Natural disasters are highly traumatic for those who experience them, and they can have an immense and often lasting emotional impact (Cox et al., 2008). Emotion has been studied in linguistics through its enactment in language, and this field of research has increased over the past decades. Despite this, the expression of emotion in post-disaster narratives is a largely unexplored field of research. This thesis investigates how emotion is expressed in narratives taken from the QuakeBox corpus (Walsh et al., 2013), recorded, following the Christchurch earthquakes, in 2012 and rerecorded in 2019. I take a mixed methods approach, combining computer-based emotion recognition software and discourse analytic techniques, to explore the expression of emotion at both a broad and narrow level. Two emotion recognition programs, Empath (Fast et al., 2016) and Speechbrain (Ravanelli et al., 2021), are employed to measure the levels of positive and negative emotion detected in a wide dataset of participants, which are investigated in relation to the gender and age of participants, and the temporal difference between the first and second QuakeBox recordings. In a second phase, a subset of these participants’ narratives was analysed qualitatively, exploring the co-construction of emotion and identity through a social constructionist lens and examining the societal Discourses present in the earthquake narratives. The findings highlight the relevance of gender in the expression of emotion. Female speakers have higher levels of positive emotion than non-female speakers in the findings of both emotion recognition programs, and there is a clear gendered difference in the construction of identity in the narratives, influencing the expression of emotion. The expression of emotion also appears to be mediated by New Zealand culture. Within this, a Discourse of the Christchurch earthquakes emerges, with motifs of luck, gratitude, and community, which reflects the values of the people of Christchurch at the time. Findings reinforced in both phases of the analysis also indicate differences between the lexical content and acoustic features in the emotion expressions, supporting previous research that argues that the expression of emotion, as a performative act, does not reflect the speaker’s inner state directly. This research adds a new dimension to (socio)linguistic research on emotion, as well as providing insight into how crisis survivors display emotion in their post-disaster narratives.
The Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) was a monumental natural disaster in Aotearoa New Zealand that permanently altered Ōtautahi Christchurch’s geography. Following the earthquake events, the central city was in need of recovery and regeneration to return to being an enhanced and thriving space. The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan (CCRP) was developed to outline the aspirations, visions and challenges associated with rebuilding the central city. The purpose of this research was to review the current status of the CCRP, with a particular focus on identifying the projects that have or have not progressed. This research sought to understand which aspects of a post-disaster recovery plan have contributed to successful post-disaster recovery in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Secondary data was used to identify successes and failures in this regard. The results highlighted the top-down approach taken by the central government in the recovery process and a notable lack of community engagement throughout the CCRP. However, there were some projects and aspirations that have enabled Ōtautahi Christchurch to become a thriving city and express its regenerated identity at a local, national, and international level.
In Aotearoa, New Zealand people are living longer, alongside a slowing birthrate, the older population is growing faster than the younger population. As people live longer, there is an increased need for social services and support that cater for older persons, including care takers, mental health services, and community groups. Social work plays an important role in an ageing society because it addresses the multifaceted needs for older people. While there has been recent research conducted on the experiences of older persons, none have been undertaken in the unique context of the Eastern suburbs of Ōtautahi, Christchurch, an area adversely impacted by the 2011 earthquakes. This research specifically looks at the experiences of older residents in the East, considering various intersecting characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, available supports, community engagement and relationships to explore the multifaceted experiences and needs of this cohort. This research is a qualitative study influenced by intersectionality and place theories. Both underpinning theories are important in understanding social dynamics, identities, and lived experiences within this community research project. I interviewed nine participants from the Eastern suburbs of Ōtautahi, Christchurch using semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis and detailed journaling. The data from these interviews generated the main themes discussed in this thesis: community connections, places with meaning, and accessing social support services.
