The Centre for Research on Colonial Culture supports an intellectual programme encompassing conferences, symposia, workshops, public lectures, visiting scholars as well as research publications. We have a vibrant and rich research culture built upon collaborative approaches.
Previous events
Southern Circulations: Texts, Mobility and the Production of Australasia, 17-18 December, Hocken Collections. Convened by Tony Ballantyne.
Encounters and Exchanges: Exploring the History of Science, Technology and Mātauranga Conference, 1-3 December 2019. Sponsored by the University of Otago and the Tōtaranui 250th Trust.
The Afterlives of Intimacy, Violence and Colonialism Across the Pacific Symposium, 25-26 November 2019, Te Papa Tongarewa. Co-convened by Angela Wanhalla and Lyndall Ryan.
Mātauranga Whakapono: Christian Theology in Māori Perspective, 14-15 November 2019, Dunedin. Co-convened by Wayne Te Kaawa and Professor Murray Rae (Theology).
1869 Conference and Heritage Festival, 25-29 September 2019. Co-convened by Kirby-Jane Hallum and Angela Wanhalla.
Held in Trust: Curiosity in Things Conference, 25 January 2019, Otago Museum. Convened by Rosi Crane.
Making Rural New Zealand Symposium, 15-16 November 2018, Hocken Collections. Co-convened by Tony Ballantyne and Jane McCabe.
He Tuhinga nō Neherā: Texts, Contexts, Resonances Symposium, 1-2 November 2018, Hocken Collections. Co-convened by Lachy Paterson, Paerau Warbrick and Megan Pōtiki.
Across Cultures and Species: New Histories of Pacific Whaling, 29-30 June 2018, University of Hawaii-Mānoa, Honolulu. Co-convened by Ryan Tucker Jones (University of Oregon) and Angela Wanhalla.
Crops, Disease, Pests, and Catastrophe: Colonial environmental transformations and responses in the Pacific world, 12-13 February 2018, Hocken Collections. Co-convened by Judy Bennett and Paul D'Arcy (ANU).
International Forum on Cross-Cultural Discourse Studies, 25-26 November 2017, Fuzhou University, China. Convened by Tony Ballantyne.
Historians at the Pā II, 16-17 August 2017, Bluff. Convened by Michael Stevens.
Film in the Colony Symposium, 13-14 July 2017, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Wellington. Convened by Annabel Cooper.
Trapping the Land, Mapping the Land Workshop, 29 June 2017, Hocken Collections. Convened by Jane McCabe.
Archival Files and Knowledge Production Workshop, 30-31 May 2017, Department of History and Art History. Convened by Barbara Brookes.
Caring Histories Workshop, 20-21 February 2017, Hocken Collections. Convened by Barbara Brookes, Jane McCabe and Angela Wanhalla.
Valued Coconuts: Hear Our Voices Symposium, 16-17 January 2017, Hocken Collections. Convened by Judy Bennett.
Book and Place, 28 October 2016, Otago Museum, a Centre for the Book symposium supported by the Humanities Division, Centre for Research on Colonial Culture and Department of English and Linguistics
Making Women Visible: A Conference in Honour of Barbara Brookes, 15-17 February 2016, University of Otago College of Education. Convenors: Angela Wanhalla, Jane McCabe, Jane Adams, Katie Cooper and Sarah Christie
New Zealand Histories of the Sea Workshop, Hocken Collections, 30 November 2015. Convenor: Frances Steel (University of Wollongong)
Indigenous Photographic Histories Symposium, National Library of New Zealand, 5 November 2015. Co-convenors: Angela Wanhalla, Paul Diamond (Alexander Turnbull Library), Jane Lydon (University of Western Australia).
Unpicking the Tapestry: Children and Young People in British Colonial Contexts Symposium, Hocken Collections, 24-25 August 2015. Convenor: Hugh Morrison.
Colonial Families: New Perspectives Symposium, University of Otago Central Library, 20 August 2015. Convenor: Angela Wanhalla
New Zealand Sexual Histories: New Perspectives Workshop, St Margaret's College, 1-2 July 2015. Convenors: Angela Wanhalla and Chris Brickell.
Eugenics in British Colonial Contexts Symposium, in conjunction with the Allan Wilson Centre, St Margaret's College, 7-8 February 2015. Convenors: John Stenhouse, Hamish Spencer and Diane Paul.
Placing the Personal Essay Colloquium, with the W.H. Oliver Humanities Research Academy (Massey) and the Stout Centre (VUW), Wellington, 2-3 December 2014. Convenors: Cherie Lacey and Ingrid Horrocks
Kalimpong Kids Reunion, St Margaret's College, 28 November 2014. Convenor: Jane McCabe.
Migrant Cross-Cultural Encounters Conference, co-convened with Asian Migrations, Centre for Irish & Scottish Studies, & Comparative Cross-Cultural Studies (Otago), Dunedin, 24-26 November 2014. Convenors: Angela Wanhalla, Angela McCarthy and Jacqui Leckie
Rethinking Native Spaces: Indigenous Mobilities Across and Beyond the Antipodes, with Monash Indigenous Centre (Melbourne), Ōtākou Marae, 20-21 November 2014. Convenors: Michael Stevens and Rachel Standfield (Monash)
Dialogues: Exploring the Drama of Early Missionary Encounters, co-convened with the Hocken Collections, 7-8 November 2014. Convenor: Tony Ballantyne
The Colonial World: Elemental Histories Symposium, Hocken Collections, 31 October 2014. Convenor: Tom Brooking
Indigenous Textual Cultures Symposium, Hocken Collections, 30 June-1 July 2014. Convenors: Lachy Paterson and Tony Ballantyne
Pacific Futures: Past and Present Symposium, in conjunction with Race and Ethnicity in the Global South Research Group (Sydney), Hocken Collections, 19-21 June 2014. Convenors: Barbara Brookes and Miranda Johnson (Sydney)
Cultural Go-Between, Colonial Man: New Perspectives on James Cowan Symposium, in conjunction with National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, 21 February 2014. Convenors: Annabel Cooper and Ariana Tikao
New Historical Perspectives on New Zealand and the Sea Symposium, Department of History & Art History, Otago, 23 November 2013. Convenors: Michael Stevens and Frances Steel (Wollongong)
Writing Histories of Empire and Colonialism: People and Place Postgraduate Workshop with Maya Jasanoff (Harvard), St. Margaret's, Dunedin, 19 November 2013. Convenor: Tony Ballantyne
Paperwork: The Materials and Practices of Modern Information Cultures Symposium, Hocken Collections, 24 May 2013. Convenor: Tony Ballantyne
Colonial Origins of New Zealand Politics Symposium, in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, Otago Museum, 8 March 2013. Convenor: Tony Ballantyne
Colonial Objects Conference, Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, 11-13 February 2013. Convenors: Annabel Cooper, Lachy Paterson and Angela Wanhalla
Commanding an Audience Symposium, Hocken Collections, 19 November 2012. Convenor: Barbara Brookes
Writing Colonial Histories Symposium, Hocken Collections, 3 August 2012. Convenor: Tony Ballantyne.
Visiting scholars
2018: Professor Pamela Klassen (University of Toronto), co-hosted with Religious Studies, 9-21 April.
2018: Associate Professor Aaron Glass (Bard Graduate School, New York), 24 February-9 March March.
2017: Professor Sarah Carter (University of Alberta), William Evans Fellow, 24 April-14 May.
2016: Maaike Derksen (Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands), September-December.
2015: Dr. Patricia O'Brien (ANU), 16-24 March.
2014: Dr. Kristyn Harman (University of Tasmania), 17-28 November.
2013: Dr. Samia Khatun (University of Sydney), September-February 2014.
Centre publications
Books
He Reo Wāhine: Māori Women's Voices From the Nineteenth Century (Auckland University Press, 2017), by Lachy Paterson and Angela Wanhalla.
Race, Tea and Colonial Resettlement: Imperial Families, Interrupted (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), by Jane McCabe.
Edited Collections
Indigenous Textual Cultures: Reading and Writing in the Age of Global Empire (Duke University Press, 2020), edited by Tony Ballantyne, Lachy Paterson and Angela Wanhalla.
Past Caring? Women, Work and Emotion (Otago University Press, 2019), edited by Barbara Brookes, Jane McCabe and Angela Wanhalla.
New Zealand and the Sea: Historical Perspectives (Bridget Williams Books, 2018), edited by Frances Steel.
Pacific Futures: Past and Present (University of Hawaii Press, 2018), edited by Warwick Anderson, Miranda Johnson and Barbara Brookes.
Indigenous Mobilities: Across and Beyond the Antipodes(ANU Press, 2018), edited by Rachel Standfield.
Eugenics at the Edges of Empire: New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), co-edited by Diane B. Paul, John Stenhouse and Hamish G. Spencer.
Migrant Cross-Cultural Encounters in Asia and the Pacific (Routledge, 2017), edited by Jacqueline Leckie, Angela McCarthy and Angela Wanhalla.
Extraordinary Anywhere: Essays on Place from Aotearoa New Zealand (Victoria University Press, 2016), edited by Cherie Lacey and Ingrid Horrocks (with contributions from Tony Ballantyne & Annabel Cooper).
The Lives of Colonial Objects (Otago University Press, 2015), edited by Annabel Cooper, Lachy Paterson and Angela Wanhalla.
Journal Special Issues
Special issue of Museum History Journal (2020), co-edited by Rosi Crane, Bronwyn Labrum and Angela Wanhalla.
Indigenous Photographies, History of Photography 42, no. 3 (2018), co-edited by Jane Lydon and Angela Wanhalla.
Coconuts in the Pacific, The Journal of Pacific History 53, no. 4 (2018), edited by Judy Bennett.
Bureaucracy, Archive Files and Knowledge Production, Rethinking History22, no. 3 (2018), co-edited by Barbara Brookes and James Dunk.
New Zealand Sexual Histories, New Zealand Journal of History 50, no. 1 (2016), co-edited by Chris Brickell and Angela Wanhalla.
New Perspectives on James Cowan, Journal of New Zealand Studies 19NS (2015), co-edited by Annabel Cooper and Ariana Tikao.
Considering Performance in Colonial Culture, Journal of New Zealand Studies 15NS (2013), edited by Barbara Brookes.