[csaa-forum] Tessa Maxwell on Min of Women's Affairs 28th 10am Burns 4 & on Zoom

[Rosemary Overell]

Kia ora folks,

Please do join us for Tessa Maxwell’s talk on “Forum fever”: The struggle for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Aotearoa New Zealand (abstract below) on Tuesday 28th at 10am in Burns 4 and on Zoom (please email me for the link)

National mythology constructs Aotearoa New Zealand as an inherently progressive country, and a global leader in feminism. These narratives obscure the constant political struggle for social justice by covering over both progressive struggle and conservative resistance. This paper aims to offer critical insight into contemporary political struggle in Aotearoa New Zealand by examining the recently digitised archives of the feminist magazine Broadsheet (1972-1997). I follow Kate Eichhorn’s (2013) argument that the current archival turn within feminism is motivated by the erosion of political agency in the contemporary context of neoliberalism, and utilises the past in order to critically intervene in the present.

This paper focuses on Broadsheet’s coverage of the establishment of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in 1986. The Ministry initially aimed to act as a bridge between the government and the feminist movement, incorporating feminist values such as participatory decision-making into its structure. During its formation, the Ministry held forums throughout the country which were attended by approximately 24,000 women. However, Broadsheet’s archives show that these forums were dominated by conservative women, who attended to protest both the establishment of the Ministry and advancement of women’s rights in general. These protesters were well-organised and disruptive, for example using renditions of the English national anthem to interrupt Māori participation. By exploring these historical clashes between feminist and conservative politics, this paper aims to demonstrate how an archival analysis of Broadsheet can offer critical insight into the contemporary resurgence of conservative politics in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Tessa is a current PhD student in the Media, Film & Communication Programme.

Cheers,
Rosie.


Rosemary Overell<https://www.otago.ac.nz/mfco/staff/rosemaryoverell.html>
Senior Lecturer
Media, Film & Communication Programme
The University of Otago
Dunedin
New Zealand
9054

Latest publications:
Millar, I., Nicholls, B., Overell, R., & Tutt, D. (2023). Power and politics in Adam Curtis' Can't get you out of my head: An emotional history of the modern world. In C. Owens & S. Meehan O'Callaghan (Eds.), Psychoanalysis and the small screen: The year the cinemas closed<https://www.routledge.com/Psychoanalysis-and-the-Small-Screen-The-Year-the-Cinemas-Closed/Owens-OCallaghan/p/book/9781032223223>. (pp. 163-189). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Overell, R. (2021). Voicing the real in extreme metal<https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/c92d3d05-24b9-47af-b1cf-378523bacfba/content>. Continental Thought & Theory, 3(3), 136-163.
Overell, R. (2022). Methodological Masturbation<https://lackorg.com/2022/08/26/methodological-masturbation/>. LACK: punctual musings. 26th August.

Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.co.nz/citations?user=ZW7oyEAAAAAJ&hl=en>
LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemary-overell-047786222>

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