Category: English

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The Canadian Museum for Human Rights finally grapples with the Nakba

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jonah Corne, Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Theatre, Film and Media, University of Manitoba

Even as it claims to champion the stories of global injustice, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) has struggled, if not refused, to meaningfully acknowledge Palestine for more than a decade.

Its newly announced exhibition to launch in the summer of 2026 — Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present — marks a significant reversal for an institution that has often been criticized for its silences.

The omission of Palestinian history dates all the way back to before the museum’s official opening in Winnipeg in 2014, when Palestinian-Canadian community advocate Rana Abdulla replied, fruitlessly, to the museum’s call for suggestions for content.

After years of continued advocacy from the Palestinian community in Winnipeg and across Canada — and in the midst of so much tragedy and what a UN commission of inquiry has called genocidal violence in Gaza — the announcement comes as a remarkable sliver of good news.

The development is also surprising because the museum, Canada’s first federal one located outside the nation’s capital, has historically had difficulties with the living legacy of settler colonialism — a key issue in discussions about Palestine — in Canada.

Prior to construction, the museum was criticized for failing to provide sufficient funds for a full excavation of the archeological heritage on the sacred Indigenous site where the museum is located. Until the stance was reversed in 2019, the museum had resisted describing the experience of Indigenous Peoples in Canada in terms of genocide.

Naming Palestinian dispossession

Bringing exhibition-level attention to the massive dispossession of Palestinians that occurred by the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 — an event known as al Nakba (Arabic for “the catastrophe”) — emerges as an ethically and educationally responsible move for the museum. It also signals a shift under CEO Isha Khan, who came on board in 2020 in the wake of the museum struggling to present an accountable and consistent message of human rights.

Despite its recent recognition of Palestinian statehood, the Canadian government has repeatedly resisted calls to grant the Nakba, and by extension Nakba Day, official acknowledgement. Neither has the Nakba had a place in the curricula of Canadian schools.

The CMHR’s Nakba exhibit therefore stands as an important repositioning in relation to these concerning national absences.

Of course, we don’t know how the exhibit — slated to involve oral histories, art and artifacts — will turn out. But judging only the title, the naming of the Nakba is immensely consequential and allows an opening to inquire further into the constellation of terms — dispossession, ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism, occupation and genocide — that cluster around it.

Meanwhile, the word “uprooted” to describe what befell 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 is, if perhaps muted, not inaccurate.

Holocaust memory and Nakba denial

Pro-Israel groups have predictably condemned the museum’s announcement of the exhibition in statements consistent with a trend of Nakba denial in mainstream pro-Israel discourse.

What underpins such a trend, implicitly or explicitly, is a Zionist narrative that sees the Holocaust as both radically unique and as the ultimate justification for the founding of the Israeli state.



Read more:
The conflation problem: Why anti-Zionism and anti-semitism are not the same

Accordingly, to acknowledge the Nakba introduces a perceived impermissible rival to the Holocaust for suffering and remembrance, as well as a complicating factor that casts the founding of the Israeli state as something other than a strictly unimpeachable redemption for the Nazi genocide against Jews.

Attending to the Nakba requires that we see the creation of Israel as entailing a radical — and violent — escalation in a project of settler colonialism that, by 1948, had been underway for several decades, having received decisive momentum under the auspices of British colonialism from the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

This history deserves to be recognized, first and foremost for the sake of Palestinians living in and outside of Palestine who continue to endure the Nakba’s rippling aftermath. In addition, historical ignorance and amnesia are detrimental for the well-being of a society. Not to mention, the CMHR has an extensive and permanent Holocaust gallery.

This new exhibit might also help us to consider the ways in which the Holocaust and the Nakba can be thought of in constructive relation to one another. Such co-thinking is part of the project of an edited collection of essays, The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History, where in the foreword, the late Lebanese intellectual, novelist and longtime activist for Palestinian liberation, Elias Khoury, articulates a compelling moral argument.

Khoury movingly affirms:

“The Holocaust is my responsibility as a member of the human race, despite it having been a product of European fascism. As such, my deeply ingrained moral duty is to be an active participant in the struggle against antisemitism as well as all other forms of racism anywhere in the world. This path leads me to continue the struggle against the Zionist colonialist occupation project in Palestine. Two wrongs do not make a right, one crime does not wipe out another, and racism is not remedied by counterracism.”

Khoury’s argument is consistent with what I have come to extract from the well-known mantra of Holocaust education, “never again.” I take the mantra’s lack of a specified referent as an open space where, without the burden of exact equation-drawing, one can speak out against racist, oppressive, eliminationist logics in any form that they may appear.

Historical accuracy and relevancy

Something must also be said about the claims by pro-Israel groups that the CMHR Nakba exhibition will be invalidatingly one-sided because of inattention to the Jewish (Mizrahi and Sephardi) displacement from Middle Eastern and North African countries in the wake of 1948.

The larger regional repercussions of the founding of the Israeli state bear no pertinence to the Palestinians’ own experience of dispossession: the focus of the exhibition and a topic that has been historically overlooked.

Moreover, the exoduses that occurred in Iraq, Yemen, Morocco and elsewhere were not perpetrated by Palestinians, so the call for “balance” in considering the Nakba vis-à-vis Mizrahi and Sephardi refugeehood is a non-starter.

In the face of such baseless attempts to cast doubt on the credibility of the exhibit, I hope that the CMHR will hold the line.

With its long overdue decision to engage substantially with Palestinians, who continue to endure a world-shaking crisis of displacement, occupation and genocide, the institution sets out on a crucial journey towards reestablishing its own credibility and fulfilling its ambitious aim of serving as a leading, capaciously inclusive space for exploring and educating about human rights.

The Conversation

Jonah Corne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights finally grapples with the Nakba – https://theconversation.com/the-canadian-museum-for-human-rights-finally-grapples-with-the-nakba-270351

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Thomas King: As we learn another ‘hero’ is non-Indigenous, let’s not ignore a broader cultural problem

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Celeste Pedri-Spade, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, McGill University

Years ago, when I first began researching Indigenous identity theft — something that intrigued me intellectually and impacted me personally — I remember trying to explain it to my Indigenous family members back home in northwestern Ontario.

We are Anishinaabeg and member citizens of Nezaadiikaang (Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation).

The women in my family responded with humour, seeing the absurdity of it all. My mother laughed and said: “Geez, I remember when not even Natives wanted to be Native … whatever happened to those times!”

Her comment highlighted a major shift in how desirable Indigenous identity has become, and how false claims tend to rise after events that draw public attention to the harms settler states have caused our families and communities.

This desirability is, indeed, heightened as educational institutions engage in processes of Indigenization and seek to recruit Indigenous people into faculty and administrative roles that assist them in advancing their reconciliation plans.



Read more:
Stolen identities: What does it mean to be Indigenous? Don’t Call Me Resilient Podcast EP 8 Transcript

Think of how many white settlers were quick to shake a Cherokee “princess” from their family tree after the Civil Rights Movement, or how recent cases of Indigenous identity fraud in Canada align with the era of Truth and Reconciliation. This era, we know, has revealed very hard truths about Canada’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples.

Cultural phenomenon

These patterns reveal more than individual acts of deception. They expose
a cultural phenomenon: when non-Indigenous people appropriate our lived experiences — our stories, struggles and traumas — on such a wide scale, it signals a broader cultural and social sickness and deterioration.

What we come to learn through the public “outings” of author Thomas King, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Michelle Latimer and Joseph Boyden is that they offer a projection of “Indigenous success” that is often nothing more than settler fantasies: commodified versions of Indigeneity that Canadians find palatable.



Read more:
How journalists tell Buffy Sainte-Marie’s story matters — explained by a ’60s Scoop survivor

These figures become a kind of counterfeit currency, granting Canadians easy access to digestible versions of Indigenous identity and experience. But they are not ours, they are not us and they are not our stories. My mother believes this happens because Canadians do not truly want the truth of who we are, past or present.

This raises a hard question: how did these figures become Indigenous icons in the first place?

Western ‘hero’ narratives

Many Indigenous cultures caution against the concept of “heroes,” which is rooted in western narratives that elevate people as saviours. Turning people into heroes isolates collective struggles, conceals the systemic problems behind them and reinforces colonial ideas of individual exceptionalism — celebrating those who manage to succeed in oppressive systems instead of valuing relationships and community resilience.

Liberation doesn’t hinge on extraordinary individuals; it requires
structural transformation. When we elevate “heroes,” we risk distorting accountability and reinforcing inequity.

The truth is, these heroes were largely created by settler-controlled industries like publishing, media and academia — not by us. Their success was sustained by gatekeepers who valued marketable versions of Indigeneity over authentic voices. And while community voices questioned their authenticity from the start, we must ask why those warnings were ignored.

Concerns raised

In cases of a “pretendian” — false claims of Indigeneity — there are people firmly grounded in community who raise concerns right from the beginning because they cannot find themselves in the paragraphs and crescendos of those who don’t sing or speak truth. As Indigenous Peoples, we need to reflect on why such voices are often not collectively amplified and protected.

Underlying identity fraud is a belief that Indigenous Peoples are “not good enough” — that impostors can be better Natives than us. They reconcile their theft by convincing themselves they can achieve what we cannot, that we need them to “be us.” That is profoundly damaging.

It reinforces colonial hierarchies and perpetuates the idea that our worth must be validated through settler recognition.

Power to repair harm

In King’s recent opinion piece in The Globe and Mail, he wrote he was devastated to learn, contrary to what he believed, that he did not have Cherokee ancestry. He discovered this, he said, after he requested a meeting with Tribal Alliance Against Frauds, an American Cherokee organization, because he was aware of “a rumour that appeared” accusing him of not being Cherokee.



Read more:
Fraudulent claims of indigeneity: Indigenous nations are the identity experts

He said he’ll need to “survive a firestorm of anger, disbelief and betrayal” and will then “sort through rubble to see if there is anything left of my reputation, of my career.”

This was the most troubling for me — not only because it sounds like self-victimization, but because King has the power to repair harm. Accountability begins with truth-telling: admitting the false claim, making no excuses and disclosing and returning all benefits gained.

It means returning awards, redirecting funds and submitting to processes defined by the affected Nation — in King’s case, the Cherokee Nation. It means investing in long-term reparations that strengthen Indigenous self-determination, such as funding community priorities, supporting displaced Indigenous writers and investing in the brilliance of future generations.

We are more than stories

Accountability is not a one-time op-ed; it is an ongoing commitment, verified by Indigenous oversight and grounded in relational ethics.

King once wrote: “The truth about stories is that that’s all we are.” I admit to referencing it in my own writing. It is poetic, but incomplete.

We are more than stories. We are land. We are family. We are community. And we deserve a future where our identities are not commodities, where our truths are not distorted for profit or prestige and where accountability is measured not by words but by actions that build trust and repair harm.

The Conversation

Celeste Pedri-Spade does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Thomas King: As we learn another ‘hero’ is non-Indigenous, let’s not ignore a broader cultural problem – https://theconversation.com/thomas-king-as-we-learn-another-hero-is-non-indigenous-lets-not-ignore-a-broader-cultural-problem-270773

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Dependants? Why Canada should recognize migrant spouses and partners with more accuracy

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Goodnews I. Oshiogbele, PhD Student, Sociology, Western University, Western University

What comes to mind when you hear the word “dependant?” A child relying on a parent, or an elderly family member needing care? In Canada’s immigration system, the term is applied much more broadly than that.

It includes all spouses and common-law partners of immigrants or principal applicants, regardless of whether they rely financially on their significant other or not. According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) current definition, a dependant is “a spouse, common-law partner or dependent child of a permanent resident or principal applicant.”

On paper, this seems neutral and clear. But in practice, it flattens the diverse realities of migrant families.

This definition does not adequately reflect the diverse experiences of many accompanying spouses and partners who are highly skilled, financially independent, co-providers — or even the primary breadwinners — in their households.

“Dependant” as a catch-all term

Words matter in immigration policy because they shape perceptions, and those perceptions shape policies, which in turn shape identities.

Generally, the term “dependant” carries connotations of financial reliance, vulnerability and even passivity. Labelling all spouses and partners “dependants” suggests they are passive followers rather than active contributors, not only in family migration decisions but also in immigrant integration outcomes such as socioeconomic standing and a sense of recognition and belonging.

As one principal applicant and migrant partner in London, Ont., shared with me in an interview for this piece regarding her family’s experience using IRCC’s online application portal:

“The application page was confusing because of the word ‘dependant.’ For us, my partner is never a dependant. He has a secure job and earns more than I do. We are a dual-income household and no one is an economic dependant. So, when I saw the word ‘dependant’ on the website, I wondered if I was on the wrong website and thought it was application information for children or older parents who are true dependants.”

Furthermore, research tells us a different story that challenges the dependant label.

A Statistics Canada study found that many spouses and common-law partners of economic immigrants had similar qualifications to the principal applicants, partly thanks to what sociologists call “positive assortative mating” or homogamy. This concept refers to the tendency for people to enter romantic relationships with partners of similar background or social status.

Similarly, research by immigration and family economist Ana Ferrer and the Pew Research Center suggests that immigrant wives in professional households frequently contribute income comparable to or greater than their husbands, challenging the idea of passive dependency.

Furthermore, some accompanying spouses enter the workforce faster than their principal applicant spouses. This is common in situations where, for example, the principal applicant is retraining or seeking credential recognition. Many others contribute financially across borders, sending remittances to family members living abroad.

A matter of equity and inclusion

This issue is not simply about accuracy in terminology, although that is essential. It is also about inadvertently classifying others unfairly, promoting gender inequality and marginalizing some migrant family members.

Most accompanying spouses and partners are women and labelling them uniformly as dependants even when they include co-providers and primary earners, reinforces outdated stereotypes.

Migrant male spouses and partners also face their own identity struggles, despite their qualifications.

Statistics Canada data reveals persistent gender differences in labour market outcomes among newcomers, with immigrant women having a labour force participation rate of 78.2 per cent in 2021, significantly lower than the 90.2 per cent for immigrant men. While this arguably reflects global gender norms that many migrant families bring with them, it could also be linked with their sense of identity.

Canada prides itself on being a leader in immigration policy and in creating an inclusive society. Therefore, while other long-established immigration systems across the globe may continue to use this term this way, IRCC could consider clarifying it. Currently, the dependant label may unintentionally reinforce perceptions of dependency that do not reflect the evolving realities of modern migrant families.

Making invisible contributions visible

Gendered assumptions about who earns, who cares and who follows continue to shape how immigrant families are represented, and, in turn, treated by institutions. In addition to ongoing commendable efforts to make Canada more gender-inclusive, a long-term rectification of this issue requires more societal refinement in how we think about gender and work among newcomers.

Addressing this issue constructively would involve both policy reflection and a broader social conversation. In policy terms, it begins with precision — recognizing that not all spouses or partners depend economically on the principal applicant. In social terms, it means valuing the visible and invisible work migrants do, whether it is paid labour, unpaid care or transnational remittances.

In the meantime, here’s a simple fix that can address the semantic problem: In its current definition of a dependant, IRCC already distinguishes between dependent children and non-dependent adult children. The department could consider a similar approach for accompanying spouses and partners.

A small but meaningful change — such as specifying “a dependent spouse or common-law partner” — could help clarify the definition and better reflect the realities of today’s migrant families. For those affected, it will help improve their sense of identity, how they are perceived in public, the bureaucratic policies and practices affecting them and their overall integration experiences.

Alternatively, particularly in the immigration application system, the term dependant could be replaced with “secondary applicant” or “accompanying family member” to clearly distinguish the principal applicant from those accompanying them. While IRCC may have operational considerations, exploring better alternatives could lead to significant systemic improvements.

The Conversation

Goodnews I. Oshiogbele is a member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) and the Canadian Population Society (CPS).

– ref. Dependants? Why Canada should recognize migrant spouses and partners with more accuracy – https://theconversation.com/dependants-why-canada-should-recognize-migrant-spouses-and-partners-with-more-accuracy-265744

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Seen but not forgotten: How citizen science helps document biodiversity in remote Borneo villages

Source: The Conversation – Indonesia – By Erik Meijaard, Honorary Professor of Conservation, University of Kent

When I, Erik Meijaard, worked as a wildlife consultant for a timber concession in Borneo, I often chatted with the logging truck drivers — and quickly realised that some of them knew far more about local wildlife populations than the company’s own biodiversity teams.

“If you want to see clouded leopards, ride with me in my truck — I can almost guarantee we’ll spot one or two near kilometre 38 around two in the morning,” one of the drivers told me at the time.

I didn’t spot the elusive cats that night, but two years later, early one morning, I finally found one sitting calmly beside a logging road. The driver had been right all along: these leopards really do like the roads.

Logging truck drivers spend countless hours on the road, travelling deep into remote forests. They often see wildlife, yet no one asks them about it — because spotting animals isn’t part of their job. Our programmes change that, allowing anyone with an interest in tropical wildlife to contribute their observations.

Since then, I have relied heavily on community-sourced information to monitor wildlife populations within company concessions and ensure that emerging threats are quickly detected and addressed.

I began by creating the first orangutan distribution maps in the 1990s through village interviews, later expanding the approach to 700 villages in 2008 to better understand local perceptions of forests and wildlife.

From 2019 to 2025, I ran an oil-palm-plantation–based citizen-science pilot that generated nearly 190,000 wildlife records from 4,000 workers.

These experiences show that some of the most valuable ecological knowledge rests with the people who live closest to the forest — not the scientists who visit only once a year.

How does citizen science work?

Building on that insight, Emily (who co-wrote this article with me) and I introduced a new version of the model for broader study in four villages in the Kapuas Hulu district of West Kalimantan. There, the local community manages the forest under a social forestry scheme.

We worked directly with them. Anyone with a smartphone can record wildlife sightings using our simple mobile app named Kehatiku (which in Indonesian means both “to my heart” and “my biodiversity”). Observations — from orangutan photos to gibbon audio clips — are then uploaded with GPS coordinates.

Each record then goes through a multi-stage verification process: an AI-assisted screen check for duplicate images and location mismatches, followed by review from our team of verifiers and species experts, who cross-reference field guides.

Once a record is verified, we issue a payment to the observer — ranging from around US$0.60 for a bird-call recording to about US$6 for a clear photo or video of a wild orangutan.

Since the citizen science program launched in 2023, 567 participants have recorded more than 58,000 wildlife observations from community forests — at roughly one-twentieth the cost of conventional surveys. The program creates both income and incentives to protect wildlife and their habitats.

What the data reveal?

So far, the data show unexpectedly high numbers of orangutans, gibbons, and many other species in these community forests, including several of global conservation concern.

The most frequently reported wildlife in the four Kapuas Hulu villages includes orangutans (with 9,766 nest records), white-rumped shamas, sun bear signs, long-tailed macaques, and stingless bees.

Direct sightings of Bornean orangutans and regular recordings of gibbon calls confirm that these species persist outside protected areas — even within agricultural landscapes bordering the villages.

This information is invaluable to understand how threatened mammals survive in mixed-use forests, where formal surveys are rare or expensive. We are currently doing critical testing as to whether the data are strong enough to generate statistically robust occupancy estimates — showing how wildlife species use village forest areas.

For plantations, we can already translate these findings into a living index, an important tool for developing data-driven conservation policies and interventions.

Shifting behaviour and social impact

In early 2025, we also collaborated with a local partner to conduct social baseline surveys to assess the program’s socioeconomic impact.

Initial survey results suggest a shift in perception is already underway. More than 70% of residents across the four pilot villages had heard of the initiative, and nearly two-thirds said they are interested in joining.

About a third already earn income from verified wildlife observations — typically US$30 to US$180 every three months, a meaningful supplement in communities where most households live on less than US$120 per month.

More importantly, attitudes toward wildlife are shifting. Where songbirds were once trapped and sold to traders, many villagers now choose to leave them in the forest — realising it’s more profitable to record the birds’ presence and get paid for it.

A model for inclusive, low-cost monitoring

Financial incentives have clearly boosted engagement. Observation rates rose from about 17 per village per month during the voluntary phase to more than 6,000 per month once payments were introduced.

At an average cost of just US$0.85 per observation, this approach is far cheaper than traditional transect or camera-trap surveys, which can cost US$300 per camera or more.

Not only does it reduce logistical costs, but relying on local observers also makes it possible to cover vast, remote areas.

And unlike short-term research projects, this one runs year-round — because the motivation, and the data, come from the community itself.

The programme also strengthens local governance. Regular meetings and WhatsApp groups allow residents to discuss verification results, propose rule changes, and collectively decide how to manage conflicts over shared rewards. We also close the information loop by translating wildlife observations into insights communities can use to guide their decisions.

These interactions, along with transparent payment records, are boosting accountability and participation in broader village decision-making. This transparency has helped build strong trust within the community.

On one occasion, when a participant submitted an internet-sourced photo as fake evidence, the peers insisted on removing them from the project — a proof that data integrity now matters at the community level.

Our local facilitator paying an observer. The program has also seen a recent increase in women’s participation.
Andi Erman

Beyond data: Building ownership and pride

Beyond science, the project is fostering local ownership and pride in nature. For participants, the forest has become a living asset — one that generates income through conservation. That shift in perception may be the most important outcome of all.

With mobile networks and digital payment systems now widespread across Indonesia, this low-cost, scalable model could be expanded to thousands of villages. Citizen science can become a cornerstone of future wildlife conservation — and Indonesia could lead the way in making it happen.

From the truck drivers who spotted clouded leopards in the 1990s to today’s smartphone-armed villagers, the message is clear: science and stewardship thrive when everyone can take part — and be fairly rewarded for it.

The Conversation

Erik Meijaard menerima dana dari Wildlife Futures dan Arcus Foundation

Emily Meijaard bekerja di Borneo Futures Sdn Bhd the organization that developed the citizen science-based monitoring approach discussed in the article

– ref. Seen but not forgotten: How citizen science helps document biodiversity in remote Borneo villages – https://theconversation.com/seen-but-not-forgotten-how-citizen-science-helps-document-biodiversity-in-remote-borneo-villages-269621

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Frozen rewrote Disney princess narrative – and it’s still relevant

Source: Radio New Zealand

In the final week of November 2013, Disney released a little film set in a fictional kingdom in Norway in the 1840s.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, it told the tale of two sisters who are close as children but become estranged as adults.

You might have heard of it — Frozen, a film that transcended typical box office success to become a cultural touchstone for children around the world.

The sisters are, of course, the imperious Elsa, voiced by Tony Award-winning actor Idina Menzel, and the ebullient Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell, both princesses of Arendelle.

Directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan, Surf’s Up) and Jennifer Lee (the co-writer of Wreck-It Ralph), Frozen earned more than $US1.2 billion at the box office.

Released in Australia on Boxing Day, it was the highest-grossing film of 2013 and the highest-grossing animated film until the live-action remake of The Lion King surpassed it in 2019.

The film was groundbreaking in other ways.

Lee, initially brought on as a writer, was the first woman to direct a full-length Disney animated film and the first female director of a feature film to gross more than US$1 billion.

Frozen also won a raft of awards, including Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, and a Grammy for its soundtrack.

Its cultural power can be felt closer to home. Fossick through any child’s dress-up box and you will find a replica of Elsa’s dress in ice-blue polyester.

Just why Frozen captured the zeitgeist, when Disney films with strong female protagonists such as Brave or Mulan didn’t, has been the subject of much discussion — and at least one academic conference — in the 12 years since the film was released.

So, what made Frozen different?

As a character, Elsa's "not exactly personable", Turnbull says. "She's nervous and afraid and guarded."

As a character, Elsa’s “not exactly personable”, Turnbull says. “She’s nervous and afraid and guarded.”

Disney

Not your typical Disney princess

Frozen didn’t just break box office records.

It also broke the mould of the typical Disney narrative, placing two sisters rather than a heterosexual romance as the film’s central relationship.

“[Unlike] Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty-type fairy tales … it didn’t end with a marriage; it did end with a rescue, but it wasn’t a prince or a man saving the day, it was two sisters saving each other,” Samantha Turnbull, author of The Anti-Princess Club, told ABC Radio National’s Earshot in 2015.

“It was a story about sisterhood, about strong young women saving themselves and putting their relationship with each other first.”

Frozen subverted the Disney stereotype in other ways.

For one, Elsa was not like other Disney princesses, who generally did not possess magical powers.

Their raison d’être tended to be love and marriage, two things for which Elsa holds zero interest.

“Characters like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, they have no interests or passions or even real flaws; they’re just perfect one-dimensional characters,” Turnbull said.

Elsa was different: multi-layered, flawed and relatable.

“She can’t control her ice powers, and as a way of dealing with that, she isolates herself from the rest of the world … almost at the expense of her relationship with her sister.”

Elsa of Arendelle and Anna of Arendelle from the 2013 Disney film Frozen

Buck says the film’s creators were driven by the question: “How can we portray a new idea of real love?”

Disney

The smash-hit Let It Go

And then there’s the song.

‘Let It Go’, a chart-topping power ballad, was composed by husband-and-wife team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

With its emotive refrain — “let it go, let it go, can’t hold it back any more” — and persuasive message of self-affirmation, ‘Let It Go’ quickly took on a life of its own.

The song has soundtracked countless children’s birthday parties and accumulated more than 940 million streams on Spotify to date.

Journalist and critic Dorian Lynskey told Earshot that ‘Let It Go’ was “an incredibly positive song for children to be embracing” in its rejection of shame and guilt.

“As girls grow up, they are often invited to feel shame and guilt about how they look or how they behave,” he said.

“[Let It Go is] a rejection of all the things that people expect from [Elsa] and this ownership of who she is and what she can do and how thrilling that is.”

The song was embraced by some in the LGBTQI community, who viewed it as a coming-out-of-the-closet anthem.

For others who saw Elsa as a neurodivergent heroine, ‘Let It Go’ was an expression of her refusal to continue pretending to be neurotypical and masking her true self.

“It had all these different meanings for different groups,” Lynskey said.

“That could only happen because the central message is so powerful and is about asserting your individuality and not bowing to people who want to make you feel shame about it.”

The Frozen franchise continues

The Frozen juggernaut generated an enthusiastic fan culture with an apparently insatiable appetite for merchandise.

At last count, my children’s toy box contained at least seven Elsa and Anna dolls in various iterations. We have the Lego, the dress (of course), as well as the detachable white-blonde plait. We’ve had Elsa birthday parties and bought Elsa’s wand at Disney on Ice.

And it’s not just girls who fell for Elsa’s icy reserve. At my daughter’s 5th birthday, a little boy was very excited to turn up in his favourite costume, an Elsa dress.

Frozen’s cultural influence shows no signs of waning. Frozen 2 eclipsed the first film’s box office success, earning more than $1.4 billion, and, inevitably, the franchise is set to continue with Frozen 3 slated for release in 2027 and Frozen 4 in the works, too.

As Stephen Langston, a senior lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, noted in The Conversation, it cleared the way for a new crop of Disney films that featured strong female heroines and storylines unrelated to romance, including Moana, Encanto, Turning Red — and, of course, Frozen 2, released in 2019.

“The legacy of these trailblazing productions is testament to the power of inclusive storytelling, proving that there is immense value in narratives that look beyond traditional norms and celebrate the diversity of the human experience,” he wrote.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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How the first Bible to include a map helped spread the idea of countries with borders

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nathan MacDonald, Professor of the Interpretation of the Old Testament, University of Cambridge

Five hundred years ago the first Bible featuring a map was published. The anniversary has passed uncelebrated, but it transformed the way that Bibles were produced. The map appeared in Christopher Froschauer’s 1525 Old Testament, which was published in Zürich and widely distributed in 16th-century central Europe.

Yet despite being a groundbreaking moment in the Bible’s history, the initial attempt was hardly a triumph.

It is flipped along the north-south axis (meaning it’s back to front). As a result, the Mediterranean appears to the east of Palestine, rather than to the west. It illustrates how little many in Europe knew about the Middle East that such a map could have been published without anyone in the printer’s workshop questioning it.

The map had originally been drawn about a decade earlier by the celebrated Renaissance painter and printmaker Lukas Cranach the Elder, based in Wittenberg in latterday Germany. Written in Latin, it shows Palestine with various important holy sites such as Jerusalem and Bethlehem. At the bottom, you can see the mountains of Sinai and the path taken by the Israelites as they escaped slavery in Egypt.

Lucas Cranach the Elder's map of the Holy Land in Christopher Froschauer's Old Testament.
Lucas Cranach the Elder’s map of the Holy Land in Christopher Froschauer’s Old Testament.
The Wren Library, The Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, CC BY-SA

Look closely and you can see the Israelites and their tents, plus various vignettes of the events on their journey. The landscape is more European than Middle Eastern, though, reflecting the printmakers’ ignorance of this region. There are walled towns with numerous trees and, in contrast with reality, the Jordan meanders rather more dramatically towards the Dead Sea, and the coastline has more bays and coves.

In the previous century, Europeans had rediscovered the second-century Greco-Roman geographer Ptolemy, and with him the art of making accurate maps that used latitude and longitude (insofar as longitude could be estimated at that time – it greatly improved in later centuries). With the advent of printing, Ptolemy’s Cosmographia had taken Europe by storm. His scientific treatise on geography was published and his maps of the ancient world reproduced.

Printers soon discovered, however, that purchasers desired contemporary maps. Soon new maps of France, Spain and Scandinavia were published. To our eyes these are truly modern. North is at the top of the page and the locations of cities, rivers and coastlines are presented highly accurately.

Map of France from Ptolemy's Cosmographia.
Modern map of France in Ptolemy’s Cosmographia, the 1486 (1482) Ulm Printing.
Stanford University, CC BY-SA

These maps rapidly replaced medieval mapping with its symbolic approach to the world, such as the famous Hereford mappa mundi of the known world circa 1300, where it was more about conveying cultural or religious meaning than geographical accuracy. Except, that is, in one case: Palestine.

The early modern printers of Ptolemy also gave their readers a “modern map of the Holy Land” that was nothing of the sort. It was a medieval map produced not by using latitude and longitude, but using a grid to measure distances between different locations. It was orientated with the east at the top of the page and the west at the bottom. It portrayed the holy sites of Christianity and divided the land of Palestine into tribal territories.

Cranach’s map blends these two types of maps. At its top and bottom edges it has lines of meridian, but the coastline is slanted so that the entire map is orientated with the north-east at the top of the page.

It is as though Cranach couldn’t quite decide what type of map to create. Its portrayal is realistic and modern, but the map is full of symbolic geography: as your eye passes over, you journey with the Israelites from Egyptian bondage to the promised land, with all its resonant locations, such as Mount Carmel, Nazareth, the River Jordan and Jericho.

Perceptions of Palestine

The map was characteristic of Europe’s lack of interest in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman empire. What European book buyers cared for was the strange hybrid space that is the “Holy Land”: somewhere that was in our world, but also not part of it.

The towns the map portrayed were those that had flourished two millennia earlier, which for Christians were in some sense more real. They were part of the imaginative space described in their churches and scriptures.

Nicholas Poussin's The Crossing of the Red Sea 1633-34
The exodus of the Israelites as depicted in Nicholas Poussin’s The Crossing of the Red Sea (1633-34).
Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

That curious juxtaposition of ancient and modern was particularly consequential when it came to the mapping of Palestine into 12 tribal territories. The 12 tribes that descended from Jacob symbolised Christianity’s claim as true heir of Israel and its holy sites, and also what the holy sites represented: the inheritance of the heavenly Jerusalem. Lines on the map communicated the eternal promises of God.

But in the early modern period, lines began to be used to mark the borders between sovereign states. The maps of the Holy Land, neatly divided amongst the Israelite tribes, set the agenda for cartographers. As the 16th century went on, more and more maps in atlases divided the world among distinct nations with clearly defined borders.

The fact that a map divided into territories appeared in the Bible gave apparently religious authorisation for a world full of borders. Lines that had once symbolised the boundless divine promises now communicated the limits of political sovereignties.

Within Bibles themselves, maps had arrived for good. The following years saw printers experiment with various configurations, but eventually they were to settle on four maps: one of the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites, one of the territories of the 12 tribes, one of Palestine at the time of Jesus, and one of the apostle Paul’s missionary journeys.

There is a pleasing symmetry: two maps for the Old Testament, two for the New Testament. But also, two maps of journeys and two maps of the Holy Land. Such symmetries communicated the connections between events: the Old Testament was fulfilled in the New Testament, and Judaism in Christianity.

The first map in a Bible is therefore a fascinating moment in history, but a troubling one. It transformed the Bible into something like a Renaissance atlas, but deeply embedded in assumptions about Christian superiority: the Holy Land of Christian imagination displacing contemporary Palestine, and Christianity superseding Judaism.

It was also one of the agents in creating the modern world of distinct nation states. In many ways, we’ve been living with the consequences ever since.

The Conversation

Nathan MacDonald does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How the first Bible to include a map helped spread the idea of countries with borders – https://theconversation.com/how-the-first-bible-to-include-a-map-helped-spread-the-idea-of-countries-with-borders-270901

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Passengers speak of ‘chaos’ and hours-long queues as A320 software recall paralyses NZ airports

Source: Radio New Zealand

Airbus A320neo flight delays - Auckland Airport - 29 November 2025

Travellers across New Zealand faced queues, cancelled flights and missed family events. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel

Travellers across New Zealand faced six-hour queues, cancelled flights, missed family events and last-minute scrambles for alternatives – as the global grounding of Airbus A320 aircraft rippled through airline schedules on Saturday.

While the software recall affects airlines worldwide, in New Zealand’s airport terminals, passengers described a morning of confusion, contradictory information and mounting frustration.

Birthday plan ‘out the window’

One Wellington-bound passenger said their day began with a text message at 9.30am, warning of Jetstar delays, but this didn’t prepare them for the scene inside Auckland Airport.

A Wellington-bound passenger said they would likely miss their daughter's birthday due to the delay.

A Wellington-bound passenger said they would likely miss their daughter’s birthday, due to the delay. Photo: Calvin Samuel

“I walked into a line that we could have been waiting another couple of hours for, so yeah, it wasn’t great,” they said.

By the time they reached the counter, every remaining Jetstar flight to Wellington was fully booked.

“I had a birthday plan for my daughter today and now that’s out the window,” they said. “I’m going to try and get a flight on [Air] New Zealand today… otherwise, I’ll be waiting until tomorrow morning.”

They said Jetstar had not offered compensation so far.

“Basically, I’ll pay money for a flight that I’m not even going to take at the moment.”

Six hours in line

For Christchurch-bound traveller Miguel, the delays were even longer.

Christchurch-bound traveller Miguel's flight was initially pushed back by 30 minutes, then an hour, before being cancelled.

Miguel’s flight was initially pushed back by 30 minutes, then an hour, before being cancelled. Photo: Calvin Samuel

His 8.25am flight was initially pushed back by 30 minutes, then an hour, before being cancelled altogether.

“I’m not so happy, definitely,” he told RNZ, adding he has been queuing for “maybe six hours”.

Jetstar eventually booked him onto a mid-afternoon flight, leaving him waiting in the terminal for most of the day.

‘Five different staff told me five different things’

Another passenger, April, said the experience was overwhelming, especially as she was travelling solo and visiting Auckland for the first time.

April, who was visiting Auckland for the first time, said the experience was overwhelming.

April said her flight was rebooked, cancelled, then rebooked again. Photo: Calvin Samuel

Her 11.50am Jetstar flight was rebooked, cancelled, then rebooked again, before she received conflicting instructions about whether she could board.

“I had five different staff tell me five different things,” she said.

“My boarding pass was cancelled and I didn’t know if I could still get on. I was really lost.”

Jetstar eventually re-issued her flight for a later departure – but she abandoned it altogether.

“I ended up rebooking with Air New Zealand instead, because I was just so confused. I’ll just get a refund from Jetstar.”

She said staff were kind, but the queues were impossible for her to manage.

“I’ve got chronic pain, I can’t stand in that queue. Someone said they’d been waiting two-and-a-half hours, another said six hours.

“I couldn’t do that at all.”

Overseas travellers caught in chaos

A group of friends from Blenheim, returning from a long multi-stop trip through Asia, said the Auckland cancellation was just the latest setback.

A group of friends from Blenheim said the Auckland cancellation was just the latest setback after returning from a long, multi-stop trip through Asia.

A group of friends from Blenheim said the Auckland cancellation was just the latest setback. Photo: Calvin Samuel

“We’ve had about eight flights so far, and every single flight has either been cancelled or delayed,” one said.

Their flight from Melbourne to Auckland arrived late and the onward domestic flight was cancelled shortly before boarding.

“We were at the back of the line – too many people. We missed our chance to get a flight… now we’ve been pushed back to tomorrow morning.”

After three changes to their onward connections, they abandoned their plan to fly home to Blenheim.

“Instead of doing that, we’re just flying to Christchurch and driving.”

Why is this happening?

The widespread disruption stems from an urgent software recall affecting a large portion of the global Airbus A320 fleet.

Airbus A320neo flight delays - Auckland Airport - 29 November 2025

The widespread disruption stems from an urgent software recall affecting a large portion of the global Airbus A320 fleet. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel

Airbus said intense solar radiation may, in rare cases, corrupt data inside a flight-control computer known as the ELAC – the system that translates pilot inputs into elevator and aileron movements.

The fault was linked to a 30 October JetBlue incident, where a sudden uncommanded altitude loss injured passengers.

An Iberia Airbus A320-251N prepares for takeoff in Madrid, Spain, on 12 October, 2025.

A Airbus A320 in Madrid, Spain on 12 October, 2025. Photo: AFP/ Urban and Sport – Joan Valls

Regulators have ordered airlines to update or revert the software, before affected aircraft can operate again.

Some updates take about two hours, but aircraft requiring hardware changes may face longer delays.

Air NZ, Jetstar responses

Air New Zealand has said all A320neo aircraft will receive the software patch before their next flight, but is allowing other A320 flights to continue until 1pm Sunday, with cancellations expected across the fleet.

An Air New Zealand Airbus A320 aircraft departing Wellington Airport on 27 June, 2022.

An Air New Zealand Airbus A320 at Wellington Airport, 2022. Photo: AFP/ William West

Jetstar passengers told RNZ they received limited information beyond repeated delay notifications.

Despite the chaos, some passengers said staff were doing the best they could.

“They’ve been really helpful,” one stranded traveller said. “It’s out of their hands – it’s a global crisis.”

More disruption likely

With thousands of A320s worldwide affected, delays and cancellations are expected to continue throughout the weekend.

“I’m just going to sit here and see how long I last,” April said. “That’s pretty much all anyone can do today.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Why are screen villains always drinking milk?

Source: Radio New Zealand

Whether it’s Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange (1971), Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds (2009), Homelander from The Boys (2019–), or Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men (2007) – there’s no denying there’s something sinister about onscreen milk-drinkers.

The most recent character to join these ranks is Victor Frankenstein, as imagined by Guillermo del Toro in the new Netflix film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel.

At first glance, del Toro’s Frankenstein is a mistreated child-turned-excited inventor. However, his ambition swiftly turns to cruelty when he fails to recognise intelligence in his creation, in the same way his own father failed to recognise his intelligence.

Quentin Tarantino described his 2009 hit Inglourious Basterds as his "masterpiece."

Quentin Tarantino described his 2009 hit Inglourious Basterds as his “masterpiece.”

AFP

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Live – Air NZ cancels flights as global A320 fleet grounded

Source: Radio New Zealand

Live – Air New Zealand cancelled multiple flights on Saturday, with all A320 aircraft grounded due to a global software problem.

Airbus said a recent incident involving an A320 family aircraft had revealed intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.

The company has ordered an immediate change to a “significant number” of its best-selling A320 jets, which threatened to disrupt half the world’s airlines.

Air NZ chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw said “as a precaution” all A320neo aircraft in its fleet would receive a software update before operating their next passenger service.

“This will lead to disruption across a number of our A320neo flights on Saturday and we’re expecting a number of cancellations to services across that fleet.

“We will contact customers directly if their flight is affected. Customers can also check the latest updates on their flight through the Air NZ app or website. We will provide an update when we have more information on the impact to our services on Saturday.”

Airbus A320s were commonly used on Air NZ’s Australia and Pacific Island routes.

In a statement, the plane manufacturer said: “Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Air NZ cancels flights as global A320 fleet grounded

Source: Radio New Zealand

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - DECEMBER 17: Air New Zealand Airbus A320 landing at Auckland International Airport on December 17, 2017 in Auckland

Air New Zealand says all A320neo aircraft in its fleet will receive a software update. Photo: 123RF

Air New Zealand cancelled multiple flights on Saturday, with all A320 aircraft grounded due to a global software problem.

Airbus said a recent incident involving an A320 family aircraft had revealed intense solar radiation could corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls.

The company has ordered an immediate change to a “significant number” of its best-selling A320 jets, which threatened to disrupt half the world’s airlines.

Air NZ chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw said “as a precaution” all A320neo aircraft in its fleet would receive a software update before operating their next passenger service.

“This will lead to disruption across a number of our A320neo flights on Saturday and we’re expecting a number of cancellations to services across that fleet.

“We will contact customers directly if their flight is affected. Customers can also check the latest updates on their flight through the Air NZ app or website. We will provide an update when we have more information on the impact to our services on Saturday.”

Airbus A320s were commonly used on Air NZ’s Australia and Pacific Island routes.

In a statement, the plane manufacturer said: “Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will work closely with operators, while keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand