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    British humanitarians and the founding of New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand. EMBARGOED to 14 November 2026.
    (Massey University, 2024) Wyatt, Philippa
    This thesis reconsiders the intentions of the British humanitarians who sought to implement a ‘new system’ of ‘humane colonisation’ inaugurated by the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. It addresses two principal questions. First, it attempts to understand how scholarly interpretations regarding humanitarians have changed over time and come increasingly to deny any protective intentions. It begins with Keith Sinclair who, although initially critical of humanitarians, came to greatly appreciate the importance and influence of humanitarian thinking and its Christian basis. It then follows the historiographical marginalization of humanitarianism during a period of intense historical revision in the 1970s and 1980s when humanitarianism was dismissed along with long–held ‘myths’ of racial harmony. ‘New Imperial History’, while reintegrating New Zealand with the empire, has likewise continued to present all humanitarians, particularly missionaries, as little more than active agents of imperialism. Secondly, this thesis seeks to provide a revision of that existing interpretation through a re–examination of the intentions of leading humanitarians in 1840. What that assessment reveals is that their goal was to create a more just and equal society, both at home and within the empire. This was understood to be necessary given the ‘crisis of civilization’ these men were then facing as evident in the growing poverty of the working poor within Britain and the increasing mistreatment and exploitation of indigenous peoples in the empire. It was the urgency created by that crisis that not only fueled a revival of faith but united these men as Christians, and led them to then seek to change their society and the empire as a whole through what was to be a radical programme of social and political reform based on ‘moral politics’. What they sought was to empower the poor and marginalized to better help themselves by assisting with their development to a position of ‘social equality’ and independence through educational and social reforms. With regard to Māori, what that meant was implementing a programme of targeted assimilation that could equip them with the education and skills they needed to compete more equally with Pākehā, while maintaining that which was important to their culture and identity, particularly their language. Securing the independence and greater protection of the vulnerable both at home and abroad was also understood to be dependent on securing their greater legal equality and civil rights, and what was a movement inspired by Christian faith and ‘love’ in turn became a civil rights movement that eventually sought to achieve in New Zealand what these men called ‘amalgamation’: the peaceful union of the two races on the basis of a shared faith and equal rights and laws. This was the great hope of the ‘new system’ of ‘humane colonization’ that came to be first attempted in New Zealand. It was also the hope of many Māori leaders, who likewise understood the Treaty to have created a union based on ‘one faith, one love, one law’.
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    A searchlight on New Zealand : what the visit of an imperial battlecruiser tells us about the country in 1913 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Romano, Gail
    The experience of the tour [of the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand] in both imperial and local New Zealand terms, and the insights this offers into the country’s social and political landscape in 1913, are the subjects of this thesis. Three key questions provide the framework for investigating the environment that provided the backdrop to the tour and which, in large part via the press, both set people’s expectations for encounters with the ship and influenced subsequent narratives. It is instructive first to consider, what did the New Zealand’s tour suggest about the country’s relationships within the empire in 1913? This question offers interesting reflections not only on the imperial mind in 1913 but also on the way New Zealanders perceived themselves and their country, as well as on the attitudes towards New Zealand expressed by representatives of the ‘Mother Country’ and the sibling dominions. To begin building a view of the dominion’s pre-war nature that extends beyond the accepted trope, the thesis asks two questions focused on lived experience. What attitudes did various groups of people adopt towards the visit? What does the visit of the battlecruiser tell us about New Zealand society in 1913? By examining the reactions of four different categories of New Zealanders within the context of their individual ‘worlds’, those with official responsibilities, Maori, children and those with political and/or social sympathies outside the mainstream, it is possible to draw a nuanced picture of who New Zealanders were, what had shaped society as a whole and what influences continued to be felt. In short, the battlecruiser’s visit to New Zealand can play a key role in researchers’ understanding of what imperialism actually meant within the dominion and how it was translated in everyday experience. The findings of this thesis will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how the visit and its reception fit into the historiography of New Zealand’s relationship with the British Empire. They will also show that, as a micro study, the 1913 tour provides much material to allow the drawing of a multi-dimensional picture of New Zealanders and New Zealand society prior to the First World War.--From Introduction
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    Remembering and belonging : colonial settlers in New Zealand museums : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2007) Wirick, Esther Lucia
    This study approaches museums as socially constructed signifiers of group identities. Focusing specifically on museological representations of colonial settlers at museums and historical sites in New Zealand, I analyse how this group is constructed in terms of its association with colonialism, empire, and other historical and contemporary groups in New Zealand. In my results chapters, Pride and Shame and Parts of a Whole, I investigate different ways in which colonial settlers are represented in terms of their relationship to Empire, the nation, and other groups within New Zealand. Representations which position settlers within colonial discourses and portray them as heroic pioneers work to justify their presence in New Zealand on the basis that they earned their place through suffering and hard work. This assertion of place and belonging is then questioned by representations which situate colonial settlers within post-colonial discourses that highly criticise the actions of settlers and the institution of colonialism. Representations of colonial settlers can also construct them as related to a cultural group, usually referred to as 'Pakeha', and part of New Zealand's bicultural and multicultural identities. I examine how biculturalism is represented in different ways and use the concepts of separate biculturalism and blended biculturalism to explore these differences. These different political identities reflect a strong sense of ambiguity and ambivalence over New Zealand's political identity, and emphasise how stories from the past can be used in different ways to justify different perspectives of contemporary social and political relationships.
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    The state of the world : colonialism, statism and humanitarian intervention : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Strategic Studies at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Sim, Jeffrey Vee Ming
    Peacekeeping and peacebuilding have been a major issue in International Relations scholarship, especially since the end of the Cold War. Once the Cold War was over, the United Nations found itself drawn into conflicts with different characteristics and for different reasons. This dissertation examines the contours of second generation peacekeeping operations from a standpoint informed by postcolonial theory and other critical theoretical perspectives. It examines the emergence of widened peacemaking and peace enforcement activities in Somalia and Haiti, and also examines alternative approaches to conflict transformation by examining networked social movement responses. In particular, it explores and expounds the postcolonial view that peacekeeping interventions silence and disempower Southern (or Third World) populations, operating as a form of crisis management. It explores the hypothesis that the duty to protest is another form of colonialism, coinciding with structural destabilisation to produce unequal power.