Department of History, The University of Auckland

28/05/2026

Kia ora koutou,

Before we enter exam season, we just wanted to let prospective students know about our Semester 2, 2026 undergraduate History courses. See the attached poster for a single list of courses taught by History staff (and which all may be counted towards the History major).

We're including the poster for a exciting reboot of one of our Aotearoa NZ Stage 2/3 courses as well!

We hope this gives students better visibility for their course choices and we look forward to seeing many of you next Semester! Good luck on your assignments and exams!

Semester 2, 2026 History offerings:

HISTORY 104 Pacific History: An Introduction
HISTORY 107 Titiro Whakamuri: Histories of Aotearoa
HISTORY 239/339 Medieval Cultures
HISTORY 250/350 Global Cold War
HISTORY 252/352 New Zealand Cultural History
HISTORY 300 Thinking History
ANCIENT 214/314 Ancient Barbarians and Others

28/05/2026

Kia ora koutou,

For our final History Seminar of the semester, we welcome back an Auckland alumna, Dr Emma Wordsworth. Join us on 4 June to hear Emma speak on "The Moral Politics of ‘Natural’ Disasters: Colonial Double Standards in British Framings of Famine Causation in India, China, and Asia Minor, 1873-1879".

Thursday 4 June 4-5 pm
Humanities Tea Room (206-523)
All welcome!

Abstract: Conceptualisations of a problem’s causes fundamentally shape how people respond to said problem. This paper examines how British elites’ framings of famine causation in Bengal (1873–1874), Asia Minor (1873–1875), Madras (1876–1878), and North China (1876–1879), respectively, differed and why they did so. Despite each famine having broadly similar structural causes, these Britons characterised Indian famines as so-called ‘natural disasters’ whilst interpreting the Ottoman and Chinese famines as symptoms of governmental failure. This paper explores why British elites invoked the specific frames of ‘natural disaster’ and ‘governmental failure’ to explain famine causation in British colonial territories and extraimperial areas of interest, respectively. By extension, I consider how these Britons used each framing to justify and mobilise specific forms of British intervention in different geopolitical contexts.

About our speaker: Dr Emma Wordsworth attained a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge in 2026 and is currently working as a historical researcher at Te Tari Whakatau. Emma is an alumnus of Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland, having completed BA, BA (Hons), and Master’s degrees in History between 2016 and 2021.

19/05/2026

Kia ora koutou,

A reminder that with this week's History Seminar on Thursday 21 May, we will be hosting a colleague from Northeastern University (Boston, MA, USA) who is presently Visiting Faculty, Te Wāhanga Ture o Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland Law School. Please join us to welcome Professor Kara W. Swanson (Professor of Law/Affiliate Professor of History, Northeastern University), who will be speaking on "Invention of a Slave: Race, Patents, and Memory in the United States, 1858-2026".

Thursday 21 May, 4-5 pm
Humanities Tea Room (206-523)
All welcome!

Abstract: In 1858, the US Attorney General declared that inventions by slaves were not patentable. Within a few years, legal changes rendered the opinion obsolete and, to legal scholars, “forgotten.” I argue, however, that it was continuously remembered by Black Americans as part of civil rights campaigns in the post-Emancipation United States. This remembering teaches us the surprising and unique role the patent system has played in those campaigns. It also teaches us the costs of law’s selective memory. I argue that understanding this story as part of the living present of race and law has implications for the patent system and our ongoing national conversation about paths to citizenship.

About our speaker: Kara W. Swanson, JD, PhD, is Professor of Law /Affiliate Professor of History at Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Her scholarship examines historical intersections among law, science, medicine, and technology. Her first book, _Banking on the Body: The Market in Blood, Milk and S***m in Modern America_ (2014), is a medicolegal history of human body property. Her book-in-progress is _Inventing Citizens: A Surprising History of US Inventors, Patents, and Civil Rights_.

04/05/2026

Kia ora koutou,

Please join us for this week's History Seminar on Thursday 7 May, when we will be hosting our very own Dr Alexandra Forsyth March. Alex completed her PhD earlier this year and her presentation this week is entitled, ' "Strengthen against fluxions of the blood": Lapidary Medicine in the Portraits of the Valois Dauphines'. All welcome!

Thursday 7 May, 4-5 pm
Humanities Tea Room (206-523)

Abstract: In Jean Hey’s c.1490 portrait of Marguerite of Austria, the young princess is adorned with a dazzling pelican pendant set with a pearl and ruby, projecting her majesty and beauty. Yet the wearing of healing stones in the form of jewellery also allowed an individual to display concern for their health and wellbeing. In this case, Marguerite materialised her commitment to ensuring her health and future reproductive capacity. Drawing on medical texts, portraits, and inventories, this paper examines the significance of pearl and ruby jewellery in the iconography of Valois dauphines and young queens. By applying the lens of lapidary medicine to royal portraits, this paper offers fresh insight into how dauphines and young queens sought to ensure the future arrival of an heir to the Valois dynasty, thus securing their position at court.

About our speaker: Dr. Alexandra Forsyth has recently completed her PhD in History at Waipapa Taumata Rau, titled “Age Fertility, and Childlessness of the Valois Dauphines, 1350-1559.” She is a research assistant in the School of Humanities and has a forthcoming chapter on late medieval botanical-based fertility remedies.

16/04/2026

Kia ora koutou,

As we prepare to return to classes from the mid-semester period, a quick reminder that we are delighted to announce not one but two talks of interest to our History community!

First, on Tuesday 21 April, the Classics and Ancient History Seminar series features our very own A/P Lisa Bailey, who will present on "The fame and fortune of Balthild, slave-queen". Lisa's talk will be at 4pm on Tuesday 21 April, with reception to follow. You may also join this talk via Zoom [https://auckland.zoom.us/j/91846902743]

Second, on Thursday 23 April the History Seminar Series is delighted to host Dr. Nick Thompson (THEOREL) and Jo Birks (He Māra Mahara | Cultural Collections) speak about "The Medieval Manuscript, the Incunable and the Graduate: Stories of a Book". All Welcome! 4-5pm Thursday 23 April in the Humanities Tea Room (206-523). This talk is in-person only (no Zoom, sorry!)

For more information (including abstracts and speaker bios) please view the attached posters!

19/03/2026

Kia ora koutou,

Please join us for our next History Seminar on Thursday 26 March. We'll be hosting Dr Hazel Petrie, whose talk is entitled 'Balancing Acts: Negotiating the choppy waters between tikanga and British law'. Come hear about Hazel's latest research project.

Thursday 26 March, 4-5 pm
Humanities Tea Room (206-523)
All welcome!

Abstract: Much has been written about the differences between tikanga Māori and British law and, perhaps, even more relating to the negative impacts experienced by Māori following the imposition of British law. Entitled ‘Balancing Acts’, to reflect the Māori concept of utu which underlies customary attitudes towards justice and redress, this presentation will focus on social rather than legal history. It will consider how rangatira negotiated the differences between those systems over the first few decades following Te Tiriti. Contrary to the British criminal justice system, which relies on carefully worded, specific charges, utu frequently reflected broader, often historical issues. That reality continued for many decades but introduced innovations were more quickly adopted as common forms of compensation.

About our speaker: Dr Hazel Petrie is a graduate in History and Māori Studies from Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. Her previous publications, _Chiefs of Industry: Māori Tribal Enterprise in Early Colonial New Zealand_ (2006) and _Outcasts of the Gods: The Struggle over Slavery in Māori New Zealand_ (2015) as well as several articles and book chapters, have explored aspects of Māori-settler interaction, especially during the nineteenth century. She is now looking into how nineteenth-century rangatira managed the transition from tikanga or custom law towards British law within and beyond Māori society.

05/03/2026

Kia ora koutou,

We're delighted to be hosting our first first History Seminar of 2026 (and the semester) next Thursday 12 March. Please join us to hear our own Associate Professor Aroha Harris speak on 'Ko Wai Tātou? Ko Waipapa Taumata Rau. All the things I learned from the core Arts course that could, and did, but died trying'. Come learn about a wonderful course that might have been...

Thursday 12 March, 4-5 pm
Humanities Tea Room (206-523)

Abstract: In 2022, the former Faculty of Arts launched a course intended to become a core course for all Arts students in their first year of study. Ko Wai Tātou? was a bold attempt at a course that aimed to better prepare students for the years of study ahead of them and to generate a sense of community belonging, while also introducing them to the depth and breadth of Arts subjects. This talk will briefly remember the short life of Ko Wai Tātou? from the planning meetings that began around the same time as the great Auckland COVID-19 lockdown of 2021, to its 2023 marriage of convenience with the university-wide but faculty-led Waipapa Taumata Rau courses, to its last hurrah in 2024 when it was taught for the third and last time. Fortunately, the innumerable lessons contained in Ko Wai Tātou? were not buried with the course. So, a large part of this presentation will share from that bundle of lessons, drawing especially on the deep and sustained exploration of whanaungatanga which the teaching team fixed at the centre of the course.

About our speaker: Associate Professor Aroha Harris (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is in History at Waipapa Taumata Rau. Her research interests span Māori and iwi histories of Māori policy and community development. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of multiple books, including her first book, _Hikoi: Forty Years of Maori Protest_ (2004) and the award-winning _Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History_ (2014), a collaborative effort with Atholl Anderson and Judith Binney. In 2020, she was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit.

11/02/2026

Kia ora koutou,

As we prepare for the start of another exciting semester, we'd like to extend warmest congratulations to Dr Daniel Beaumont. Daniel has just published an article on the early modern English diarist Gertrude Savile (its available on open access via The Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies at the link below). Daniel's History PhD, completed in 2025, explored the diverse ways that early modern female authors engaged with 'melancholy'. His wonderful article on Savile grows directly out of this research. Congratulations, Daniel :-)

[cut and paste this open access link if the embedded version is not working: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/K9Q4GNHZTSKPUR7MV9FQ?target=10.1111/1754-0208.70021]

13/12/2025

Kia ora koutou,

We hope everyone has a great summer and holiday season, and here is an image from the ANZAMEMS conference in Melbourne earlier this month. Several colleagues caught up with emeritus Professor Barry Reay in Melbourne. Pictured with Barry are UoA's own Prof Kim Phillips and Prof Erin Griffey, as well as Dr Mark Dawson (ANU). Barry has mentored and/or co-written with all of them!

10/11/2025

Kia ora koutou,

Those of you following historical films and the representation of the past on screen might be interested in this review of James Vanderbilt’s just-released film "Nuremberg". The writeup begins with an anecdote about Stanley Kramer's 1961 movie on the Nuremberg trials, draws upon the research of our own A/P Jennifer Frost into Kramer's intentions and influence, and asks what films such as "Nuremberg" might mean for our present.

[link added: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-camps-and-the-gallows/ ]

James Vanderbilt’s "Nuremberg" revisits the trial of Hermann Göring, and his relationship with an American psychiatrist sent to examine him.

04/11/2025

Kia ora koutou,

For anyone who who would like a research diversion this busy time of year, we're delighted to announce that our own A/P Jennifer Frost's work on youth voting rights is now available on the "Mapping American Social Movements Project" website. It joins the amazing suite of online resources available through the Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium, University of Washington (Seattle, WA).

[Link here in case image map doesn't work - https://depts.washington.edu/moves/votes18_intro.shtml ]

Passed and ratified in 1971, the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution required all states, territories, and the District of Columbia to allow citizens aged 18 and up to vote. This achievement came after three decades of consistent advocacy and action at the state and federal levels. Here we explore...