SOC3641: Understanding New Zealand: Culture, Society, and Environment

This course introduces students to New Zealand society in a 3-week global seminar, covering political structures, indigenous rights, immigration trends, and environmental politics. New Zealand is one of the world's most remote inhabited land-masses, and this remoteness has had a significant impact on its environmental and human history. Like the United States, New Zealand is thought of as a "settler society" that is now largely populated by descendants of people who migrated from Europe in the last couple of centuries. Like the United States it is a long-established democracy, with significant levels of immigration from Europe and Asia. Unlike the United States, the indigenous Maori population comprise around 1/6 of the population giving indigenous issues an unusual prominence in politics and society compared to peer countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, or Scandinavia to which NZ is often compared by social scientists. The predominant language spoken in the country is English, giving students the ability to quickly engage with the local population in formal and informal settings, and access local resources for study such as libraries, archives, speakers from universities, civic organizations, and government. Thematically the course has a continuing focus on indigenous rights, immigration, and the environment in a long-established democracy. Methodologically the course gives students an opportunity to engage with several important social research methods including reading comparative social science that puts New Zealand in context with similar countries; archival and biographical research, and social observation of public spaces. Through the instructor's contacts with colleagues in New Zealand, students also have the opportunity to engage in joint discussions with New Zealand university students about shared assigned readings about New Zealand society, and meet community members in a range of informal and formal settings. Assignments have students undertake reflective journaling on their observations of New Zealand, write a biographical profile from archival sources, and complete a short research paper on a topical issue of the students' choice using academic literature, official statistics, and news media.

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