Giles Dodson

Co-governance and local empowerment? Conservation Partnership Frameworks and Marine Protection at Mimiwhangata, New Zealand

This study examines the conservation partnership activities conducted as part of the Mimiwhangata marine reserve project. This project involved the formation of a partnership between the Department of Conservation (DOC) and an indigenous Maori community, who sought to establish and co-govern a marine reserve at Mimiwhangata, New Zealand (NZ). Drawing on the discourse of contemporary Treaty of Waitangi politics, the article argues that participatory processes can be effective means through which to pursue both positive conservation and social outcomes. However, unless the appropriate legislative framework exists in which meaningful ongoing community involvement and control can be constituted, partnership-based conservation is unlikely to deliver substantial conservation or social gains. Fundamental issues concerning indigenous rights, authority, and control persist within the “partnership” framework, which existing marine reserve governance mechanisms in New Zealand do not resolve.

Uyghur transnational identity on Facebook: on the development of a young diaspora

How are online and social media being used in transnational spaces? This article presents empirical findings from a study of the Facebook usage among the Uyghur diaspora. We demonstrate how online identities are negotiated and developed through social media use, and in turn how the expression of identity online is contributing to Uyghur diasporic identity. Drawing upon a content analysis of Facebook sites, we attend to the construction of Uyghur ethnic identity within Facebook group sites and the ways Uyghur political identity is currently being developed online, providing insight into how Facebook is serving as a space for global, daily online interactions. The examination of discussions on Facebook sites indicates that online Uyghur identity has a youthful, emergent character, actively being explored and produced through social media use.

Youth-led activism and political engagement in New Zealand: A survey of Generation Zero

ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from a membership survey of Generation Zero, a youth-led climate-change activist organisation. Data were collected in 2014 through a survey of the organisation’s membership/supporter database. The research finds that Generations Zero’s membership is very significantly homogenous, across several demographic indicators, such as geographic location, age, socio-economic class and political preference. The data show its membership is politically engaged and highly supportive of pro-climate policies and rhetoric. Generation Zero demonstrates the emergence of campaign entrepreneurialism and its associated norms in the New Zealand context. However, if Generation Zero seeks wider engagement and participation beyond a highly engaged, homogenous and activist core, to deepen public engagement with issues of climate and energy politics and communication, and to achieve change in these areas, broadening the appeal of the organisation to diverse membership may be required.