History Programme, University of Otago

We're looking forward to the launch of Tony's new book!

New book on Cook to highlight competing perspectives After nine years in the making, Professor Tony Ballantyne is looking forward to finally sharing his book on controversial figure Captain James Cook.

Whether you're majoring in History, taking a History paper, or simply curious about the past, we'd love you to join us! All current students welcome!

Nau mai, haere mai! Our first presenter in semester two as part of the History Research Seminar Series is Professor Kristín Loftsdóttir from the University of Iceland.

Please join us for this event this Wednesday, 15 July at 3:30pm in Burns 5. All welcome!

We celebrate the recognition of research excellence in the Programme, with the recent award of the Ian Langham Memorial Prize to Associate Professor Miranda Johnson.

Award for research that resonates with students An Otago academic has received an award which recognises outstanding research that resonates with the interests and concerns of undergraduate students.

The History Programme was very saddened by the recent passing of our alumna, colleague and friend Dr Jane McCabe.

Jane finished a BA in History in 1997, and after completing a degree in Clothing and Textile Sciences, she returned to undertake a PGDip in History in 2010. She then enrolled for a PhD, completing an outstanding thesis in 2014. That work explored the history of the ‘Kalimpong Kids’, mixed-race children of British tea planters who were educated in Kalimpong, in northeast India, and then were subsequently resettled in New Zealand. Jane developed that thesis into two fantastic prize-winning books, but her research also helped many New Zealand descendants of those resettled to better understand their family histories and ties to India.

Between 2014 and 2020, Jane was a popular teacher in the Programme, serving as a Teaching Fellow and Lecturer, and she also held a prestigious Marsden Fast-Start award. During this period, she collaborated with several Otago staff members on other projects, workshops, and conferences. One of these was a volume she co-edited with Barbara Brookes and Angela Wanhalla, 'Past Caring? Women, Work and Emotion'. Jane’s important role in that project was in keeping with her historical interests in gender, families and emotion, and the stories we tell about the past. But Jane herself was also a caring person; a great friend who was wise, thoughtful, and deeply interested in the world.

A number of current and former staff, as well as former students, attended Jane’s funeral, and Tony Ballantyne spoke on behalf of the Programme and the historical community. The Programme’s deepest sympathy goes to Jane’s parents, Don and Barbara, her family, and her partner, Luke Smythe, who is also a colleague, having formerly taught Art History for us. We feel Jane’s loss keenly.

Please join us on the occasion of John Stenhouse's Inaugural Professorial Lecture on Thursday, 21 May 5:30pm in Burns 2 Lecture Theatre.

John teaches courses in European and New Zealand history and the history of science at the University of Otago. His research explores interconnections between science, religion, politics, race and gender in the modern world, using New Zealand and the British empire as the main sites of investigation. Recent publications include the coedited collection Eugenics at the Edges of Empire: New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Africa (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave, 2018) and ‘Reading Darwin during the New Zealand Wars: science, religion, politics and race, 1835-1900,’ Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science (2022) 96: 87-99. He is currently writing a book on Christian missionaries and the sciences from antiquity to the present. This research has led to an invitation to deliver the keynote public lecture at the 2026 Cain Conference on ’The Global History of Modern Science, 1400-1914' at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia.

John is a member of the New Zealand Historical Association, the Religious History Association, the History of Science Society, and in 2022 was elected as a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion.

This lecture will be followed with light refreshments, tea, coffee and juice.

This event will be livestreamed at the following events link:

https://www.otago.ac.nz/its/services/teaching-and-research-services/streaming/video-streaming-channel-2

Congratulations to Hugh Morrison on the occasion of his Inaugural Professorial Lecture, held last night, 7 May. Hugh is a valued friend of the programme and his lecture was a moving account of his distinguished career in the fields of mission history and the history of childhood. The recording of the lecture will be available in due course on the University of Otago YouTube channel.