Scholarship to study Pacific cultural enterprise
university-of-waikato
Thu Aug 23 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Scholarship to study Pacific cultural enterprise
Thursday, 23 August 2007, 2:40 pm
Press Release: University of Waikato
Scholarship to complete study on Pacific cultural enterprise
A Waikato University Management School tourism lecturer has been awarded a $10,000 social sciences scholarship to continue her research into Pacific cultural enterprise.
Jenny Cave has received the doctoral award from the Building Research Capability in Social Sciences network (BRCSS) – a network funded by the Tertiary Education Commission for New Zealand universities to promote social science research.
Cave has spent more than two years working with the Pacific Island Advisory Board in Waitakere and a team of Pacific Island researchers talking to representatives of the nine different PI ethnicities in the city.
“There are opportunities for more cultural enterprise here in New Zealand, but we first needed to identify the gaps between what’s already being provided and what the market actually wants and how that fits with cultural values. So we’ve developed a way to consider how preconceptions about other cultures affect what happens in the marketplace, balanced against the influence of cultural identity and community networks on the types of enterprise initiated.”
The BRCSS scholarship will allow Cave to reduce her university teaching hours and finish her PhD. “This research has been a real collaborative effort with the Pacific Island Advisory Board and the Pacific research team. Together we carried out market research on international and domestic visitors, people at the Pasifika Festival, Pacific communities in Waitakere and residents of the greater Auckland area. We’ve talked to entrepreneurs about the issues and taken those results to each community for wider cultural perspectives. We took copies of each market study with us so they can be used at grassroots” says Cave. She will consult them further as her thesis nears completion.
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“My work is about finding safe and appropriate ways to bridge cultural knowledge with Western business practice to build viable enterprise. I need about six more months work to finish my doctorate. I have the data, but now have to complete the analysis, so I’m extremely grateful for the scholarship. But I hope this is just the beginning of a long-term relationship and I can bring my research skills to assist cultural communities to build internal capacity.”
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