2011 Diversity Forum: People in Harmony

New Zealand 2011 Diversity Forum  - People in Harmony
21 – 22 August, Hamilton

an account by Claudia Recker

Being a Masters student at the CACR I was lucky enough to attend the second day of the seventh annual New Zealand Diversity Forum that was held in Hamilton. The Diversity Forum is organised annually by the Human Rights Commission in association with New Zealand Diversity Action Programme participants (please see the link below for further information). Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and harmonious race relations in New Zealand.
It dawned on me on the short flight from Wellington to Hamilton that the Diversity Forum is an important event for people with an interest in diversity topics because four people (so pretty much everyone who sat around me) told me that they were heading there as well. For a split second I thought that I must already look like a researcher (How else would they have spotted me?) until I remembered that I was wearing my CACR t-shirt.

I arrived in Hamilton just in time to attend the Diversity Research Forum that was organised by the CACR and hosted by Professor James Liu (find video and presentation slides). The presentation of Wendy Searle & Keith McLeod from the Department of Labour on the ‘Quota Refugees Ten Years On Study’ (IMSED Research) was hugely interesting for me as a research novice. The study was conducted to fill a knowledge gap about the long-term integration of people with refugee backgrounds, to increase knowledge about diversity and how refugees contribute to NZ society. It was an excellent example for how research is applied in a context outside the psychology lab and how it informs policy making, funding and service delivery of a government department. My mind boggled during a presentation by Professor Jacques Poot (University of Waikato) who used the presence of McDonalds restaurants to investigate the link between immigration and innovation. He found that an increase of the diversity index increases the number of patent applications, which is an indicator for innovation (Should you be interested to find out more about the statistical methods he used, it is definitely better to contact him rather than me). An important finding from a meta-analysis that Professor Poot conducted is that, contrary to what is often portrayed by the media, research evidence does not support the idea that immigrants take away the jobs of locally born people. Instead migrants complement and do not substitute the local labour market. For me this is another great example of how research has the potential to contribute to the public discourse about immigration and diversity issues.

A personal (and therefore very different) view on diversity was provided by Pancha Narayanan of the New Zealand Federation of Multicultural Councils (NZFMC) in a session about multiculturalism and its relevance to 21st century New Zealand. The NZFMC is a ‘memorandum of understanding’ partner of the CACR and tries to push towards a multicultural legislation in New Zealand to ensure that the heritage and history of all ethnicities are equally nurtured and protected. Mr. Narayanan shared his experience of several instances of discrimination that vividly illustrated the need for a multicultural mindset in New Zealand.

Last but not least I attended another session in which research conducted by CACR students Caren August and Anne Waapu (both Honours students supervised by by Professor James Liu) was presented (video and slides here). Unfortunately, Anne could not be in Hamilton on that day and Arama Rata bravely stepped in to present Anne’s findings. Caren’s research was a qualitative investigation of YouTube comments about the incidents in which Paul Henry asked PM John Key whether the next Governor General would be someone who looks and sounds like a New Zealander and in which Paul Henry made jokes about the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's last name. Anne’s research investigated responses to Hone Harawira’s degrading remarks about Pakeha. Their findings provide an insight about how racism is constructed in New Zealand’s social media and about the low level of some of the public discourse concerning racial issues. Their presentations sparked many questions and comments by the audience and their findings made it to the front page of the Waikato Times, into stuff.co.nz and Radio New Zealand (please see the links below for further information). For me this is a remarkable outcome in that it shows that research findings can fuel and inform the public debate about racism and diversity issues.

In general, I believe that the Diversity Forum is a place where academia meets the public and where research findings get public scrutiny. However, first and foremost it is a place where different voices are heard and many different views on race relations, human rights and diversity are presented. I heard that some amazing cultural activities, like musical performances went on in the first day and that the plenary session on the second day (that I missed because our flight was delayed) had a moving presentation from youth from all around the country. It covered a whole range of diversity issues, from ethnicity to disabilities to gender and sexuality and was a reminder that diversity is about more than ‘just’ ethnicity.

If there is a chance, I will be back at the Diversity Forum in 2012 – and this time for two days, not just for one.

See the following links for more information:
http://www.hrc.co.nz/race-relations/te-ngira-the-nz-diversity-action-programme/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/5486721/Kiwi-racism-rife-online
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2496293/study-finds-racist-vitriol-widespread-in-online-comments.asx