Nicola Harrison: Weaving Family and Intimacy Practices with Whanaungatanga to Understand Relational Impacts of Familial Childhood Sexual Abuse
Familial Childhood Sexual Abuse (FCSA) affects up to 1/3 girls and 1/7 boys. Māori are twice more likely to be victims of FCSA than non-Māori. FCSA causes relational disconnection between mōrehurehu (survivors) and their whānau, often compounding ongoing colonial disconnection for Māori from our ways of being. I explore these disconnections by bringing Māori work on whanaungatanga into conversation with European analysis of family. Pākehā scholarship talks of family and intimacy practices while Māori scholarship talks of whakapapa and whanaungatanga. There is precious little research into how whānau relationships work via whanaungatanga, and none at all on how whanaungatanga operates in circumstances of FCSA. Interweaving mātauranga Māori and European analysis of personal life, I hope to enhance profundity in both worldviews. Whanaungatanga may be explored through language from Morgan’s family practices and Finch’s displaying family perspectives. Jaimeson’s intimacy practices could be enriched by considering Māori engagement practices of manākitanga and wairuatanga. Memory work, well narrated from UK-US perspectives, may also be powerfully invigorated through exploration in te ao Māori. Legitimating whanaungatanga principles can transform how we think about whānau. This will help us understand how mōrehurehu (survivors) of FCSA experience relationships with their whānau and provide increased access to rangatiratanga.
Rhona Winnington, Jessica Young & Roderick MacLeod: Assisted dying: family experiences of burden, expectation and stigma following a legally assisted death and the potential impact this may have on decision-making in New Zealand
The landscape of the contemporary Western death is changing. Assisted dying is at the fore of contemporary issues regarding death and dying in New Zealand, with a Government bill having now passed its second reading. Although the right-to-die is legal in some countries, this discourse has never been more prominent than the current media focus. Despite considerable literature being available denoting the divide between the right-to-choice and ‘sanctity of life’ debates for those suffering, there is little evidence of the effects this pathway has on surviving family members. Specifically, it appears that the notion of being burdensome is transcending future generations through the social and cultural expectation of having to also consider assisted dying. Using a case study approach, family experiences are explored to understand the language used and the stories relayed through individual interview and online discussion forums in a global context. Early analysis indicates that despite the legality of this death pathway in some countries, it remains stigmatised, becoming an unacknowledged event. Furthermore, the data suggests that in some instances the reduction of burdensome care becomes expected and thus, promotes the use of assisted dying for the next generation.
Alice Beban: The rural care crisis: Gender, land inheritance and agrarian change in Cambodia
As financialised capitalism, climate change, and rapid urbanisation reshape rural areas across the world, sociologists are turning attention to generational concerns in farming: How will rural people get by when land inequality is increasing and rural futures are so uncertain? How are rural gender relations changing, particularly in areas where matrilineal inheritance norms have previously secured some status for women? I shed light on these questions through my ongoing research with indigenous and Khmer communities in the Cambodian highlands. In a context where state support is absent, land inheritance remains vital for young Cambodians to gain stability and wealth, and for older people to secure care by providing land to children who look after them. But as land becomes a scarce commodity, the social norms that guide inheritance decisions are thrown into question; some families are shifting from matrilineal inheritance to bilateral inheritance, and some families are moving away from farming altogether. I consider how this case highlights broader spatial and temporal phenomena linked to financialised capitalism which promotes the commodification of agriculture and land while simultaneously constraining social protection, leading to a crisis of care for young and old.
Kalym Lipsey and David Allison: Sociologically Marketing, Marketing Sociologically: Profiling Values of the World, Ethically
A chance encounter between former colleagues in 2016 resulted in conversations about the frivolous nature of demographic stereotyping. These conversations have lead to what is now known as ‘Valuegraphics’; the largest database of global values ever created. Run in 152 languages in over 170 countries; this database contains almost 500,000 completed survey responses with questions on 40+ values and 380 metrics; allowing the identification of profiles for any audience imaginable. It is argued that with great power comes great responsibility and several crucial questions emerge as to the ethics of collecting and maintaining a global database. Which ethics come into play when participants are freely contributing intimate details of their lives into a database that will be used to profile them and their peers? Is access to one’s own data a fundamental human right? What kind of societal change could emerge from informing and influencing the decisions of entire audiences? This paper firstly introduces the Valuegraphics database with examples of profiles. Thereafter, questions the role and responsibility of such a database; specifically, in a post-Cambridge Analytica world within which the value of data has exceeded that of oil, and where ‘big data’ becomes ‘weapons-grade’ communication.
Each presentation will be allocated 20 minutes. Additional time for questions and discussion will be available in each stream.
