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History and culture research

Research projects

A Union of Hearts and Wills?

'A Union of Hearts and Wills? Second World War Conscription and New Zealand Society' explores New Zealand as a conscripted society and compares it to those of the other mobilised democracies in the British Empire.

Contact David Littlewood

Classical World New Zealand

Classical World New Zealand looks at the distinctive contributions of New Zealand-based artists, actors, theatre directors, filmmakers, musicians, writers and scholars to the modern world’s ongoing dialogue with ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt.

Contact Anastasia Bakogianni

Embodying the Law: Manhood and authority in the making of English legal culture c.1300-1600

Historically the law was made by men, but what did this mean for the evolution of legal thinking and practice? This project uses texts, space and visual culture to explore the ways lawyers’ masculinity interacted with social status and a sense of national identity to shape English common law culture during this formative period.

Contact Amanda McVitty

Exploring Māori Social Justice Concepts

‘Exploring Māori Social Justice Concepts. What if Plato had been Māori?’ This question is posed by a project that explores a Māori approach to social justice and compares it with other Indigenous and Western approaches.

Contact Krushil Watene

Floating families?

‘Floating families? New Chinese migrants in New Zealand and their multi-generational families’ explores the family life of the Chinese migrant community and its role in creating a sense of identity for New Zealand’s flourishing Chinese community.

Contact Sally Liu

New Zealand’s civil war

This Marsden Fund project by Professor Michael Belgrave, Dr Peter Meihana and PhD student Samuel Carpenter is re-evaluating New Zealand society between the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and the invasion of Waikato in 1863, to explore whether this country experienced a civil war.

Contact Michael Belgrave

Philosophy of medicine

Dr John Matthewson is researching the philosophy of medicine. How should we understand the notion of disease and the role that evolutionary biology might play in modern medical research and practice?

Contact John Matthewson

The Citizen - Past and Present

The Citizen - Past and Present by Dr Andrew Brown and Dr John Griffiths is a bold and timely book from Massey University Press that brings political theorists and historians together to examine the role of, and need for, a critical, global and active civil society.

Contact Andrew Brown

Typical New Zealanders

Dr Jeff McNeill’s research looks at the NZ Division’s participation in the WW1 Battle of Messines, and considers whether these Kiwi soldiers were “typical New Zealanders”. His work draws on documents from both sides of the conflict, and uses GIS to examine the battlefield terrain for clues to the events of the battle.

Contact Jeff McNeill

    Departments and staff

    Find out more about the departments and staff involved in history and culture research at Massey.

    School of Humanities, Media and Creative Communication

    School of People, Environment and Planning

    Te Pūtahi-a-Toi - School of Māori Knowledge

    College of Humanities and Social Sciences

    Research centres

    Classical World New Zealand

    Classical World New Zealand demonstrates the modern world’s ongoing dialogue with ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt and highlights New Zealand’s contribution to this conversation.

    Find out more

    Political Ecology Research Centre

    The Political Ecology Research Centre (PERC) is dedicated to connecting groups and individuals whose work emphasises and critiques the relationships between society, environment and politics. PERC members study, teach, research and/or practise political ecology.

    Contact PERC

    W.H. Oliver Humanities Research Academy

    The academy fosters a vibrant, creative and responsive research culture among humanities scholars, to anticipate and addresses current and future research challenges.

    Find out more