History Making a Difference: New Approaches from Aotearoa

Why care about the past? Why teach, research and write history? In this volume, leading and emerging scholars, activists and those working in the public sector, archives and museums bring their expertise to provide timely direction and informed debate about the importance of history.Primarily concerned with Aotearoa (the Māori name for New Zealand), the essays within traverse local, national and global knowledge to offer new approaches that consider the ability and potential for history to 'make a difference' in the early twenty-first century. Authors adopt a wide range of methodological approaches, including social, cultural, Māori, oral, race relations, religious, public, political, economic, visual and material history. The chapters engage with work in postcolonial and cultural studies.The volume is divided into three sections that address the themes of challenging power and privilege, the co-production of historical knowledge and public and material histories. Collectively, the potential for dialogue across previous sub-disciplinary and public, private and professional divides is pursued.

About the Author :
Katie Pickles is Professor and Head of History and Associate Dean of Postgraduate Research at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and Past President of the New Zealand Historical Association. She is the author of Christchurch Ruptures (2016), a text written to assist recovery from the devastating series of Canterbury earthquakes.Lyndon Fraser is Associate Professor in Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, a Research Fellow in human history at Canterbury Museum, and a Research Associate in the history program at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He recently co-edited, with Lloyd Carpenter, Rushing for Gold: Life and Commerce on the Goldfields of Australia and New Zealand (2016). Marguerite Hill is Project Curator, History at Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, New Zealand, working on gallery renewal projects. She previously worked as Curator of Human History at Canterbury Museum and as a Resource Researcher for Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Her recent research is on souvenirs and fancy dress.Sarah Murray is Curatorial Manager at Canterbury Museum and an Adjunct Fellow in the Department of History at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She has curated over twenty exhibitions including Rise: Street Art (2014), Quake City (2013) and Fred and Myrtle Flutey's Paua Shell House (2008). Her previous publications are on the history of New Zealand and the First World War, as well as museum collections. Greg Ryan is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Environment, Society and Design at Lincoln University, New Zealand. He has published various academic and popular press articles and chapters on sport and alcohol in New Zealand. He is the editor and author of five books on the history of rugby and cricket.