Community psychologists engage in research and action within and across diverse community settings. Central to such work are issues of solidarity and the questioning of hegemonic structures that adversely impact community life. This symposium draws on the orientating concept of ‘the conduct of everyday life’ to exemplify breath in our team’s efforts with their own and other cultural communities. In the first presentation Pita King will explore how issues of urbanization, modernity, and ongoing socio-economic inequalities compound the complexities of being Māori and cultivating solidarity in the city today. Of central importance is how new ways-of-being Māori that form the basis of local solidarities emerge from positions of marginality and are drawn from what is culturally, socially, materially, and spiritually ‘on hand’ within the urban environments many Māori find themselves today. The implications of this work for nudging our discipline towards becoming more relevant, effective, and humane in engagements with urban Māori communities will also be considered. The second presentation by Ahnya Thomson will explore the case of a Māori member of parliament who highlighted and personalized the failings of welfare system for whānau (Māori families) was forced from parliament. This presentation documents how other Māori women from similar precariat backgrounds to Metiria Turei interpreted the resulting media controversy as a continuation of processes of colonization and the hegemonic silencing of dissenting voice from wāhine Māori (women). Drawing from Julian Rappaport’s seminal work on tales of terror and tales of joy, this paper speaks to the importance of documenting how conservative members of the settler society continue the colonial practice of denigrating Indigenous women. It is also crucial that we explore how these women resist such positioning by crafting counter hegemonic narratives about themselves, which form the basis of their solidarity. In the third presentation, Jony Eko Yulianto will explore inter-ethnic marriages between Indigenous Javanese and Chinese Indonesian people as liminal spaces that are located on the boundaries between these communities. In doing so, he will consider how the conduct of these marriages has broader socio-political implications beyond the persons directly involved. These marriage spaces reflect the transgressing of broader tensions between these communities in Indonesia today. Of specific interest are the social practices developed within these marriage spaces that foster inter-cultural dialogue and understanding across both intersecting cultures. As such, Jony will discuss how insights from the conduct of these marriages will be related to efforts to transform the social landscape in Indonesia to increase cultural tolerance and inter-group cooperation.
Discussion points
How the relationships and processes explored in this symposium relate to your own communities.
How community psychologists can relate the micro level of everyday community relationships and interactions to broader societal structures and process.