News
A vision for the humanities from the Green Party
3 November 2008
| Byline: | Metiria Turei, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand |
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| Source: | Humanities Research Network |
With the election looming, we asked all the political parties for their vision for the humanities sector in New Zealand, posing a number of questions from our members. This is the Green Party's response.
What is your party's position on languages learning and how it should be funded?
We recognise the value of language learning in developing a child's thought processes, in addition to the obvious communication aspect. We are keen to encourage more people to learn New Zealand's two less-used official languages - Maori and New Zealand Sign. We recognise that it is always easier to learn languages at a younger age.
We support the continued expansion of Kohanga reo (language nests) and Kura kaupapa Maori to ensure Maori language is retained and Maori styles of learning and teaching are supported in an environment where wairua is integral. We would also increase funding for te reo teacher training. New Zealand's fledgling Pacific Language Nests are also in need of support.
What is your party's position on the role of creative arts and humanities research in the knowledge society?
In an age where we are hell bent on consuming ourselves into oblivion, the arts can be the antithesis of consumption, focussing not on producing more but rather on making all occasions more special and our surroundings and artefacts more beautiful. The Green Party envisions an Aotearoa New Zealand where arts and arts practitioners are supported and valued and society recognises the worthwhile contribution that they make to our social, cultural and economic wellbeing. Creative and cultural work is recognised as being a useful means of empowering people, encouraging intercultural appreciation and understanding and helping to develop additional skills, training, and confidence. The unique contribution of toi o Maori to the identity of Aotearoa New Zealand is recognised, respected and valued.
What is your party's position on the role of education and the media in the development of democratic citizenship? Is that more or less important than their economic role?
Education serves economic purposes, helps contribute to democratic citizenship and has a necessary role in moving towards more environmentally sustainable living. We wouldn't want to define one role as more important than the others, but the second and third roles are currently more in need of nurturing. Our policy recognises nurturing non-violence, appropriate decision making, sustainable living and partnership with Maori as important non-economic roles of education.
The obvious economic roles of education is in preparing people for paid work, but there are arguably other economic roles for education that are not employment-related, such as introducing people to budgeting, and growing and cooking their own food. These skills are important to developing an economically resilient society.
The key principles of our education policy include requirements that the education system:
1.) Develops all New Zealanders' strengths, potential, natural desire to learn, and curiosity.
2.) Works with learners to help them nurture and encourage the disposition and passion for lifelong learning and the skills that they need to participate in society.
3.) Encourages people to participate and take responsibility for their own learning and for helping others learn effectively.
4.) Provides ways of living, working, playing and learning that accustom everyone to participate in society in ways that are sustainable, equitable and peaceful.
5.) Incorporates Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a means to reduce racism and foster peace in our communities.
In respect to the media, we see the role of legislation as to protect the media's role in the development of democratic citizenship. Our broadcasting policy is based on these principles:
1.) We recognise the place of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a founding document of New Zealand, and the special place of Maori broadcasting.
2.) Citizens need timely and accurate information about their rights and responsibilities, knowledge of our political institutions and an appreciation of each others' needs, interests and aspirations, these matters must be universally and freely available through broadcast media.
3.) The media should inform, educate and entertain in a manner that supports citizens to participate effectively in democracy
4.) A vigorous, independent and diverse media is the cornerstone of a free society: the media are none of these things if they are predominantly controlled by the state, or owned and controlled by international media conglomerates, or dominated by local commercial monopolies
5.) The media wield significant social, cultural and economic power, which must be used responsibly. An independent media should responsibly self-regulating - but self-regulation does not imply an absence of regulation: it must rest on the foundation of a strong regulatory framework that reinforces responsible self-management
6.) There is no place for excessive levels of gratuitous violence, presented as "entertainment", on free-to-air television.
7.) Non-violent resolution of political and social conflict is based on knowledge, acceptance and understanding of diverse communities; and of their needs, interests and aspirations
What is your party's position on the role of cultural institutions - libraries, museums, galleries, archives - in New Zealand, and how they should be funded?
The Green Party envisages museums and art galleries as places to inspire and inform people, particularly through the sort of tangible relationship with historically and scientifically significant objects that technologies like the Internet cannot replace. We also envisage art galleries playing a part in increasing participation in community arts, arts education and the professional arts. The Green Party believes in strong local and regional funding of the arts, including art galleries. Rather than creating an expectation of accountability to central government through central government funding, we will legislate to require a portion of local government rates to go to art galleries and other art facilities. This should provide a degree of certainty of funding, while encouraging local input into how that funding is used.
The Green Party will guarantee that funding is inflation-adjusted so that it will not decline in real terms. We would also be interested in looking at reducing the need for individual facilities to keep applying for funding, to enable longer-term planning and reduce the administrative workload, while recognising that some contestability of funding has to continue so that money can go to the projects that will make the best use of it. One possibility is to have a single body to administer this funding, equivalent to Creative New Zealand, to standardise and streamline procedures for contestable funding.
What is your party's position on the contribution to sustainability of matauranga Maori and the humanities?
The principles of historical scholarship are necessary if we are to understand the history of resource consumption and waste production, which enable a scientific study of the effects these have had and the likely trends in the future.
Environmental sustainability and sustaining the ability of the environment to sustain humanity can be looked at through a number of different lenses. The most obvious approach is a scientific approach, which examines how natural ecosystems work and the chemical, physical and biological nature of human interaction with the natural environment. Another is a social science approach, which examines the patterns of human behaviour, both economic and non-economic, which shape how people will actually interact with the environment. Both hard science and social science are, in theory, value-neutral. This means that they lack the ability to question the values that may influence an assessment.
The humanities are the main approach that asks the question 'what is good?' Religion also asks this question, but the humanities provide the tools to question the answers given by religion. Whether science or economic or commercial understanding is used in a way that moves towards sustainability or away from it is ultimately dependent on the personal and professional ethics of the practitioners. The question of what is ethical is ultimately the realm of philosophy.
The historical trend of consumerism is an important determinant of human interaction with the environment in countries like New Zealand. Advertising and marketing can be seen as forms of social engineering that socialise people into profligate consumption, even when there are other activities they may find more fulfilling. This trend needs to be questioned, because it is a trend that can work quite strongly against sustainability. It is the humanities, in conjunction with the social sciences, which give us the ability to question it.
Matauranga Maori provides a value system that can be used to question the value systems that influence our interpretation of scientific evidence and economic trends. It is not the only such way, but it has power for many people of Maori descent because of its connection with their ancestors, and it has value for many non-Maori New Zealanders because of its historical connection with the land we grew up in and call home.
