the work of the humanities when they provide interpretations of the texts they create. The term "humanities-aronui" describes the distinctive bilingual and bicultural environment in which, in the context of global and multi-cultural perspectives, the on-going formation of culture occurs in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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The Humanities Society's Strategic Plan 2001-2006

This Plan, together with gaining entry to the Marsden Fund for the humanities and initiating the process which led t the establishment of the Council for the Humanities, is one of the most significant pieces of work carried out by the Humanities Society. It is the result of representations to government, making the case for a national organisation responsible for representing the humanities in the way that the Royal Society of New Zealand is responsible for representing the sciences.

The analysis and goals set out in the Strategic Business Plan 2001-2006 have underpinned future planning. The Humanities Research Network was initially put forward as an appendix to the Plan. It includes proposals for a national publication focusing on research and policy, and for national awards to recognise distinction in the humanities.

The Plan and the documents accompanying its reception by the Government can be found on the HUMANZ website (http://www.humanities.org.nz) under Operating Documents.

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Contact Us

Te WhÄ?inga Aronui The Council for the Humanities
P O Box 10-693
Wellington
http://www.humanities.org.nz

Dr Brian Opie
Executive Director
telephone: (04) 472 9488 [work] (04) 971 6016 [home]
email: brian.opie@humanities.org.nz

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