News

Humanities-Aronui Research and Public Objectives

17 May 2007

Source:	Te Whainga Aronui The Council for the Humanities

The proposal addresses itself to the government's strategic priority areas of economic transformation, families, and national identity. It puts forward a cluster of research projects, each of which is designed to connect in some way with the others so that a substantial body of interlinked knowledge is created and relationships between the priority areas are made apparent. It is intended to assist in the creation of new models for thinking about the future of Aotearoa New Zealand.

29 October 2006

Hon Steve Maharey
Minister for Research, Science and Technology
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

Dear Minister

Humanities-Aronui Research and Public Objectives

The Council is seeking from the government the establishment of a funding envelope of $1.5 million over three years from 2007-2009 for humanities-aronui research. The attached documents set out an ambitious programme of research focused on government strategic priorities. They demonstrate why research in the humanities-aronui must have a legitimate place in government priorities for research.

The proposal has two principal purposes:

1. to provide new knowledge about Aotearoa New Zealand which will enrich policy formation and assist the government to achieve its objectives; and

2. to engage the research capabilities of the humanities-aronui sector with issues and questions of national significance, knowing that research of global significance will also result.

In your speech at the Pou Aronui award ceremony on 2 August 2006, you affirmed the need for research which will help to "describe and unravel [the] complexity" of nation-building in an increasingly diverse and multi-cultural society, and emphasised the value of partnerships across sectors, cultures and disciplines.

The attached proposal endeavours to heed these words. While it emphasises the distinctive nature of research in the humanities-aronui, the value of which it is intended to demonstrate, it will also involve other disciplines where appropriate. All projects will be conducted as partnerships between researchers in the humanities and matauranga Maori.

Recent controversy over funding allocations to humanities projects from the Marsden Fund highlights both the extreme pressures on the currently available public funding for research, and the perception that research in the humanities-aronui contributes little of value to the nation. It is our aim with this programme of research to demonstrate unequivocally why research in the humanities-aronui should be valued as highly as research in science.

The proposal is also being sent to:

Rt Hon Helen Clark, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage; Hon Dr Michael Cullen, Minister for Tertiary Education; Hon Parekura Horomia, Minister of Maori Affairs;
Hon Trevor Mallard, Minister for Economic Development; Hon Judith Tizard, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage; and to the relevant Chief Executives.

I trust that this proposal will receive endorsement through inclusion in the 2007-2008 Budget.

Yours sincerely

Professor Ken Strongman
Chair
Te Whainga Aronui The Council for the Humanities

Humanities-Aronui Research and Public Objectives

The proposal addresses itself to the government's strategic priority areas of economic transformation, families, and national identity. It puts forward a cluster of research projects, each of which is designed to connect in some way with the others so that a substantial body of interlinked knowledge is created and relationships between the priority areas are made apparent. It is intended to assist in the creation of new models for thinking about the future of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The ultimate test of a society and a nation is its answers to the question, "What does it mean to be human?" This is also the question which underlies knowledge creation in the humanities-aronui.

Materials, methods and research questions characteristic of the humanities-aronui will be employed in these projects. In each specific enquiry, investigation will focus on the ways in which texts of all kinds - produced as government policy statements or reports, by media, in science and business, by artists and commentators - provide or assume answers to the question, "what does it mean to be human?" When direct social research is needed it will typically be carried out using qualitative methodologies. Interviews (audio and video) will be lodged with the Oral History Centre of the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Within the humanities-aronui research community in Aotearoa New Zealand there is a broad range of expertise which can be applied to the immediate and future needs for knowledge in government. Because this knowledge and expertise has not been systematically sought by government or offered by the sector, new practices and expectations need to be developed.

The programme of research will build on the report commissioned by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, Knowledge, Innovation and Creativity: Designing a knowledge society for a small, democratic country (HUMANZ, 2000) and specifically the cluster of concepts identified as providing an appropriate analytical framework for understanding the complex social and cultural environment in which New Zealanders live and work.

An informing premise of this research is that human societies deal productively with changing circumstances through the ongoing evaluation and discussion of values, models and beliefs as a collective conversation. This conversation is carried out through all the agencies and institutions of a society, and is the means by which groups differentiated by history and culture negotiate their ongoing relations.

To track this conversation in the recent past is critical for understanding where local and global currents of thought and action are taking New Zealand, and the potential in New Zealand for significant interventions in this global and cultural process.

At the centre of such an enquiry in a democracy is the informed citizen who acquires self-knowledge and social responsibility in a variety of interrelated contexts - family, locality, culture, society, education, economy, nation - which are now penetrated as never before by global influences. Each of these contexts is understood to be dynamic, unstable and productive of crisis as well as social innovation.

The research will at all times be conducted collaboratively from the perspectives of the humanities and matauranga Maori.

Governance of the Programme

A Project Management Group comprised of persons with extensive experience at the interface between academic research and government policy formation will oversee the project. Projects will be carefully monitored, especially in relation to project milestones and outcomes. The Council would expect to consult with the government agencies which would be the users of the research.

Research Infrastructure

This proposal, if supported, will have significant implications for research infrastructure. The Humanities Research Network (HRN) [http://www.humanitiesresearch.net] will be expected to play a major role in the formation of project research groups and the dissemination of research findings.

The development of a peer-reviewed e-journal for the publication of New Zealand-related research in the humanities-aronui, including policy-related research, as a further capability of the HRN, is being considered by the HRN Board.

The Research Process

The first stage
The first stage, which will establish a broad basis for the subsequent projects, is an extensive analysis of recent government documents, in the light of the core question. The aim of this work is to distinguish the complex strands of thinking and the models (implicit and explicit) of human activity in culture, society, and the economy which inform these documents.

Preferably, this stage would be completed in the first half of 2007. Additional funding will be sought for this stage.

The second stage
The second stage is represented by the range of research questions which are listed in the attached table. Which of these projects were adopted, and the precise focus and duration of any project, would depend on discussions with relevant public sector agencies and the availability of researchers.

In the longer-term
A longer-term, accumulative outcome of this programme and whatever form it might take in future is a significant change in public sector understanding of the role of the humanities-aronui in society, including the economy. This change will be based on at least three closely related achievements:

1. an inclusive description of the constituents of the humanities-aronui sector (cultural and educational institutions, public sector organisations, media organisations, legal institutions, civil society organisations) on the basis of which an accurate account of their economic and social value can be achieved;

2. establishing appropriate criteria for measuring and representing the economic value of humanities-aronui knowledge, including the creative arts and media; and,

3. establishing that advanced knowledge and training in the humanities-aronui (including the creative arts and media) can provide the fundamental cognitive and imaginative capabilities needed for further development of the knowledge society as a society based on innovation.

Partnerships

We would expect to work in consultation with Statistics New Zealand from the beginning of this programme, especially to achieve the longer-term outcomes, and with other public sector agencies with a particular interest in any aspect of this research programme.

We have valuable links with overseas organisations in the humanities, creative arts and social sciences which are conducting research of public relevance in the domains we have identified in this research programme. They include:

In Australia: The Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, and the Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology;

In the United States: the American Council of Learned Societies and member research centres of the Consortium of Humanities Research Centres and Institutes, specifically including Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, which is based at the University of Michigan;

In the United Kingdom: the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and Demos.

The Funding Envelope

This proposal seeks the establishment of a funding envelope of $1.5 million over three years from 2007-2009 to enable an immediate and monitored testing of the claim of relevance to government objectives of humanities-aronui research. Because the proposed programme will have to be prioritised in the light of available funding, a detailed budget has not been prepared at this stage.

The reason for establishing this funding envelope is to permit the Council, in association with the government agencies seeking and using the knowledge produced by the research programme, to demonstrate the value of the knowledge and research capability in the humanities-aronui to the governance of New Zealand.

There is a serious gap in present research funding arrangements which needs to be closed. The proposal sets out what is distinctive about humanities research methods and the focus of that research on the question, What does it mean to be human?

Providing answers to this question is the purpose of cultural knowledge, which is of increasing importance for assisting individuals to understand their situation in the world, building sustainable communities and defining national identity. It is also fundamental to the work of government in a democracy. One of the reasons why broadcast media are a major component in the programme is that they now arguably one of the most important cultural institutions, together with education, being directly engaged in many aspects of the creation and circulation of culturally significant knowledge throughout New Zealand.

The funding envelope will also provide a practical means of further evaluating the means and structure through which public funding for research in the arts and humanities-aronui is provided and allocated. Given the widespread concern with the cost of administering funding systems, the methods of funding allocation should also be considered. There are many possible models, for example, the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, the Tertiary Education Commission/BRCSS, the History programme in Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Creative New Zealand, the recently established Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom.

The humanities-aronui have been challenged to demonstrate the real value of the knowledge which they create, and to focus research expertise on issues of particular significance to New Zealand. This research programme is offered as an immediate and practical solution to this challenge; but it cannot be implemented unless a new allocation of public good research funding is made available. It would clearly not advance any knowledge sector's interests if the establishment of the funding envelope we are proposing were to be at the expense of other areas of research.

The Council would like the opportunity to offer proposals for the future provision and allocation of research funding to the humanities-aronui, in the context of implementing this programme of research.

Contact:
Dr Brian Opie
Executive Director
Te Whainga Aronui The Council for the Humanities
P O Box 10-693
Wellington

(This text is complemented by a table setting out possible research projects in a grid with the government's three strategic priorities on one axis and the following theme areas on the other: Education; Media; Culture and Innovation; Digital (Content) Strategy.

If you would like a copy of this table, please contact Brian Opie at the above address.)