The merchant vessel Edwin Fox wasexceptional for being unexceptional. It was old fashioned even before its keel was laid down in Thomas Reeves’s shipyards near Calcutta in 1853. It was neither large nor fast, and had none of the prestige of the great tea and opium clippers that captured the public imagination in the mid-nineteenth … More Seminar: Boyd Cothran and Adrian Shubert, ‘Vessel of Globalization: The Many Worlds of the Edwin Fox, 1853-1905’

In 1866, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker congratulated James Hector on the recent opening of the Colonial Museum, writing ‘I am heartily glad you have started the Museum at Wellington; there is nothing like a Museum and gardens to screw money out of the public for science. Every shilling we have here has been through the … More Seminar: Rebecca Rice, ‘Conversazione at the “Curiosity Shop”’

The famous savant Pavel Josef Šafařík proposed a six-layer system for linguistic classification: he divided the Jazyk (language) into mluvy, the mluva into řeči, the řeč into nářeči, the nářeč into podřeči, and the podřeč into různořeči. These terms enjoyed popularity among mid-nineteenth-century Slavists. Classificatory taxonomies also became objects of patriotic contestation: one celebrated dispute … More Seminar: Alexander Maxwell, ‘Panslav Linguistic Classification: Status Disputes Beyond Languages and Dialects’

The call for papers for Dragon Tails 2019 – the 6th Australasian conference on Chinese diaspora history and heritage (20-23 November 2019) – has been extended to 31 May 2019. The Dragon Tails Association is now accepting submissions for its biennial conference, which will be hosted by Wai-Te-Ata Press at the Victoria Unversity of Wellington. Conference theme: … More Call for Papers Extention: Dragon Tails 2019 – Translation and Transformation

Nominations are now open for the three major prizes administered by the NZHA: The Best First Book Prize The W.H. Oliver Prize The Mary Boyd Prize All nominations for these prizes close on the 31st of May, 2019. For more information and to submit a nomination, the First Book/Oliver prize form is available HERE and … More Nominations for NZHA prizes now open

This paper examines the indigenous-colonial discourse on the treatment for Indian insanity. The paper argues that the establishment of the asylums necessitated a colonial construction of the Indian understanding of mental illness and its treatment as entirely spiritual and consequently ‘superstitious’. Colonial agencies used this narrative to justify the establishment of the asylum and promote … More Seminar: Sarah Pinto, ‘Indian Insanity and the Local-Colonial Contest for its Treatment’

The call for papers deadline for the NZHA conference, ‘Kanohi-ki-te-Kanohi: Histories for our Time’ has been extended. We are now accepting submissions up to April 26.