Module Catalogue 2026/27

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module covers the history of Aotearoa New Zealand between approximately 1800 and 1900. It takes a chronological and thematic approach to the country’s history to account for the settler colonialism which changed the country’s demographics over the nineteenth century based on the appropriation of Maori land. This module considers the relations between Pakeha (white European) and Maori peoples in cultural, political and social terms. It also uses the term Tauiwi (Maori for ‘foreigners') which while is often used interchangeably with Pakeha, offers students the ability to consider who in terms of race, or ‘undesirability’ were excluded from a region idealised as the ‘Britain of the South’. Moving into the latter part of the nineteenth century, the module situates New Zealand in a globalising world, in which its political and social reforms were heralded as state experiments.

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of the following themes:
• Systematic emigration as de facto colonisation.
•       The role of treaties and land appropriation.
•       The impact on Te reo Maori (language) and Maoritanga (culture and traditions).
•       The development of political self-governance, suffrage and migration control.
•       The nineteenth century perception of New Zealand as a ‘Better Britain’ and the contradictions therein.

Overall, this module will provide an opportunity for students to acquire a sound general knowledge of Aotearoa New Zealand’s history using a wide range of primary and secondary material. It will challenge them to look more closely at indigenous/coloniser relations, biculturalism and how the region’s history, culture and inhabitants are portrayed today.

Outline Of Syllabus

Outline syllabus, intended as a guide only; week-by-week topics may be slightly different to the following:

1.       Introduction: Aotearoa New Zealand in a Pacific World
2.       Maori mobility. Missionaries and colonial interactions in the early nineteenth century
3.       British bureaucratic interventions: From He Whakaputanga to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
4.       1840: The creation of a colony?
5.       Settler Colonialism: systematic emigration and the whenua (land)
6.       The New Zealand Wars
7.       Carving up the land: The Provincial Era
8.       The 1870s ‘Vogel Era’: Public works and immigration
9.       New Zealand as a social laboratory, but for whom?
10.       ‘A dying race?’ Identity and biculturalism by the end of the nineteenth century
11.       Conclusion: Idealising the ‘land of the long white cloud’, past and present

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of this module students should have:
•       A sound general knowledge of the history of Aotearoa New Zealand, and the region’s key demographic,
social and political developments over the nineteenth century.
•       An understanding of settler colonialism
•       A knowledge and understanding of conflicting historical interpretations towards colonisation, land
rights and nationhood.

Intended Skill Outcomes

•       Develop research skills by locating, critically analysing and accurately summarising historical
information drawn from online archives.
•       Engage with a range of secondary readings and with the major historiographical debates.
•       Write clear, well-argued essays that present sound arguments.
•       Respond appropriately to the sensitive themes involved in studying colonisation and ethnicity.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The interactive lectures will introduce the students to the key themes and regional considerations (much of which will be new to them). Independent learning and wider reading are at the heart of this module. Students are expected to develop critical reading and note-taking in an independent and effective manner. The extended seminar sessions will allow for a flexible approach towards discussion, interpersonal skill and primary source analysis. A workshop held in the Library's Special Collections enables students to examine primary sources first hand.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The documentary commentary/written exercise tests knowledge and understanding of the colonial primary sources. The ability to compare and contrast related primary sources, and explore how they should be interpreted and the relevance to contemporary scholarly debates is an important historical skill. In each seminar we will be using a number of examples in order to hone this skill.

The final essay for the module tests both students' knowledge and understanding of the complexity of Maori/Pakeha relations in the nineteenth century.The use of primary materials alongside secondary materials is essential here. Students will be given the opportunity to talk through their planned structure and source materials. The documentary commentary assessment is therefore 'feed forward'. Students will be given feedback on their approach to primary source materials in the New Zealand colonial context.

Taken as a whole, the assessments are designed to ensure that students do not wholly concentrate on the Pakeha version of New Zealand history but acknowledge the problems historians face in using the European documented record.

General Notes

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