A stack of concrete blocks removed from a building.
This week on the blog, we delve – or dive, even (sorry, I can already tell you that this post will be filled with water puns) – into the bitter waters of the 19th century, by which I mean mineral … Continue reading →
When it comes to the weird and wonderful in 19th century life, it’s hard to go past the field of medicine: specifically, pharmaceutical and ‘self-care’ remedies. Health-related products can be some of the wackiest and most interesting things we find … Continue reading →
For over a decade, an irreplaceable ring laser has been trapped in a cavern 30m below Christchurch port hills. The Carl Zeiss laser was installed in an old World War Two bunker in 1997 until a rockfall after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake sealed the cavern. But now it's been rescued and is fully operational. Professor Jon-Paul Wells is the principal investigator on the ring laser project.
This is an ethnographic case study, tracking the course of arguments about the future of a city’s central iconic building, damaged following a major earthquake sequence. The thesis plots this as a social drama and examines the central discourses of the controversy. The focus of the drama is the Anglican neo-Gothic Christ Church Cathedral, which stands in the central square of Christchurch, New Zealand. A series of major earthquakes in 2010/2011 devastated much of the inner city, destroying many heritage-listed buildings. The Cathedral was severely damaged and was declared by Government officials in 2011 to be a dangerous building, which needed to be demolished. The owners are the Church Property Trustees, chaired by Bishop Victoria Matthews, a Canadian appointed in 2008. In March 2012 Matthews announced that the Cathedral, because of safety and economic factors, would be deconstructed. Important artefacts were to be salvaged and a new Cathedral built, incorporating the old and new. This decision provoked a major controversy, led by those who claimed that the building could and should be restored. Discourses of history and heritage, memory, place and identity, ownership, economics and power are all identified, along with the various actors, because of their significance. However, the thesis is primarily concerned with the differing meanings given to the Cathedral. The major argument centres on the symbolic interaction between material objects and human subjects and the various ways these are interpreted. At the end of the research period, December 2015, the Christ Church Cathedral stands as a deteriorating wreck, inhabited by pigeons and rats and shielded by protective, colourfully decorated wooden fences. The decision about its future remains unresolved at the time of writing.
An electronic copy of the October 2010 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the April 2013 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the November 2013 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the June 2015 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the February 2015 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the May 2015 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the March 2014 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the June 2014 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the April 2014 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the May 2014 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the September 2016 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the April 2016 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the May 2016 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the October 2016 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the November 2016 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the February 2017 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the March 2017 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the July 2015 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the September 2015 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the August 2015 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the November 2015 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the December 2014 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the October 2014 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the November 2014 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.
An electronic copy of the June 2016 edition of the Addington Times newsletter.