Book Launch - Māori in the Private Military Industry
“The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are ‘easily the largest
privatized conflicts the world has ever seen’. Some have even described them as
‘contractor wars’”.
So starts the new book
by Dr Maria Bargh A
Hidden Economy - Māori in the Private Military Industry which is to
be launched this Wednesday 18th November 2015 in Wellington, and gives a
fascinating insight into the rise of the global private military industry and
how some Māori have operated, or continue to operate, in it.
Although Dr Bargh has a
PhD in Political Science and International Relations from Australia National
University and she currently teaches in the area of Māori politics and
economics and Indigenous Resource Management at Victoria University, the step
to researching the private military industry wasn't obvious.
‘In some ways it is a
bit odd for me to have written on this topic’ said Dr Bargh. ‘After years of
working on projects for the hapu and to try to increase people’s understandings
about Maori politics in order to bring about constitutional change – this
project was quite new. I had heard people I knew talking about their family
members in this industry and I always wondered what it was really like.’
Finding candidates to be
involved with the book took some work. ‘Workers in the privatized military
industry very rarely, if ever, give interviews about their work, let alone
details about their pay and how they spend it. So in some ways, this book
provides a glimpse into a very secret world - and how Maori operate within it.’
The book launch will
take place at Vic Books in Kelburn, Wellington commencing at 6.00pm. If you
intend to attend, please RSVP to Terese Mcleod at terese.mcleod@vuw.ac.nz for catering
purposes.
Pictured Dr Bargh with
her new book A Hidden
Economy.
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