Orchids, quotas and poetry: Meri Papua New Guinea Event as iCalendar

(Development Studies, School of Social Sciences)

08 March 2019

12 - 1pm

Venue: Room 301, Social Sciences Building / Te Puna Mārama, (201E-301)

Development Studies seminar | In recognition of International Women's Day 2019

Recent newspaper headlines featuring Papua New Guinea, the largest country in the Pacific, draw attention to the disappearance of 300 luxury cars after the recent APEC conference, the troubles of an Australian off-shore detention centre and tragically high rates of violence against women. Without minimising the seriousness of these headlines, this seminar discusses some of less well-known initiatives involving Meri Papua New Guinea. In this seminar, Cathy Bolinga, Kayt Bronnimann, and Yvonne Underhill-Sem aim to demonstrate the skilful navigation of Meri PNG through these headlines, and more, to address and make a difference to the daily lives of women in a country of over eight million people who speak over 800 languages. These speakers will take a decolonial moment to speak to three other ways of understanding gender and development in PNG: Cathy Bolinga examines “Power Meri: The PNG Orchids: Commentary from a PNG Meri”, Kayt Bronnimann explores “Gender Quotas in the Community Government Act in Bougainville”, and Yvonne Underhill-Sem discusses “‘My Walk to Equality’: Poetry on the Move.”
 

Cathy Bolinga is a Grants and Contracts specialist at Conservation International, and was awarded an MA in 2010 from the University of Auckland.

Kayt Bronnimann is a Sasakawa Young Leaders' Fellow (2018) and an MA candidate (2018) of the University of Auckland.

Yvonne Underhill-Sem is an associate professor of Development Studies of the University of Auckland.