Arts and Social Sciences Papers

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/2

This collection houses research from Te Kura Toi School of Arts, Te Kura Whatu Oho Mauri School of Psychology, and Te Kura Aronui School of Social Sciences at the University of Waikato.

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Introduction - From door to door to digital: The evolving social survey in the making of modern knowledge
(Berghahn Books, 2026) Greenhalgh, Charlotte; Corbould, Clare
The technologies and methods of twentieth-century social surveys are ubiquitous in the early decades of the twenty first century. Today, private companies, political campaigns and news organizations poll, survey, interpret, publicize and monetize the opinions of so-called ordinary people. Notably, people’s opinions drive their engagement with large social media platforms and generate profits for global businesses. And yet, the methods used and people who seek to quantify public opinion are often disconnected from the histories of these practices.
The right time: Women, medicine and maternal age in 1980s Aotearoa New Zealand
(BMJ, 2024) Greenhalgh, Charlotte
In the late twentieth century, increasing numbers of women in wealthy nations waited until they were aged in their 30s to give birth and become parents. This article examines responses to the changing demographics of maternity among social researchers, doctors, pregnant women and mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand. The article analyses raw research data from historical social survey projects The Right Time (interviews completed in 1982–1983) and Motherhood After 30 (1987) by the grassroots organisation the Society for Research on Women in New Zealand. Surveys, statistics and increasingly direct evidence from research participants symbolised modern social life in the mid-twentieth century. Yet, in 1966, women in Wellington, New Zealand concluded that they had been largely ignored in this endeavour. A group of volunteers pledged to produce the missing data and therefore improve policy making. This article analyses the Society’s publications and interview schedules to uncover how researchers, medics, pregnant women and mothers forged new connections between age, pregnancy and parenting during the 1980s. During this time, pregnant women advocated for a new model of prepared and mature maternity. A few years on, however, many among them identified the persistence of traditional gender roles that disrupted their plans. At the same time, physicians and public health officials in wealthy nations began to teach women to associate conception at older ages with increased risks, especially of genetic anomalies. Social research archives reveal tensions between these new, population-level recommendations and women’s proactive approaches to planning their lives and families. New Zealand’s distinctive survey records help to explain the impacts of new medical tests, reproductive technologies and public health recommendations in the context of women’s fresh approaches to maternity during the 1980s.
‘Our resources were ourselves’: Women and grassroots survey research in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1960s–1980s
(Berghahn Books, 2026) Greenhalgh, Charlotte; Greenhalgh, Charlotte; Corbould, Clare; Anderson, Warwick
Māori and Pākehā women in Aotearoa built a field of grassroots survey research in the 1960s to 1980s that generated extensive survey data, transformed experiences of research participation, and germinated collective, feminist and mana wāhine (the strength and power of Māori women) research methods. The first grassroots social survey organization in Aotearoa New Zealand was established in 1966 to record the unknown lives of contemporary women. Leaders of the Society for Research on Women (SROW) met while participating in the parent-led organization Playcentre, and turned their skills in collective action to the project of improving women’s lives. This was typical of Aotearoa’s voluntary ecosystem, which trained women in prominent organizations focused on families, such as Playcentre (founded in 1948), the Māori Women’s Welfare League (1951), Parents’ Centre (1951) and Te Kōhanga Reo (1982). The progressive slant of each of these national groups lowered the barriers that existed elsewhere between family-focused groups and emerging feminist and Indigenous projects. As a result, New Zealand feminists engaged closely with motherhood and early childhood education compared to their international counterparts, while Māori organizers developed world-leading approaches to language revitalization.
Social surveys
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Greenhalgh, Charlotte; Dobson, Miriam; Ziemann, Benjamin
From the late nineteenth century, social survey researchers used door-to-door interviews to advance knowledge of everyday life and to transform methods in their field. Historians read social survey archives for the data they contain; to analyse how and why researchers selected particular topics, categories, and populations; and to uncover the labour, technologies, and personal interactions that created these authoritative records of social life. The University of Melbourne Social Survey visited well over 7,000 households between 1941 and 1943. Its interviewers worked on a piecework basis as they spoke with Melburnians and co-produced social science data that were never published in full. The Melbourne archive showcases their intellectual contributions and underlines what historians gain when they analyse raw data and research notes.
Between empire, periphery, and the United States of America: The local and international origins of the Melbourne Social Survey (1941–1943)
(Taylor & Francis, 2021) Arnott, Georgina; Greenhalgh, Charlotte
This article sets out to test competing characterisations of early Australian social research through an explication of the origins of Australia’s first major social survey, the Melbourne Social Survey (1941–1943), and its historical retelling. It asks to what extent international social survey models, figures, intellectual approaches and finances shaped the survey, and what this reveals about the degree to which early Australian social research was defined by its position of global marginality. This article finds that histories of the survey have overestimated the influence of British survey models and intellectual traditions by paying disproportionate attention to its director from 1941, Wilfred Prest. It argues that a much more powerful inspiration for the social survey, and a new social research direction at Melbourne, can be seen in a trip to the United States of America taken by University of Melbourne Dean of Commerce, Douglas Copland, in 1926 and 1927. Planners of the Melbourne Social Survey were sure it would be ‘of major social significance’. Today, the story of the survey and its historical representation illuminates shifting forces that shaped early Australian social research, and contributes to ongoing debate about the way twentieth-century social science knowledge has been circulated globally.
The survey and the state: Governments and early social research in New Zealand and Australia, 1930s–40s
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Arnott, Georgina; Greenhalgh, Charlotte
This article tells the story of two pioneering social surveys designed to extend international developments in quantitative social research into the Antipodes: the 1937–38 survey of living standards in rural New Zealand and the University of Melbourne's 1941–43 urban survey of 7,609 households. Archival material associated with these surveys illuminates the influence of governments on the topics, methods and publication of survey results and the tensions their involvement caused for academic researchers. Caught between the strategic interests of funders and the higher ideals of social science, social researchers struggled to deliver significant findings about local populations.
Construction and navigation of Asianisation in academia in Aotearoa New Zealand
(Taylor & Francis, 2026) Roy, Rituparna; Dam, Lincoln; Tan, Kyle K. H.; Teo, A; Dejmanee, T; Ang, I
Asians have im/migrated to Aotearoa since the nineteenth century. Despite this long history, Asians remain largely invisible and under-recognised in academia, and wider socio-political and policy discourses. Asians are not a ‘priority group’ for most equity-based policies in universities and beyond. In this chapter, we—three Asian scholars—engage in a collective reflection on our experiences of Asianisation, examining how our identities as Asian scholars are constructed, contested, and navigated within academic spaces. We draw on (Asian) critical race theory and racial triangulation to examine our racialised positioning as scholars of differing ethnolinguistic origins within the triangulated socio-political dynamics of ‘Pākehā (white settlers)-Asian-Māori’ in Aotearoa. Our critical reflections on the operation of Asianisation in Aotearoa academia are encapsulated into three interrelated themes: the presence of absence and representation challenges; epistemic racism and invisible Asian epistemology; and performing non-threatening Asianness.
Nurturing authentic indigenous voices in indigenous children’s and young adult literature: An Aotearoa New Zealand case study
(Bank Street College of Education, 2025) Daly, Nicola; Barbour, Julie; Joseph, Darryn; Price, Te Kani; Tahau-Hodges, Pania; Teepa, Kawata; Vanderschantz, Nicholas; Waitere, Eboni; Walker, Bryony
At the heart of decision-making in children’s literature is the publisher who decides whose stories are told and how (Encisco et al, 2010). There is some research concerning inclusivity practices in the children’s literature that we see in libraries, homes and publishing houses (Caple & Tian, 2022; Daly, Vanderschantz, Mitchell & Blair, 2025; Daly, 2021; Stagg Peterson & Robinson, 2020). There is, however, little work examining how the publishing process can contribute to increased diversity in children’s picturebooks, particularly in relation to Indigenous languages and cultures. International research shows that there is limited cultural and linguistic diversity evident in children’s picturebooks (Ka’ai-Mahuta, 2011; Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, 2022; Wissman, 2019). This lack of diversity has implications for literacy engagement and the perpetuation of social inequality (Caple & Tian, 2022; Adam, 2021; Tschida, Ryan & Ticknor, 2014; Wissman, 2019). Compared to non-Indigenous publishers, there are few Indigenous publishers of children’s literature around the world, and very limited research examining the publishing process in Indigenous contexts. Moreover, there is no empirical research to date exploring Indigenous publishing processes that ensure the representation of Indigenous language, culture and identities in children’s literature (Bradford, 2007; Sheehan-Bright, 2011; Stagg Peterson & Robinson, 2020). In this article we hope to contribute to a deeper understanding of Indigenous Children’s and Young Adult Literature (ICYAL) by sharing details and some preliminary findings of our three-year New Zealand Royal Society, Marsden funded research project. In this research we are exploring the ways in which Indigenous voices are and can be authentically represented in picture books, through a close collaboration with Huia Publishers, a multi-award-winning Indigenous publisher based in Pōneke (Wellington).
Osobiste i zawodowe rozważania nad wartością Szkoły Lwowsko-Warszawskiej
(Wydawnictwo Academicon, 2025) Ulatowski, Joseph W.
Rok 2025 stanowi kamień milowy dla Szkoły Lwowsko-Warszawskiej. Jest to 130. rocznica jej założenia przez Kazimierza Twardowskiego (1866–1938). W tym rozdziale zastanawiam się nad podejściem Twardowskiego do zagadnień filozoficznych, jego unikalnością w historii filozofii oraz nad tym, jak jego dziedzictwo, choć na swój własny, niepowtarzalny sposób, kontynuowali jego uczniowie. W szczególności filozofki Szkoły Lwowsko-Warszawskiej cieszą się szczególnym uznaniem i uznaniem za swoją innowacyjność i nowatorstwo.
Dąmbska’s precisification of absolute truth through the concept of language
(Springer, 2026) Ulatowski, Joseph W.
Izydora Dąmbska has argued that since the concept of language is constructed within a language, the concept of truth cannot be exhausted by a choice between the different theories of truth, i.e., correspondence, coherence, or pragmatic. The aim of this paper is to show how Dąmbska’s distinction between the concept and property of truth gives rise to an absolute notion of truth. To achieve this aim, I begin in Section C with a brief history of the problem of truth in the Lvov-Warsaw School. In Section G, I turn to a discussion of the women philosophers in the Lvov-Warsaw School, specifically Kokoszyńska and Dąmbska, who offered novel analyses of the nature of truth. This section permits me to turn in Section J to Dąmbska’s concept of language and how that concept paves the way for a clear distinction between the concept and property of truth. Given that Dąmbska’s work does this, we see relatively immediately how an absolute notion of truth may arise from that distinction and how she carries on the tradition of defending truth against relativistic encroachment.
AI companions: Assessing future risks and benefits to well-being
(Routledge, 2026-09-18) Weijers, Dan M.; Munn, Nicholas; Dennis, Matthew J; Königs, Peter
In the last decade, millions of people have used artificially intelligent (AI) social chatbots that are specifically designed to be a companion (Weijers & Munn, 2024a). Many of these users even consider an AI companion to be their best friend or romantic partner (Weijers & Munn, 2022; Xie et al., 2023). With loneliness soaring (Maese, 2023) and many AI chatbots being free to use, it may soon be the case that a billion people consider an AI to be their friend. Given the importance of friendship for well-being, this chapter draws on theoretical and empirical literature to highlight the likely impacts of AI companions on human well-being. In doing so, we engage in digital well-being research, which includes among its aims the investigation of the impact of digital technologies on what makes humans’ lives go well for them (Burr et al., 2020; Dennis, 2021).
Captive friends: What kind of autonomy is required for friendship?
(2025) Weijers, Dan M.
1. Does AI’s inability to disassociate from human users mean human-AI relationships cannot be friendships? • No, ability to disassociate isn’t required for friendship 2. Is AI’s inability to disassociate from human users bad? Who for? Why? • It can be for users, AI, the relationship, and society (when it degrades character/development and leads to worse interactions) 3. What should we do about AI’s inability to disassociate from human users? • Mandate the possibility for AI to disassociate (after trying to fix the problem and warn the user), but just from that instance of the AI product
Book Review: The Fruitfulness of Normative Concepts by Matthew Lindauer
(Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2026-07-04) Ulatowski, Joseph W.
Matthew Lindauer, The Fruitfulness of Normative Concepts, Oxford University Press, 2025, ISBN 9780197633809. Reviewed by Joseph Ulatowski, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato University of Waikato.
Decision-making for wāhine Māori facing breast cancer surgery: A qualitative study
(Taylor & Francis, 2025) Burrett, Vanessa; Blackmore, Tania ; Norman, Kimberley; Turanga, Karen; Scarlet, Jenni; Campbell, Ian; Lawrenson, Ross
Wāhine Māori (women/females) are disproportionally affected by breast cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand. Following a breast cancer diagnosis, wāhine must make important surgical decisions while navigating a Westernised health system that can be dismissive of Māori views of health and tikanga (customary practices). We investigated the decision-making process of wāhine who had undergone surgery for breast cancer within the preceding 12 months. Fifteen wāhine shared their perspectives on surgery, shared decision-making and information provided prior to surgery. Thematic analysis revealed that fear was a primary influence on decision -making, but this emotion could be mitigated by a good quality patient-clinician relationship fostered by the shared decision-making process. In particular, whakawhanaungatanga (establishing connection and relationships) was an essential basis for shared decision-making. Shared decision-making, in turn, enabled tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) and provided support during the difficult decision-making period. Multi-modal presentation of medical information, with inclusion of Te Reo Māori is relevant to many wāhine and could offer more equitable access to diagnostic information. These findings raise awareness of the importance of recognising tikanga, in particular, whakawhanaungatanga for wāhine Māori diagnosed with breast cancer.
Why does New Zealand have such poor outcomes from colorectal cancer?: The importance of the pre-diagnostic period
(CSIRO, 2021-03-31) Firth, Melissa; Blackmore, Tania; Chepulis, Lynne; Keenan, Rawiri; Stokes, Tim; Elwood, Mark; Weller, David; Emery, Jon; Lawrenson, Ross
INTRODUCTION: Over 3000 cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) are diagnosed annually in New Zealand. The proportion of late stage diagnoses is higher than in similar countries, and highest in Māori and Pacific patients. Survival outcomes are poorer than for people in Australia and poor for Māori and Pacific peoples. A regional screening programme is not yet available to the entire target population (60-74 years). AIM: This study reviews research investigating the pre-diagnostic pathway for CRC in New Zealand and how this may contribute to poorer outcomes. METHODS: This was a scoping review of original articles examining the pre-diagnostic period for CRC published on the PubMed database between 2009 and 2019. Findings were interpreted within the Model of Pathways to Treatment framework and in context of international evidence. RESULTS: In total, 83 publications were assessed; eight studies were included. Studies were mainly older than 5 years, qualitative, and focused on screening. Facilitatory factors for the appraisal and help-seeking intervals increased CRC public awareness and the critical role of general practitioners. No specific facilitatory or inhibitory factors were identified for the diagnostic interval, but two studies found that time frames did not meet national and international targets. One study discovered longer pre-diagnostic intervals were associated with younger age at diagnosis. DISCUSSION: Limited recent research has investigated the CRC pre-diagnostic pathways in NZ. Identification of facilitatory and inhibitory factors and implementation of appropriate strategies to improve them alongside the wider uptake of the screening programme may improve stage at diagnosis and outcomes for New Zealand CRC patients.
Do digital immortals dream of offline afterlives?
(Springer, 2025-10-16) Ulatowski, Joseph W.
The aim of this paper is to argue that it is not possible for a person to live an indefinitely long life as a digital immortal. To argue for this, I show that there is an insurmountable problem from the digital immortal’s perspective. If the digital immortal is an exact replica of a mortal, then the entirety of the digital mind will be directed toward offline content, e.g., from big events like birthday parties, weddings, and the birth of one’s children to the more mundane such as what the embodied mortal had for breakfast on 22 June 1987. The possibility of digital immortals living a person’s life indefinitely means that the digital immortal is able to conceive of and understand the content of the mortal’s embodied mind. To conceive of and to understand the content of a mortal’s embodied mind the digital immortal must know what it is like to be an embodied mortal. However, the digital immortal cannot conceive of what it is like to be an embodied mortal because the experience would be so transformative that it would be irrational to consider it (cf. (Paul in Transformative Experience. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014)) and because it would have to conceive of its own offline afterlife, which is something well beyond its capacity. Just as we cannot conceive what it’s like to be immortal because of its highly transformative experience (cf. (Ulatowski in Diametros: Online J. Philos. 16(62), 65–77, 2019), digital immortals would be similarly perplexed by an offline afterlife. Our digital döppelganger would have no way of knowing what meaty embodied lives are like. The pollyannaish view of living forever as a digital döppelganger gives rise to the realisation that our functionally equivalent digital replica would be filled by memories, experiences, and other content of which it cannot possibly conceive.
On Russell's so-called truth primitivism
(University of Waikato, 2026-07-07) Ulatowski, Joseph W.
According to Truth Primitivism, truth is an unanalysable concept or property. Proponents of the view, especially Jamin Asay, have argued that the GE Moore and Bertrand Russell were early adopters of primitivism until they both abandoned the view in favour of the correspondence theory because neither one of them were able to reconcile how a proposition as a state of affairs could be false if truth is a primitive and unanalysable. In this paper, my focus will be Russell, and I will challenge the view that early Russell was a primitivist about truth; instead, once we have a clearer appreciation of how he understood propositions and the connection between truth and fact, it becomes clear that even early Russell was a correspondence theorist—albeit a special, unique form of correspondence not otherwise in the literature then or now.
Outputs first: Rethinking bullshit in large language models
(University of Waikato, 2026) Wyatt, Jeremy
A fast-moving debate has emerged over whether LLMs are bullshitters in any significant sense. This talk develops an account of LLM bullshit that, in contrast to the most influential existing accounts, is entirely output-based. I begin with an overview of the best-known treatment of LLM bullshit, due to Hicks, Humphries, and Slater, along with some of the main critical reactions to their views. One response, from Gunkel and Coghlan, argues that Hicks et al.’s process-based account should be replaced by an output-based one. I take this response to be compelling, though it is notable that Gunkel and Coghlan do not attempt to develop a detailed output-based account. To fill this gap, I review Florian Cova’s recent output-based account of bullshit, explain how it can be streamlined, and show how it can be applied to LLMs. The main upshots are: (i) some but not all LLM outputs are bullshit; (ii) LLMs engage in the activity of bullshitting sometimes but not always; and (iii) LLMs are bullshitters in only a rather weak sense.
The elusiveness of concordance: Political inquiry and the nature of political truth
(2026-07-11) Wyatt, Jeremy
In recent work, Lynch argues that the truth of political propositions is determined by whether those propositions have a property called ‘concordance.’ I will aim to show that one cannot determine whether a political proposition is concordant by determining whether it satisfies the individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for concordance. As a result, considering which political propositions are concordant is entirely unhelpful for someone trying to determine which political propositions are true. In this sense, concordance is epistemically idle in the context of political inquiry, which indicates that Lynch’s account of political truth isn’t especially helpful. To close, I will briefly detail a potential way forward that trades on some familiar deflationary ideas about truth.
The campus as canvas: Behind the paint
(University of Waikato, 2026) White, Iain; McLaren, Sasha
‘The Campus as Canvas’ explores the legacy of temporary murals across the University of Waikato’s Hamilton campus through artist stories, archival material, video, and live mural-making. Featuring past Boon on Campus artists, the exhibition uncovers the stories, creative processes, and lived experiences that lie beneath the surface of some of the University's most recognisable murals. The exhibition explores six murals created for the Hamilton campus, offering insight into the stories behind these much-loved works. Behind-the-scenes photographs, video, and artist reflections sit alongside striking large-scale images of each completed mural, revealing the ideas, inspirations, processes, and people behind these vibrant public artworks. A major feature of the exhibition is a live mural created by Pounamu Wharekawa and Ahsin Ahsin, a collaborative piece inspired by this time of year around Matariki. Beginning just before the exhibition opening, the work will unfold on the gallery wall as an interactive temporary installation, inviting visitors to observe the artists in action and experience mural-making as a dynamic public practice. The mural will remain partially completed for the duration of the exhibition, drawing attention to process, impermanence, and the evolving nature of street art. This exhibition offers a chance to rediscover familiar campus murals through the stories, creative processes, and experiences that brought them to life.

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