September 2019

Indigenous Plant Collectors and the Making of European Natural History in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand

September 12, 2019 Southhem

Indigenous Plant Collectors and the Making of European Natural History in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand Dr. Megan Kuster (UCD) This case study focuses on Indigenous knowledge brokers, natural history collecting, and the environment in nineteenth-century New Zealand. Foregrounding the ways in which imperialism is embedded within the traditions of rationalism and scientific knowledge, and through a critical discussion of the concept of ‘discovery’, it considers the correspondence, journals, and scientific papers of botanists in colonial New Zealand. It aims to recover…

Indigenous Encounters in Colonial Periodical Fiction, 1840-1890

September 11, 2019 Southhem

Indigenous Encounters in Colonial Periodical Fiction, 1840s-1890s Dr. Sarah Galletly (UCD) This case study challenges the critical assumption that Indigenous cultures are rarely represented in the popular fiction of colonial Australia. This assumption largely derives from the study of novels, but it does not hold true of periodical fiction. In her recent study, A World of Fiction (2018), Katherine Bode drew attention to a surprisingly large collection of stories featuring Aboriginal characters in nineteenth-century Australian periodicals, arguing that in nineteenth-century periodical…