12:30:48

PERSONAL STORY

Husband to photographer Leonie Johnsen, with a six year old daughter, Josephine Raven Ward-Johnsen.

To download a recent and brief CV click here

To download an extensive CV click here

These and the brief section below will convey to the reader what I am, but perhaps not who I am. Here you will find some mention of the roles I have learned to play in my professional life - architect, design programmer, educator, facilitator, project manager etc. They give a brief glimpse of the range of activities with which I have been involved and the skills I have developed in carrying out these professional roles. What is missing, is a sense of the personal and spiritual struggle that has been the ground upon which these roiles have been played out. For this deeper understanding it is necessary to look elsewheree.

A fully illuustrated and very personal authobiography is available through this page. It is being written essentially for close friends and family, but it may also carry meaning for others who are  seriously reflective about their lives, and so I have decided to make it available on a restricted basis. It tells the intimate details of my life, my choices, my successes, failures and mistakes. If you would like access to this please contact me for permission.

Introduction

If there is any meaning to our existence it is that we each express, in our lives and in every moment of our work the longings and habits of our unresolved selves. Some of us are lucky enough to have time to devote to the luxury of self-reflection into these mysteries, but none of us can ever avoid the process of self-searching imposed upon us by our personal and family experiences. It is akin to what the Hindu call Karma, and what the more esoteric members of the “Western Tradition” call Fate. Some, if they are particularly fortunate, may even be paid to self-reflect upon this Fate, this Karma. For those people we reserve the names “academic”, “cleric”, “artist”, “tohunga”, “shaman” or “intellectual”. These privileged ones could not engage in their journeys, could not indulge in their reflections were it not for the support of others, who carry the real economic and spiritual burden. These are the real heroes, and it is to them that credit must really be paid and acknowledgement made, the parents and the children who make the sacrifice. I am always deeply mindful of the price paid by others for my success and for my journey.

My life and my career down to the present has been a journey of self discovery, assisted by people like the bank manager. who advanced my his personal money because as a young student and father I was too much of a financial risk for his bank. His is one of many stories of support and help on my journey. That journey has taken me through many landscapes, all different and all exceedingly wonderful. During all of this time and this journey, I have been mindful of the need to "pay back" the help and kindness that I myself received in my life and work. This is one of the reasons that my work has taken the turn it has - engaging with social injustice, discrimination and class, race and gender prejudice. That work has taken me into prisons, mental hospitals, Institutes for the deaf and blind, and engagements with minority groups - African Americans, Chicanas and Chicanos, Native Americans

In more recent times, and since my arrival in Aotearoa-New Zealand in 1982, I have been significantly engaged with Maori friends and colleagues in work in the Maori community. This has opened up to me the responsibilities I carry as a tauiwi or immigrant. In particular, these responsibilities extend to helping, assisting and supporting those who have been the victims of the colonisation process of which I am a beneficiary. I am keenly aware that my success, my status and my opportunities are founded upon the repression and curtailment of the opportunities of others. My well-being has been at the expense of theirs, not because of my own personal actions, but because of the system of colonisation which privileges white professional men like myself. Because of this understanding, my work has extended into advocacy and capacity building for the Maori community. This work has taught me much about myself - my preconceptions, my prejudice and my privilege. Extending this understanding to embrace the needs of other indigenous peoples has been automatic. In return, I have been given access and insights into other cultures that leave me feeling humbled. The cultural landscapes through which my journey has taken me have been beautiful, challenging and rewarding, and the struggle to uncover my own broader cultural identity in the context of these experiences has been ongoing. I am not Maori, but I no longer feel "English", and find it difficult to identify fully with my non-Maori compatriots who more or less generally, have little time for or awareness of cultures other than their own.  Having committed what Paulo Freire calls "cultural suicide", I suppose I am what Henry Giroux calls a "boundary-rider" - a person who enjoys the boundary conditions that exist where cultures meet.

Work 

This joy in "boundary-riding" extends beyond the obvious cultural and racial context. It influences my work also. I have refused to be a specialist in my life - rejecting the confinement offered by the silo of a chosen discipline. Instead, I have spent my professional life exploring the boundaries between many disciplines - Architecture, Psychology, Philosophy, Politics, Education, Project Management to name but a few. Rather than accepting received notions of appropriate or legitimate knowledge,  I have sought to follow my intuition wherever it led. Some see this as “undisciplined”. I prefer to see it as part of a larger adventure, providing a store of memories and experiences that bring meaning to my life and allowing me insights into my own identity. The usual distinctions between intellectual and manual labour are meaningless to me. I am a designer and a builder, a theorist and a practitioner. I do my best thinking when I am “working”. Whatever “work” I have been involved in, I have always been aware of directing my energies towards the issues that I have already noted – issues of justice, equity and social harmony. I want this world to be a place where my children and my childrens' children can live in peace and harmony with others, where they are accepted and accepting of others’ realities.

In these later years of my life, my great teacher has been my youngest child, Josephine Raven Ward-Johnsen (pictured above). She has taught me patience, honesty, simplicity, heart-communication and a deep appreciation for the extraordinary miracle of life. She has brought my own life full circle and back to being a loving parent. Looking backwards from this vantage point late in my life I am able to review with greater clarity the disciplinary landscapes that I have crossed, the path I have taken. They tell the story not only of "who" but of "what" I have been and remain.

An academic and critical educational theorist
at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, the University of Auckland, the University of California, Berkeley (USA) and several British Universities. I have lectured throughout Europe, the USA and Australasia on transformative teaching theory and practice. I have specialised in  student-centred, cost-recovery education programmes in community and urban design and am the recipient of both New Zealand and International teaching awards.

A professional architect ,
I have worked across three continents, on both domestic, institutional and corporate projects, with specific expertise in facilitating strategic planning of large-scale sustainable developments and urban revitalisation projects. I specialise in working in a Maori olr trans-cultural context.

An institutional facilities analyst
I have been responsible for matching and co-ordinating the provision of teaching and related administrative facilities with institutional needs at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi and have been a space programmer and brief-writer in New Zealand, the USA and Britain.

A facilitator and communicator,
I have specialised in inclusive processes, consensus-building and creative group decision-making, trained in Humanistic Psychology, Gestalt Therapy and Psycho-drama. For a detailed description of The Ward Method of consensus building click here.
 
A project manager.
As Acting Director, I have designed and written the multi-strand Art and Visual Culture programme at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi. I managed the NZQA accreditation process, established technical resources, and project-managed the building acquisition, fit-out and building modifications of the delivery site. I have also completed architectural drawings and specifications, acquired permits and resource consents, equipped the workshops and departments, recruited staff, enrolled students, delivered the programme, managed the NZQA Audit process, recruited the permanent Director and facilitated the management transition. In addition, as a practicing architect I have managed the design and building process on a large number ofconstruction projects.

A programme co-ordinator
As Director of Programme Development for all Undergraduate and Bridging programmes at Te Whare Wånanga o Awanuiarangi my responsibilities included– inspiring, facilitating and guiding its academic direction through a period of significant growth, and managing the programme development process and budget.


I am a bicultural worker with 35 years experience working among minority and indigenous peoples in the area of educational and academic development and programming. A very brief summary of my actual Resumé is outlined below. For a more comprehensive version click here:

2001-2006

Employer: Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi
Position: Director of Programme Development

Key responsibilities
As Director of Programme Development I was directly answerable to the CEO.

2001-2003

Employer: Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi
Position: Associate Professor

Acting Director, Art and Visual Culture
My initial role at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi was  to develop a new programme in Maori Art and Design, following the Wananga’s three previously unsuccessful attempts. The resultant programme (Art and Visual Culture) which I designed and project managed, received its NZQA Accreditation in early 2003. On the basis of this success, I was then appointed Director of Programme Development for the whole Wananga.

1982-2001

Employer: University of Auckland
Position:     Sen. Lecturer in Architecture,

This Studio Project was the recipient of an award by the USA organisation Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility.

Other Community Design Studio projects included:

• Viaduct Basin Study (Auckland Civic Trust 1986)

• Whakatane Study (Whakatane District Council Development Plan 1988) (To view PDF click here)

• Hamilton Project (Hamilton City Council Development Plan 1989)(click here)

• Housing New Zealand Affordable Housing, Freemans Bay.(click here)
  

• Te Whare Wananga o Ngati Awa (Maori University,) Whakatane, 1990. (To view project click here)
  

• Design of Whare Kura, Hoani Waititi Marae, Henderson for the MOE (1993)(click here)
  

• Epsom Girls Grammar School Redevelopment Plan (1993)(click here)

• Otara Centre Revitaslisation (Manukau City Council 1995) To view PDF click here.
  

• Te Whare Hauora ki Makaurau Marae, Mangere. (1995)

• Freemans Bay Public Housing Proposals, (Auckland Housing Assoc. Trust 1996)

• Redevelopment Proposals, Parihaka, (Pa Trustees 1996-8) (To view PDF click here)

• Many North Is. Marae development projects

• Whare Hauora, Te Puia Springs Hospital, Ngati Porou Hauora. (2000-1) To view PDF click here
  

This latter involved a $20 million redevelopment proposal for a small hospital facility on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It focused on issues of economic and resource sustainability coupled with issues of Tikanga and Hauora Maori. The design recommended a 20 year staged development which is currently being initiated.

1969-1977

Employer: University of California, Berkeley
Position: Assistant Professor of Architecture

Teaching Architecture, Community Design and Social Studies in both Graduate and Undergraduate Design Studios with Indigenous and minority students. Developed holistic, student-centred and culturally specific Studio pedagogies.(To view PDF of projects click here)

In addition, teaching Theory papers in:

• Sustainable Design and Technology(UG)
• Social and Cultural Factors in Design (UG)
• Humanistic Psychology and Design (Grad.) (to view related PDF click here)
  

1966-1969

Employer: Portsmouth Polytechnic
Position: Research Fellow in Design Methods

Teaching Design Studio and researching the cognitive processes involved in design. Research included analytical studies in designing in a wide range of social and cultural contexts, often for Government Departments and Agencies:

• Prison Workshops (aimed at reducing recidivism) (click here)
  
• Sheltered Workshops for the Blind (aimed at developing independent mobility)(click here)
  
• Mental Hospitals (researching the therapeutic potential of an environment)(click here)
  
• Research into behavioural and psychological factors involved in the design of public space (innumerable publications).
• Critical studies of public housing developments (click here)
  

PUBLICATIONS

So this is the abbreviated story, as far as it goes, of my journey. And beyond all of this - all of these roles and occupations, in the end, I remain a seeker of meaning to life's great mystery. As I move towards the end of my life I find myself to be more content with what is (in my own life), rather than what might be. Enjoying the moment becomes increasingly iimportant to me - especially moments with my loved ones. To them, I give thanks for the fullness that I have been privileged to experience.

For those who would like to view the restricted autobiography click here to send a request

Aho mitakuye oyasin! All my relations!

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