Dance Research Aotearoa journal launched
Date / Time: July 2013
Dance Research Aotearoa is an annual publication that presents peer-reviewed scholarly dance research in an internationally accessible online journal. Dance Research Aotearoa is an initiative of the Tertiary Dance Educators’ Network New Zealand Aotearoa (TDENNZA), in partnership with the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research (WMIER) in The Faculty of Education at The University of Waikato.
Dance Research Aotearoa has a particular focus on dance in, and by dance researchers working in, Aotearoa and the South Pacific. The journal welcomes authors engaging with qualitative, interpretive perspectives and research methods. Authors drawing from performative, pedagogical, Kaupapa Māori, indigenous, practice-based, ethnographic, Pasifika, critical, cultural studies, phenomenological, postmodern, feminist and other qualitative research perspectives and methodologies are encouraged to submit.
Authors may submit research articles, critical reflective essays and creative representations of research including narrative, autoethnographic, performative, poetic and image-based submissions. A 'looking back’ feature incorporating a reprinted historic article with current responses, and book reviews may also be published regularly. While the journal focus is dance research in and by researchers working in Aotearoa and the South Pacific, submissions may also be made by international dance researchers or authors with topics beyond dance in Aotearoa and the South Pacific. The Editor and/or any Special Issue Editor/s will advise on the suitability of the submission for the journal.
The first issue was launched in July 2013 during the Tertiary Dance Educators’ Network New Zealand Aotearoa conference hosted by The University of Waikato and the second issue is anticipated to contain papers presented at this conference Dancing Critically: Pedagogy, Performance, Praxis. Attending this conference and the journal launch were dance researchers from New Zealand, Australia, India and Norway and Professor Bronwen Cowie of the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research. Notably, keynote speaker and member of the international editorial board Dr Katerina Teaiwa from Pacific Studies at ANU in Canberra was present, along with TDENNZA Chairperson and journal Editor Dr Karen Barbour, TDENNZA committee members and international board members Dr Linda Ashley and Sue Cheesman. The launch event and first issue were viewed very positively by senior researchers needing an appropriate publication context and inspired graduate students alike.
Editor Dr Karen Barbour acknowledges that there has been a need for an academic outlet for New Zealand and Pacific researchers to publish dance research for some time. Although there are two Australian dance journals that publish irregularly, and some interdisciplinary journals, the opportunity to publish in a double-blind peer-reviewed online journal that collects dance research specific to our part of the world is significant and much needed. The support of WMIER with TDENNZA has ben vital in establishing the journal.