By Nakia WD
I was born in and have lived in South Auckland my whole life. Growing up I had never given much thought to how the media portrayed my home or the way it influenced people and their ideas/attitudes, but that changed the older I got. When I started university a common question I was posed with when meeting people was – “Where do you live?” – I was always hesitant to answer and would sometimes reply with “Manukau” as for some reason this sounded “better”.
Some reflection as to why I responded the way I did, revealed that it was the stigma attached to South Auckland and the way it was framed by the media that made me rather dubious about answering a simple question.
Representations of South Auckland as a place of crime, poverty, unemployment and hardship have, over the last three decades, become a powerful and sustained discourse (Borrell, 2005). It is no secret that South Auckland is associated with such things and this is no surprise when you take a deeper look at how the community is portrayed in the media. Most people wouldn’t think twice about a crime story in South Auckland, too many times have I seen “just another day in South Auckland” type comments on social media. People have become accustomed to the thieves, thugs and abusers and the usual ‘negative’ narratives.
A media student at AUT describes media framing of South Auckland perfectly, when he explains how it feels as though the “south” is always left out when it comes to positive stories. A simple google search of ‘South Auckland news’ and you’ll find the vast majority of the articles are negative. When a young Mangere East girl dazzles people with her voice, the headline is “Auckland student amazes audiences with incredible voice” (NZ Herald, 2016) and when a stabbing happens in Otahuhu (which is geographically Central Auckland) the headline is “Police name ‘fun-loving, hard-working’ man killed in South Auckland park” (Stuff, 2019) and there are multiple examples of this. As the popular Millennial saying goes “keep that same energy”.
Not to say that these issues are not present in South Auckland but more so what about the positive things that come out of South Auckland – and the point of this blog – how might stigma and the framing of this particular community influence my practice? As a soon-to-be social worker this is something I have been thinking about, especially being passionate to work within my own community.
As social workers, we need to be aware of how the media can promote ideas and discourse about social problems, regarding certain populations. Stigma leads to the othering of people and fails to look at the structural explanation or systemic barriers that may be the cause (or fuel) for social issues.
We have been taught throughout this four-year degree that we have to be critical thinkers and good at reflecting. Because of this I feel as though we have been trained and are somewhat wired to challenge what we see and even how we think. We should be asking things like; what are the assumptions that underpin this representation of the problem? What effects come out of this representation of the problem? (Bacchi, 2012). This is important to think about as our thoughts inform our actions and in turn, our practice. Nairn et al. (2014), shares examples of how nurses and other health practitioners are susceptible to the representations portrayed by the media and this shows in the way they practice with certain populations. The same can be said about the social work profession.
We need to challenge the narrative and seek to change it. Acknowledging that the ‘dominant’ Pākehā culture is one of many and not the standard for what is “normal” and being even-handed when identifying people etc. (Nairn et al., 2014) to better practice with indigenous people and other marginalised groups – such as the community of South Auckland.
References
Bacchi, C. (2012). Introducing the ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’approach. In A. Bletsas & C. Beasley (Eds.), Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic interventions and exchanges (pp. 21-25). Adelaide Adelaide University Press. Retrieved from https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/8034c4dc-1a67-4079-9e59-d0ef736aee9a/560097.pdf#page=34
Borell, B. (2005). Living in the city ain’t so bad: Cultural identity for young Maori in South Auckland [Master’s thesis, Massey University]. Massey University. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Belinda_Borell/publication/265399682_Living_in_the_City_Ain’t_So_Bad_Cultural_Diversity_of_South_Auckland_Rangatahi/links/576c7f7608ae9bd709960bbe.pdf
Nairn, R., DeSouza, R., Barnes, A. M., Rankine, J., Borell, B., & McCreanor, T. (2014). Nursing in media-saturated societies: implications for cultural safety in nursing practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Journal of Research in Nursing, 19(6), 477-487.
NZ Herald. (2016, August 16). Auckland student amazes audiences with incredible voice. NZ Herald. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11694828&ref=NZH_Tw
Stuff. (2019, May 26). Police name ‘fun-loving, hard-working’ man killed in South Auckland park. Stuff. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/113010304/police-name-funloving-hardworking-man-killed-in-south-auckland-park?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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