Apologies again about x-posting etc. the following info would be useful to
those who wish to respond to my earlier request to protest the closure of
women's studies at massey university.
thanks, lawrence
Massey Women's Studies fact sheet
* Women's Studies was introduced in the 1978s and grew progressively
in offerings in 14 programmes across the university ((see attached
Good-to-Know Info). While the focus is on women's lives, academically it is
also and always considerably broader than this, since Women's Studies is an
interdisciplinary field of critical social studies, with gender relations
as a primary line of inquiry.
.
Women's Studies has grown steadily since 1978. A Diploma was
offered in 1987 and a MA and PhD in 1990. The current numbers of enrolments
exceed those of the years in which these degrees were introduced. However
because students in Women's Studies tend to study part-time, enrolments in
the core papers are uneven from year to year.
* The undergraduate BA major was introduced in 1995 and again,
because of the profile of most Women's Studies majors, the programme has
only begun graduating students in the past 2 years.
* Most Women's Studies students at undergraduate level are enrolled
in the programme as electives rather than a major, but given that the
programme is both interdisciplinary and encouraging of double majors this
should be seen as a service strength of the offerings not seen to
demonstrate a lack of genuine interest from students.
* There is no evidence of duplication between core papers and papers
offered in other programme which contribute to the major. While this is
alleged on p.11 of the Proposal, this cannot in fact be substantiated
because of the way in which the core Women's Studies papers are established
(ie through negotiation across the entire programme).
* A unique aspect of the programme is that it does both encourage
"mainstreaming of Women's Studies across the College, and an exploration of
the potential for the development of a more broadly-based programme in
gender studies in relevant disciplines and from existing resources" (p.11)
as well as offer teaching in research methods and social theoretical
perspectives relevant to gender analysis to make the programme coherent.
The objectives of the programme are clearly stated and demonstrated and
should be consulted.
* There is already a healthy relationship with the College of
Business, demonstrated by the number of papers available for crediting
towards a major at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. However the
short-term funded Centre for Women and Leadership does not duplicate any
aspect of the Women's Studies programme and has different objectives.
* .No recognition is given to the excellence in teaching and research
demonstrated by staff in the core programme.
* No recognition is given to the unique profile of Women's Studies
students (see attached Good-to-Know Info).
____________________________
Women's Studies at Massey University Good-to-Know Info
Massey University Women's Studies has a commitment to excellence in
teaching, flexible courses and a friendly environment. The Women's Studies
Programme at Massey University offers 24 courses at undergraduate level, a
BA major and entry to the Graduate Diploma, M.A, M.Phil and Ph.D study.
Courses are available in both internal and extramural modes. In any year we
have about 200-300 undergraduate students and about 25 graduate students.
The first Women's Studies paper Women in Society was taught in 1978 by Dr
Ephra Garrett in the Sociology department. In 1987 a postgraduate Diploma
was established and in 1990 Masters and PhD studies became available.
During those years, Nicola Armstrong was the part-time Co-ordinator of the
Women's Studies Programme, working from within the Sociology Department.
With the appointment of Dr Lynne Alice to be the full-time Director in
1994, Women's Studies was granted stand alone status as an
interdisciplinary programme. An undergraduate BA major in Women's Studies
was approved and offered for the first time in 1995 and the first year
paper 70.101 was also taught at Taranaki Polytechnic, as well as internally
(on campus) and extramurally (by distance education). In 1996 and 1997 both
first year papers in Women's Studies were taught through the conjoint
programme on the campuses of Tairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne and at the
Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier. Within this period the
commitment of Women's Studies to Te Tiriti O Waitangi and the inclusion of
Maori content in all courses became a distinctive objective of the
programme. Two new staff members arrived to join the core staff: Dr
Catherine Bray and Dr Jenny Coleman. At the end of 1997 Dr Lynne Star
joined the Women's Studies teaching programme. On 1 January 1998 the
Sociology Department along with the Police Studies Programme and the
Women's Studies Programme amalgamated to form the School of Sociology and
Women's Studies.
Women's Studies at Massey University is a programme that incorporates
fourteen disciplinary areas in the Colleges of Education, Business Studies
and Humanities and Social Sciences. The programme as a broad
interdisciplinary field of studies offers a variety of explanations about
social and cultural issues affecting women and men. A key feature of the
programme is its emphasis on research methods taught to students at all
levels; and its bi-cultural emphasis. Women's Studies is also engaged in
the analysis of women's symbolic and cultural construction through a
variety of cultural media produced by or depicting women.
Two international conferences have been convened by staff in the programme:
Feminism/Postmodernism /Postfeminism in 1995 and the Queer Symposium in
1999. The programme also hosted the national Women's Studies Association
Conference (in Feb. 1997 and July, 1998). These occasions were a
celebration of the programme's development and achievements since 1978. The
Massey programme is the only extramural degree provider in this subject
area and is the one of the most extensive interdisciplinary women's studies
programmes in New Zealand and Australia. Details of our papers and degrees
can be viewed on our website:http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwwms.
Mission
Women's Studies at Massey University provides an interdisciplinary approach
to the study of women and men in society, gender relations and social
equity. Women's Studies is committed to bicultural development of
gender-focused curricula. A feminist assessment of social theories and
research is incorporated within critiques of literary and cultural
productions by and about women and men. The programme offers careers
specialisation in areas of social research, equity and justice and
contributes to the development of the disciplinary fields of Women's
Studies nationally and internationally.
Massey University is the second oldest Women's Studies programme in New
Zealand. Its structure is similar to the programmes at the Universities of
Auckland and Waikato and Victoria University : a core of interdisciplinary
papers taught by staff appointed to the programme, within a larger
multi-disciplinary framework of contributing subject areas. Massey Women's
Studies is the only programme of its size not headed by a Professor.
What we mean by an interdisciplinary approach
One of the prominent themes in studies of disciplinarity is 'boundary
work', which denotes the conceptual and methodological crossing,
deconstructing and reconstructing of boundaries between disciplines.
Boundary maintenance is seen by educationists as the exploitation and
monopolisation of authority and resources and the protection of autonomy.
It is understood to be most emphatic where disciplines are thought of as
mostly static entities, operating in isolation. The permeation of
disciplinary boundaries is considered by educationists to be important for
the complexifying of research, for the introduction of new tools and
updating and contextualising of theories; for new knowledge production,
innovation and for redefining what is intrinsic and extrinsic to the
disciplines.
Transmutation of disciplines leads to new fields of focus for the
production and organisation of knowledge, to innovation and the emergence
of interdisciplinary sub-fields for research. Interdisciplinarity
integrates a range of hitherto disparate skills and knowledge to address
research problems; helps attract adequate funding for graduate students and
researchers, and ensures a lively and multi-faceted infrastructure for
research and its resourcing. Crossing boundaries is characteristically a
basis of the growth of interdisciplinary knowledge and is indicative of the
changed landscape of knowledge in the late twentieth century.
The research foci of core staff within Women's Studies exemplify
interdisciplinarity. Collaborative research by staff in Massey Women's
Studies has produced three books since 1997: "Songs of Strength: 16 women
talk about cancer" (Pan Macmillan, 1997). This project comprised research
in Australia between 16 women in university and community groups. "Feminist
Thought in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Connections and Differences" (Oxford,
1998) is a substantial, co-edited second year Women's Studies textbook
with thirty five contributors in academic programmes and in the community
throughout New Zealand, with over a dozen, including one editor, from
Massey University. "Queer in New Zealand" (forthcoming 2000, Dunmore), the
first collaborative anthology of social science research about gay and
lesbian experiences in New Zealand. A large number of publications,
including journal articles, book chapters, research reports, working
papers, conference papers and current research projects are listed on our
webpages: http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwwms/WSResearchPubs.html
and
http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwwms/currentresearch.html
Women's Studies staff coordinate the editorial collective of the Women's
Studies Journal and the electronic Feminist Studies in Aotearoa Journal,
New Zealand's two major feminist and gender studies publications.
Staff in Women's Studies at Massey are currently involved in other research
with colleagues in Social Policy and Anthropology; Nursing and Midwifery,
Media Studies and the local Hospital. While it is true that such 'boundary
crossing' is also a feature in other departments, the extent of it in
Women's Studies is remarkable and itself attracts potential research
projects and students to the programme.
In 1996 the programme hosted Professor Kristin Bervig Valentine as a
Visiting Scholar, from Arizona University. In 1999 the programme attracted
two postgraduate scholars, Deborah Thien from Canada, working towards her
MA in Women's Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia and
Rebecca Etz, a Fulbright scholar from Rutgers University in the USA.
Currently the programme has attracted interest from graduates in Africa,
the USA and the Philippines who are proposing to study towards higher
degrees in Women's Studies in the near future.
How the programme fits together
The programme is modeled loosely on those USA and UK programmes comprising
a core of five interdisciplinary undergraduate papers and a larger number
of elective papers, which are disciplinary focused and able to be selected
at 200- and 300-levels for the undergraduate major.
At the graduate level, there are four core interdisciplinary papers, up to
two of which may be substituted for disciplinary based papers to be
credited towards the postgraduate Diploma or Masters degree, from an
approved list.
Team teaching and multi-mode delivery
Team teaching is pedagogically favoured by the programme's staff as a model
for students of effective research-informed, collaborative and active
learning, which emphasises staff-student interaction. Student evaluation
comments attest to the effectiveness of this pedagogy.
The delivery of both the undergraduate and graduate programmes is only made
possible by team teaching 100- and 200-level papers and by peer staff
appraisal of all papers offered in the programme. Student feedback is
considered in the revision and updating of papers. Staff in 14 other
programmes contribute single lectures to the team taught papers as they are
available. They are regularly invited to participate with core staff in
evaluations and revisions of papers.
Four casual assistants have been employed since 1995 to tutor the 100-level
courses at Tairawhiti, Taranaki Polytechnics and at the Eastern Institute
of Technology. Three of these staff are graduates from Women's Studies
programmes at other institutions (Griffith University, Victoria and Waikato
Universities) and one is a current postgraduate student in Massey Women's
Studies. The 100-level papers offered at these institutions are monitored
by the Coordinator, who visits the tutors each semester. A process of mid-
and end of semester evaluation, organised between the Coordinator and each
tutor ensures a high standard of course delivery, again attested to in
student evaluations. Currently core staff teach and tutor all on campus
courses at the Palmerston North campus (that is, Women's Studies receives
no funding for casual (teaching) assistance).
Key features of the programme
Women's Studies has an emphasis on research; a commitment to a bicultural
development of gender focused curricula and the expression and practice of
EEO principles.
(a) a commitment to biculturalism
Women's Studies is committed to a bicultural development of gender focused
curricula and includes in each paper contributions of research and writing
by Maori. Each semester the programme organises a noho Marae (visit),
optional for all students, their families and friends, involving tangata
whenua from Parewahawaha Marae in Bulls. Women's Studies is supported in
this by Maori staff and advisers in a number of departments at Massey. Mahi
taught during the noho marae include tikanga Maori, whakapapa of the
region, media representations of Maori and Maori film-making.
Women's Studies is honoured to include its kuia, Dr Ephra Garrett, as a
regular contributor to the programme and mentor to its staff. We believe
this aspect of the programme fulfills the bicultural aspect of our mission
statement (and the University's) and is an expression of the University's
obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi.
(b) an expression of EEO considerations
Women's Studies brings to the university a commitment to EEO policy in its
foregrounding of gender relations as an important focus of social studies.
The research goals of Women's Studies advance contemporary issues facing
both women and men in Aotearoa; research by and about women, gender
relations and social equity. The university's commitment to EEO principles
is enhanced by the contribution of Women's Studies to such scholarship.
The students attracted to Women's Studies include women and men who would
not normally have the opportunity to pursue tertiary education but who are
encouraged to do so because of their perception of its specialist areas of
study and pedagogical style. It is because of the success of 'second
chance' learning in Women's Studies that some graduates are able to compete
more equally in the workplace. Many Women's Studies postgraduates are
already professionally employed, for whom the programme offers
're-skilling' opportunities. However our graduate profiles also suggest
that the programme encourages previously disadvantaged women graduates to
return to the workplace with up-dated skills, or enter the workplace for
the first time. In any given year the majority of students at both
undergraduate and graduate levels are part-time students (because they have
family commitments, full-time paid work, are community volunteers or - all
of these). Hence many postgraduates take one paper a year (and this means
we do not produce graduate students every year). The average age of women's
studies students tends to be in their late thirties to early forties,
school leavers represent about 10-15% of the total enrolment in any year's
intake. Most students are already employed or are updating skills. The
average length of time to complete a qualification is 5 years (hence having
only offered the BA major in 1995, the programme has just begun graduating
students).
Current enrolments
In 2000 Women's Studies enrolments have dropped in the same averaged
proportion to numbers in other programmes across the university. However
the mid-year enrolment figures show 213 students are enrolled in seven
undergraduate papers (these are not the final enrolments in 4 of 7 papers).
Twelve students are enrolled in the graduate Diploma in Women's Studies.
Three students are writing Master's theses and one student is completing a
PhD in Women's Studies. In addition to this, Women's Studies staff members
supervise one Honours project, 2 Masters theses and 3 PhD theses in other
disciplinary areas and teach in 3 Sociology papers.
For further information contact [log in to unmask]
Lawrence D. Berg, Ph.D.
Department of Geography
University of Victoria
PO Box 3050
Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 3P5
Facsimile: (250) 721-6216, Telephone: (250) 592-2278
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://office.geog.uvic.ca/index.shtml
http://members.home.net/lawrencedberg/
Note new address after July 1, 2000:
Department of Geography
Okanagan University College
7000 College Way
Vernon, BC, V1B 2N5
Canada
http://www.ouc.bc.ca/geog/
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