Posts by Sacha

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    a con-census

    badoom tish

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    he would would he?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    But the CG thing was about colour and voice. There is no doubt about that.

    NZ research shows a job application by someone with a name like Anand Satyanand is much less likely to result in a job interview than an identical one by someone called John Smith or similar. That's without clapping eyes on the person or hearing their voice.

    Consider the damage that does to all of us as a nation. About one in three Aucklanders were born overseas (compared with about one in six over the whole country, I think - can't find the number to link to). At the recent TEDxAuckland innovation event, a show of hands revealed that *two* thirds of the attendees were born overseas. Join the dots.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    Make Adjustments Go Get It Energised

    Now *that* was subtle

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    Also, the census is of individuals.

    True. A lot of what I'm interested in knowing about won't ever come from adding up individual responses.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    Education too. It's one of the few single factor correlations affecting participation and outcomes. In Australia, Indigeniety is stongly correlated with low-levels of participation and achievement

    I think you're talking about ethnicity, aren't you? Race is more physical in focus, hence the link with health (though not without significant change).

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    The identification thing is interesting

    To me, part of what makes traditional identity politics problematic is that it deals with the negotiation between how I describe myself and how others describe me largely by ignoring the latter. Individualism obscures the part groups play in our lives, whether we want them to or not.

    It frustrates me when well-intentioned but naive colleagues push the identity line and then wonder why public understandings about disability are very slow to shift.

    It's easier for us humans to blame an individual rather than look at the context for answers. In that sense, promoting wording like "people with disabilities" is similar to saying "people with Indian-ness" when you're trying to engage with a social process like racism.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    there's a whole bunch of former Yugoslavs outside. I can't tell them apart but they seem quite unhappy with each other, even the next-door neighbours.

    Yes. I tried to add "Hutu" + "Rwandan" to my post above but the bleddy site timed me out again and the window closed (subtle How I Met Your Mother reference).

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    it at least shows that the idea is contested

    Which is great - let's have an informed conversation about it.

    The nationality/ethnicity distinction is pretty tenuous. Look at the 2006 NZ Census: Chinese, Indian, Tongan, Samoan, Dutch ... all listed as potential ethnicities, and all clearly nationalities as well.

    Agreed - I don't think StatsNZ handle it properly yet either. They could put ethnicity and nationality side by side so you chose "Tongan" + "New Zealander" or "Pakeha/European" + "New Zealander, etc.

    if it is to collect valuable and important information on health issues and for planning purposes

    I think someone pointed out on a previous thread about this that health is where you want to know race in some cases rather than ethnicity. It's becoming more relevant with increasingly targeted drugs and suchlike - though more likely to be at a genetic level where the labels that exist don't have the same baggage as Caucasian et al. Shifts some of the labelling impact into the disability space though.

    In general policy, ethnicity is still a significant correlator with all manner of disadvantage even when you take class and other things into account. Something we share with our colonial cousins (who were the other foot-draggers on signing up to the UN Declaration on indigenous rights). Yet part of our local identity is insisting that the playing field is level.

    Auckland is now one of the most diverse places in the world. The extra attention to matters of ethnicity in things like this and the mayoral election are all part of our ongoing conversation about how to make sense of that reality - when our old official stories about ourselves are mostly populated by blokes in Swanndris who look and sound like Andy Haden. And that's the archetype whose approval snivelling Mr Henry is seeking, whether consciously or otherwise.

    Put some music in it, bro.

    Good general advice

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Morning in Auckland,

    I'd like this month's "I hate Paul Henry" to be over now

    TVNZ can lance the boil by firing the prick as soon as they decide to take seriously the reaction of the public whose eyeballs they sell to advertisers - and whose votes influence the government that owns their company (which is mandated as a public broadcaster, not some private operation like Fox). Sweepstake?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

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