Colonialism, Violence and Memory in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
Edited by Angela Wanhalla, Lyndall Ryan and Camille Nurka
What we choose to remember and what we choose to forget about the violent past tell us something about the society we live in now. Whether we like it or not, we're part of each other's story. So how do we talk about the past?
—Joanna Kidman and Vincent O'Malley
Aftermaths explores the life-changing intergenerational effects of colonial violence in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific. The settings of these accessible, illustrated short essays range from Ōrākau pā in the Waikato to the Kimberleys in northwest Australia, from orphanages in Fiji to the ancestral lands of the Wiyot Tribe in Northern California. Story by story, this collection powerfully reveals the living legacy of historical events, showing how they have been remembered (and misremembered) within families and communities into the present day.
Editors Angela Wanhalla, Lyndall Ryan and Camille Nurka have invited a group of prominent scholars to write about colonial histories by reflecting on a range of events through a variety of perspectives, including personal experiences, family stories, collaborative research, oral and literary histories, commemoration activities and contemporary artworks.
The result is a readable, informative and often extremely moving book that makes an essential contribution to our knowledge of the effects of colonial violence and dispossession.
Editors and contributors
Angela Wanhalla, Lyndall Ryan and Camille Nurka are leading scholars of colonial and Indigenous histories in Australia, the Pacific and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Contributors include established and emerging Indigenous and non-Indigenous humanities scholars: Tony Ballantyne, Rachel Burgess, Penelope Edmonds, Anaru Eketone, Stephanie Gilbert, Victoria Haskins, Anna Johnston, Joanna Kidman, Shino Konishi, Jane Lydon, Caitlin Lynch, Keri Mills, Kirstine Moffat, Grace Moore, Amanda Nettelbeck, Erica Newman, Camille Nurka, Patricia O'Brien, Vincent O'Malley, Lachy Paterson, Lyndall Ryan, Sian Smith, Kate Stevens and Angela Wanhalla.
Publication details
Paperback, 240 x 170mm, 312pp
ISBN 9781990048449, $50
IN-STORE: 27 APRIL 2023
Reviews and Interviews
Extract: Chapter 1. War Stories Our Teachers Never Told Us: Documenting New Zealand Wars: Narratives and Silences by Joanna Kidman and Vincent O'Malley extracted for Canvas, New Zealand Herald Read
Review: 'I share the hope of the editors that this collection will ‘trigger further exploration of the critical themes of colonisation and its lasting impact upon the traditional Indigenous owners of colonised lands, including the violent attempts to make them disappear’ (248). It is clear from reading this collection that there is much more to be unearthed and brought to light as part of the ongoing reckoning of settler societies with their colonial pasts, presents and possible futures.' – Judith Pryor for Australian Historical Studies Read
Extract: Chapter 4. Wētere Te Rerenga and the Murder of Rev. John Whiteley by Anaru Eketone, extracted for the Otago Daily Times Read
Review: 'It is a rare publication that can cross the difficult divide between academic history and accessible reading ... Every chapter is well-written and evocative. Aftermaths will open eyes ... Aftermaths makes a powerful case for ending our historical ignorance. It forces readers to confront the violence embedded in our collective colonial past and it reveals the many reverberations of that violence in our present. It also asks us to unbury the skeletons in our own closets and fairly carry our share of this 'emotional freight' and trauma. It asks us to be brave and unchain our dragons.' – Maartje Abbenhuis reviews Aftermaths for Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books Read
Review: Paul Diamond reviews Aftermaths for Nine to Noon, RNZ Listen