Job title: Senior Lecturer
Phone: 64 9 373 7599 ext 88612
Office: Rm 675, Human Sciences Building,10 Symonds Street, Auckland
Postal: School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland
Email: w.friesen@auckland.ac.nz

BA (Calgary), BA (Hons) (Carleton), PhD (Auckland)

Research interests:

1. Migration, ethnicity and identity in New Zealand (Chinese, Indian, Pacific)
2. Mobility systems in Asia-Pacific
3. Development, transformation and livelihoods in the Pacific, especially Melanesia
4. Tourism, especially ecotourism and community-based tourism
5. Analysis of population structure and change
6. Suburban residential development and population implications in Auckland.
7. Demographic, ethnic and socio-economic change in the city.

As you can see from the above, I am a human, economic, population, development, urban geographer, among other things. My B.A. was done in Canada at the University of Calgary and my B.A. (Hons) at Carleton University (Ottawa). Between these two events I travelled around the world for four years, including a considerable time in the Pacific and Asia, clues to my current regional interests. My Ph.D. was carried out at The University of Auckland with my thesis titled "Labour mobility and transformation in Solomon Islands: Lusim Choiseul, bae kam bak moa?". The second part in Solomons pijin means "if you leave Choiseul ("home"), will you ever return? Since writing that thesis, I have returned to the Solomon Islands a number of times, undertaking further research and consultancies for UNDP, Solomon Islands government, European Union and others as well as independent research. My broader research interests in Melanesia include sustainable livelihoods, international and internal migration and identities, population change, environmental relationships with development, and community-based tourism. Currently I am working on a research project on community-based tourism in Solomon Islands.

In recent years, much of my research and writing has been related to New Zealand immigration and ethnic change, especially in Auckland, but in other parts of the country as well. One of my particular interests has been the ways in which immigrants have impacted urban spaces and institutions and created new ‘ethnoscapes’. This also relates to my interests in population change, urban planning, service provision and the built form. A number of consultancies for the Auckland Regional Council, the Asia New Zealand Foundation and other agencies have been related to these issues.

Other research projects underway include one on international education in New Zealand with two geography colleagues, and a project called “Transnationalism in Pacific health through the lens of TB” with an interdisciplinary team from anthropology, geography, history and population health. For many years I have been active in the Population Association of New Zealand (PANZ) and served as President from 2005 to 2007.

Teaching

In most years, my main teaching takes place in the following courses:

• GEOG 104   "Cities and Urbanism"
• GEOG 202   "Geography of Social and Economic Change"
• GEOG 305   "Population, Health and Society"
• GEOG 312   "Geographies of Pacific Development” (co-ordinator)"
• GEOG 315   "Research Design and Methods in Human Geography"
• GEOG 721   "Change and Transformation in the Pacific" (co-ordinator)
• GEOG 725   "Population Studies" (co-ordinator)

I usually also contribute one or more lectures each year in: GEOG 091W, GEOG 701, DEVELOP 710, PACIFIC 700, EDCURR 604, ASIAN 104
 

Some recent journal articles and book chapters

2008. FRIESEN, W. ‘The evolution of “Indian” identity and transnationalism in New Zealand’ Australian Geographer 39(1):45-61.

2008. FRIESEN, W. & KEARNS, R.A. ‘Indian diaspora in New Zealand: history, identity and cultural landscapes’, in P. Raghuram, A.K. Sahoo, B. Maharaj & D. Sangha (eds), Indian diaspora: retrospect and prospect, Sage Publications India, New Delhi, pp. 210-227.

2007. LOVELL, S., KEARNS, R.A., & FRIESEN, W. ‘Socio-cultural barriers to cervical screening in South Auckland, New Zealand’ Social Science and Medicine 65:138-150

2006. MARSTERS, E., LEWIS, N. & FRIESEN, W. ‘Pacific flows: the fluidity of remittances in the Cook Islands’ Asia Pacific Viewpoint 47(1):31-44.

2006. FRIESEN, W. ‘Planning for cultural diversity’, in C. Freeman & M. Thompson-Fawcett (eds) Living together: towards inclusive communities, Otago University Press, Dunedin, pp. 57-76.

2005. FRIESEN, W., MURPHY, L. & KEARNS, R.A. ‘Spiced-up Sandringham: Indian transnationalism and new suburban spaces in Auckland, New Zealand’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31(2):385-401.

2003. MURPHY, L., FRIESEN, W., & KEARNS, R.A.’ The divided city and urban sustainability: Auckland’s experience of ethnic segregation and social polarisation’ in C. Freeman & M. Thompson-Fawcett (eds), Living space: towards sustainable settlements in New Zealand, University of Otago Press, Dunedin, pp. 95-112.

2003. FRIESEN, W. ‘Population drain or exchange: internal migration between Auckland and the rest of New Zealand’, New Zealand Journal of Geography 115:44-48, 2003.

2001. IP, M. & FRIESEN, W. ‘The New Chinese community in New Zealand: Local Outcomes of transnationalism’, Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 10(2):213-240.

2000. FRIESEN, W. ‘Tangata Pasifika Aotearoa: Pacific populations and identity in New Zealand’, New Zealand Population Review 26(2):105-125, 2000.

Some recent reports

2008. FRIESEN, W. Asians in Christchurch: the ‘most British’ city diversifies, Asia New Zealand Foundation, Wellington, 20 pp.

2008. FRIESEN, W. Diverse Auckland: The face of New Zealand in the 21st Century, Asia New Zealand Foundation, Wellington, 20 pp.

2007. FRIESEN, W. Immigration and ethnicity in the Auckland region, Social and economic monitoring team, Auckland Regional Council, Auckland, 29 pp.

2007. FRIESEN, W. Growth of Auckland: Dynamics of population change 2001 to 2006, Social and economic monitoring team, Auckland Regional Council, Auckland, 22 pp.

2005. FRIESEN, W. “Migration and Tourism” in Research Stocktake of New Zealand-Asia engagement. An electronic bibliography and six accompanying analytical essays prepared for the Asia New Zealand Foundation. http://www.asianz.org.nz/research/bibliography/index.php.

2002. FRIESEN, W., SCHOORL, J. & TOVUTOVU, R. “Economic activity and labour force” in B. de Bruijn (ed), Report on the 1999 population and housing census. Analysis. Statistics Office, Honiara, pp. 139-166.

2002. SCHOORL, J. & FRIESEN, W. “Migration and displacement” in B. de Bruijn (ed), Report on the 1999 population and housing census. Analysis. Statistics Office, Honiara, Solomon Islands. pp. 109-138.

2000. FRIESEN, W., MURPHY, L., KEARNS, R.A., & HAVERKAMP, E. Mapping change and difference: a social atlas of Auckland, Occ. pub. 42, Dept of Geography, University of Auckland

2000. FRIESEN, W. & BENSEMAN, J. Auckland Region population and schools: new projections 1996-2016, Auckland Regional Council for Ministry of Education, Auckland, June 2000.
 

PhDs recently completed

2007 Francis Collins (Geography) Learning to cross borders: everyday urban encounters between South Korea and Auckland.

2008 Man Hau Liev (Development Studies) Adaptation of Cambodians in New Zealand: achievement, cultural identity and community development

2009 Keisuke Nishikawa (Development Studies) Economic development in Pacific island states: an analysis of remittances and official aid in Samoa

Current PhD students

Corina Buckenberger (Geography) The experiences of housing qualities amongst home owners - an analysis in the Auckland Region

Sally Liangni Liu (Asian Studies) Homeland on the move – New Chinese in New Zealand: immigrants and cross-border transnationals

Jane YeonJae Lee (Geography) Korean return-migrants form overseas: investigating the ideology of “Go-Hyan” (home) in their experiences

Christine Haney (Geography) Co-management at Mutawintji National Park: a critical assessments of competing environmental discourses

Sheila Siar (Development Studies) Home country - diaspora ties for development through knowledge exchange networks: The case of highly skilled Filipino migrants in New Zealand and Australia

Masters and dissertation students 2008-2009

2008 Ruth Talo Festival of fusion: Representations of Pacific peoples at the Pasifika Festival

2008 Jingjing Xue Chinese ethnoburbs in Auckland, New Zealand: a spatial approach

2008 Leilani Hall Exotic and familiar: Exploring the adaptations of Thai restaurants in Auckland (dissertation)

2008 Jeffrey Van Kung Yik The nature of Chinese settlement in Auckland, New Zealand, a case study of Dannemora (dissertation)

2008 Priscilla Camp Politics of identity within a suburban transnational Sikh community (dissertation)

2009 Luana Cobcroft (Development Studies) The Teuila Festival and its role in culture and tourism in Samoa (current)

2009 Silia Vaka’uta Dwelling in a hyphen: Tongan diaspora and the question of home (current)

2009 Cornelius Walegerea Government as a development agent in Solomon Islands (current)