How the dead should be honoured and the role of funeral directors are just some of the issues being raised at hui to discuss changes to burial and cremation legislation, The Law Commission says. A number of themes are emerging at the hui, such as which urupa the person should be buried in and how Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Culture’
Keep the good throw the bad of culture, SI and PNG Assembly says
Tuesday, November 12th, 2013The Second General Assembly of the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands devoted the third full day of works to the themes of Evangelization and Inculturation. Bishop Otto Separi of Aitape connected his reflection with the Synod on the New Evangelization last year in Rome of which he was a member. Fr. Read more
Prayer is “not a religious thing” says headmaster
Tuesday, June 18th, 2013
Kelston Intermediate principal Phil Gordon says the prayers (karakia) said at his school are “not a religious thing but a cultural thing.” Prime Minister, John Key says teachers in schools should be able to opt-out of delivering a karakia in schools if they wanted to. Maori Affairs Minster, Pita Sharples. says because there are a lot of Read more
Rugby really is a religion – so why don’t academics take rugby seriously?
Friday, June 7th, 2013
Sociologist Mike Grimshaw who studies both sport and religion, says rugby is like a religion in its rituals, cultures and behaviour and, like religion, can teach us plenty about ourselves. But he believes he is a rarity as an academic who has played and loves the game (he has a Crusaders season ticket) and also Read more
Cross-cultural news coverage suffers in re-invention of media
Friday, May 31st, 2013The pressure of slashed media budgets, faster news schedules and attempts by Governments to control the flow of information is making it harder for journalists to do their job – truth-seeking and truth telling. And that isn’t good for cross-cultural news coverage, says Professor Mark Pearson. Continue reading
Pacific cultural beliefs can infringe human rights – UN official
Friday, July 13th, 2012A United Nations official says Pacific nations need to make sure cultural beliefs are not infringing human rights. The UN Special Rapporteur for Cultural Rights, Farida Shaheed, is in the Pacific to attend the first ever Pacific Cultural Rights Symposium in the Solomon Islands. Ms Shaheed says the Pacific is not a region she is Read more
Waitangi day in London: what price a cultural inheritance
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
I’m sorry we upset the British with our antics in London on Waitangi Day. They’re not used to this sort of thing. The British are known for their abstemious ways with alcohol, and the respectful way they behave on, for example, soccer grounds. They may be known for their steady drinking at neighbourhood pubs, their Read more
1981 Springbok Tour a cultural catharsis
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
It is thirty years since the 1981 Springbok tour took place. It was a “coming of age for New Zealand, a time when the country’s traditional cultural roots and a sense of social justice and progressive idealism crashed head on in spectacular fashion. The collision of those competing values, while violent and spiteful, changed New Zealand forever. Read more
It’s a new cultural epoch
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
A new cultural epoch means new ways of doing things. “We’re living in the fourth cultural epoch, or cultural period, the first having been the Agrarian Age and then the Industrial Age followed by the Information Age and now what I refer to as the Inventive Age,” says Doug Pagitt. “My suggestion is that in each of Read more