Decolonisation is a term that scares some, and gives hope to others. It is an uncomfortable and bewildering concept for many New Zealanders - yet needed if we are going to build a country that is fair..
The content of this short book is derived directly from the larger illustrated publication, foregoing all illustrations to suit the BWB Texts format.
He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tir..
The content of this short book is derived directly from the larger illustrated publication, foregoing all illustrations to suit the BWB Texts format.
In 1840, over 500 Maori leaders put their nam..
The content of this short book is derived directly from the larger illustrated publication, foregoing all illustrations to suit the BWB Texts format.
In 1893 New Zealand became the first country ..
In 1881, colonial troops invaded the village of Parihaka on the Taranaki coast. In an attempt to quell the non-violent direct action taken by the community against land confiscations, the government s..
'Most of the time I have no idea what to do with them or what to say in response to them.'Award-winning New Zealand poet Glenn Colquhoun is also a doctor who works with struggling young people at the ..
Many of today's digital technologies inadvertently amplify the power structures and prejudices of wider society. By examining the way digital tools and platforms are designed, built, and maintained, t..
The state of New Zealand's freshwater has become an urgent public issue in recent years. From across the political spectrum, concern is growing about the pollution of New Zealand's rivers and streams...
Negotiating a claim before the Waitangi Tribunal can involve troubling challenges to an iwi's legitimacy, sometimes from unexpected places. In this unique behind-the-scenes account of the negotiation ..
In 2013, there were over 66,000 more women between the ages of 25-49 living in New Zealand than there were men. This so-called 'man drought' is a hot topic for journalists and academics alike, who com..
‘Death is coming closer to me. And in my dark dreams of fierce presences trying to break into my sight to smother me, I’d wake shouting, with Reina holding and consoling me.’
For many years one o..
Acknowledged internationally for his ground- breaking scientific research in the field of magnetic resonance, Sir Paul Callaghan was a scientist and visionary with a rare gift for promoting science to..
New Zealand has been one of the world's heaviest users of pesticides, including some contaminated with dioxin, a notorious toxic chemical. In this BWB Text a leading epidemiologist uses the example of..
For novelist Stephanie Johnson, her relationship with Australia and Australians has been an ambivalent one. She has lived there for periods in her life, and her first book, a collection of short stori..
New Zealand's dairy industry is big business. But what are the hidden - and not so hidden - costs of intensive farming?Evidence presented here by ecologist Mike Joy demonstrates that intensive dairy f..
When natural disaster strikes, how much is the public entitled to know - even when the scientists aren't sure? What obligations do they have to a general public thirsty for information about what will..
'The idea of Maori privilege continues to be deployed in order to constrain Maori aspirations and maintain the power imbalance that colonisation achieved in the nineteenth century.' The 'idea of Maori..
"Home can and should be a source of wellbeing, a place that connects us to our whanau, community, land, culture and history."
Pre-nineteenth-century Maori society was complex: rich tribal economi..
By combining first-person narratives, journalism and research, Reconnecting Aotearoa explores the profound impact of strong connections and the consequences of loneliness and disconnection. Through po..
‘Your words of “discomfort, loss, and disconnection” don’t resonate with me at all.’ Ruth Richardson to Andrew Dean, 16 December 2014.
A time of major upheaval now stands between young and old in..
In an era of populist politics, Brexit, Donald Trump, 24-hour news cycles and perpetual election campaigning, how do we govern well for the future? How do we take the long view, ensuring that present-..
Data flows around the world as computers trade in 0s and 1s, silently making decisions that affect all of us, every day.
Meanwhile, we humans shout louder than ever before, spreading news and opinio..
30 years ago, Marilyn Waring's ground-breaking book Counting for Nothing was released. Waring explained, through meticulous economic analysis, how the success of the global economy rests on women's un..
Based on his investigative Newsroom series, Aaron Smale's Tairawhiti: Pine, Profit and the Cyclone goes deep into the region's struggle with colonial legacies and environmental mismanagement. Through ..
"It is easy to look at the extremity of `post truth' politics in the US and conclude that we must be doing something ok in New Zealand. But in many ways, the foundations of our media system are in wor..
The world is heating up beyond the capacity of some countries to cope. Entire populations of Pacific Islands are at risk, jeopardising the sovereign rights of these countries and the security of the r..
What do the economics of decolonisation mean for the future of Aotearoa? This question drives the work of Matthew Scobie and Anna Sturman as they explore the complex relationship between tangata whenu..
In August 2016, 40 per cent of the residents of Havelock North were suddenly struck down by a serious bacterial infection. The outbreak of campylobacter, caused by the contamination of the water suppl..
'What follows is a microhistory of collective revolt.'
In 1843, the New Zealand Company settlement of Nelson was rocked by the revolt of its emigrant labourers. Over 70 gang-men and their wives c..
Few books have had the global impact of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century. An overnight bestseller, Piketty's assessment that inherited wealth will always grow faster, on average, t..
In a book that is both deeply personal and highly political, Melani Anae recalls the radical activism of Auckland's Polynesian Panthers - the movement modelled on the US Black Panther Party 'but witho..
In the era of public choice and free markets, does the New Zealand state still have the best interests of its individual citizens at heart? Since 1984, as Margaret Wilson argues, the shift to a neo-li..
'I began to pull the threads of my experience back together. Instead of divergent stories about public failure, private torment, and postnatal distress, I started telling myself a united story: the tr..
For London-based writer Kirsty Gunn, returning to the city of her birth to spend a winter in a tiny colonial cottage in Thorndon is an exciting opportunity to walk the very streets and hills that Kath..
'The bottom line question is: what actions in this time period are truly vital, and will we take them?'Our climate is changing, in ways that will have long-term impacts for us and for our children. Ye..
2014 was the hottest year since record keeping began back in 1880. July 2015 was recently confirmed as the globe's hottest month ever recorded, both on land and in the oceans. This December a major in..
Two Hundred and Fifty Ways to Start an Essay about Captain Cook, No. 29:
With a Non-argument that’s Actually an Argument. Captain Cook? It’s all so very complex. I’m going to sit on the fence. (W..
The most recent NBR Rich List has revealed the biggest proportional increase in wealth since the list first appeared in 1986. But what do these figures mean and what else do we know about New Zealand'..
'Behind the foreground narratives of justification, real or symbolic wounds are stored in the archives of cultural memory.'
From curriculum to commemoration to constitutional reform, our society..
What makes Aotearoa New Zealand one of the most picturesque countries in the world? Its striking landscape can range from the snow-capped alps to the breezy ocean in a few hundred kilometres, requirin..
Spontaneous combustion and exhumation, drug mules and devil worshippers, a gruesome killing
beneath the Palmerston North Airport control tower, a mysterious death in a historic homestead, a first..
The Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti) is the founding document of our national identity. Traditionally understood as conveying full sovereignty to the Crown, today it is viewed as creating some form of c..
Written in an effort to ward off existential dread, and to find new
understandings and consolations for those similarly afflicted,
The Chthonic Cycle is an eccentric and brilliantly curated tour
..