Sorry seems to be the most interesting word
university-of-waikato
Wed Mar 31 2010 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Sorry seems to be the most interesting word
Wednesday, 31 March 2010, 3:28 pm
Press Release: University of Waikato
Sorry seems to be the most interesting word
An analysis of last year’s public apologies by MPs Hone Harawira and Rodney Hide seems an unlikely research topic for a psychologist used to working with children and at-risk youth, but University of Waikato student Aaron Harman says the outcry surrounding those apologies is not much different to the misunderstandings he routinely comes across.
“Often different groups require some ‘smoothing out’ when they work together, this is particularly true with kaupapa Māori and mainstream values where there can be misunderstandings,” says Harman, who’s graduating in May with an honours degree in psychology. “I’m a Māori male, so it happens to me all the time.”
Harman, who is of Te Whakatohea descent, won a University of Waikato Summer Research Scholarship to work on a research project “Apology, Remorse and Reconciliation” led by Pro Vice-Chancellor Postgraduate Studies Professor Giselle Byrnes and Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori Professor Linda Smith. Both are senior academics with an interest in apology and remorse issues in the context of the Treaty of Waitangi claims settlement process.
The University of Waikato’s Summer Research Scholarships are offered each year to promising undergraduate, honours and first year masters students. They are for ten weeks and come with a $5,000 stipend for the student and provide supervisors with an extra pair of hands for their research projects.
Harman was a superb choice as summer scholar, says Professor Byrnes. “We selected Aaron for his interdisciplinary expertise and his ability to work in a range of different contexts and with a range of different materials and cultural perspectives.”
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Harman built a bibliography on the research topic, and did his own research into contemporary cultural readings (and mis-readings) around the public performance of apology gestures. He also helped to organise an interdisciplinary research symposium of twelve invited speakers, from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, which was held at Waikato in February. Contributions to the symposium will be published in a forthcoming book.
Harman says the literature search showed the topic is a fertile area for research. “Definitions of apology and remorse are all up for discussion, and this area is really ripe for analysis.”
He says the scholarship has also been useful in terms of his own learning. “Creating the bibliography was particularly helpful as I had to engage across several disciplines, not just psychology. And it’s been great preparation for my Masters thesis year.”
For his Masters project, Harman will look at what roles young people take on during tangi, as part of a wider research project on tangihanga at Waikato University led by Professor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku (MNZM) and Associate Professor Linda Nikora. “What I'm really interested in is 'knowledge transfer' amongst younger and older kids/siblings - tuakana/teina relationships and how this takes place within the context of tangi.”
ENDS
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