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Well, its started…
My thesis topic is on religious (specifically Pagan) elements in neo-Nazism. About six years ago Universities in NZ were hit by two ‘scandals’ which were tarred broadly with the brush of ‘holocaust denial’- Dr Joel Hayward was taken to task over his Masters thesis in which he said that there problems with the standard and accepted vision of the holocaust. He is not a holocaust denier, but a historian looking at a highly emotive topic. The second was Hans Joachim Kupka, who was a PhD candidate in German language here at Waikato. Kupka is a holocaust denier and neo-Nazi, but its important to note that he was enrolled in a language PhD, not in politics or history. To cut a long story short, both investigations had something of a hysterical air about them and I don’t believe that either investigation was conducted in an atmosphere of fairness and impartiality. Judge for yourself. Hayward’s perspective can be found at http://www.joelhayward.com and the official Waikato Uni report on the Kupka Case can be found at http://unipr.waikato.ac.nz/news/kupka_report/pdf/kupka-report.pdf . My issue with Kupka is that he was enrolled in a language degree- fair enough if he was enrolled in history, politics, religion etc. We do have academic freedom and freedom of thought in this country- it is specifically enshrined in law (one of the few countries to have academic freedom legally protected- thanks Geoff Palmer!) so it’s a bugger to see it run roughshod over. Both these experiences have made the NZ academic community a little bit sensitive, particularly at Waikato, about the topic. Last night I received an e-mail from my senior supervisor suggesting that I take onboard a supervisor who had specialist knowledge ‘in this area’ (what area? Pagan Nazism? Is there anyone in NZ that has specialist knowledge in this area?). The person suggested was a member of staff who was instrumental in the Hayward case and central in the Kupka case and is (or was) a senior member of the NZJC. Why am I feeling a degree of unease? Lol In reply I offered two other suggestions for a fourth (!) supervisor. Its not a matter of having anything to hide, just that I think there was a degree of gross unfairness in the above cases and I don’t particularly want to be in a position of having to look over my shoulder and modify my research because of paranoia that may or may not be groundless. Anyway, it will be interesting to see where this leads. I am prob making a mountain of a molehill and all that, but still… |
Read it and weap at: http://diogenes-stone.livejournal.com/1328.html
Tags: Dov Bing, Dreamers of the Dark, Hans Kupka, Joel Hayward, Marg Coldham-Fussell, Roel van Leeuwen, thesis, Waikato University
