Saturday 16 November, 5 pm-5.30 pm

We are delighted to announce the launch of Remembering and Becoming: Oral History in Aotearoa New Zealand will take place at the conference. Wine and capapés will be served.

At the 2016 NOHANZ conference in Christchurch Jock Phillips suggested that oral history had not lived up to its promise of challenging or reframing existing historical narratives or discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand. His comment invites us to consider the nature of the relationship between professional, empirical written histories and the social memory recorded by oral historians.

This book shows how the empirical ‘history of historians’ and social memory exist within a reciprocal relationship, but they do not always focus upon the same aspects of the past or perform precisely the same cultural function. The chapters in the book reveal some of the many ways in which social memory expands our knowledge, challenging or reframing accepted historical narratives while also drawing our attention to neglected dimensions of the past. In addition, oral histories provide valuable insights into the ways in which people connect past, present, and future through social memory.

Megan Hutching has a Master’s degree in history from the University of Auckland, and has worked as an oral historian for over thirty years, writing fifteen books and booklets, as well as articles, chapters, and content for museum and website exhibitions. She has published on a wide range of topics, including immigration, women’s history, New Zealand’s involvement in the Second World War, and commissioned oral histories for professional organisations.

Anna Green has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Auckland, has taught history and oral history at universities in both New Zealand and England, and is currently an Adjunct professor in the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka. She has published books, journal articles, and chapters on a wide range of oral history topics in labour, environmental, and social history, and more generally on history and theory. Her current project is a book on Pākehā intergenerational family memory supported by a Marsden Fund research grant.