Māori, Pacific and cultural studies

A joint initiative between Ngāi Tahu - the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand - and UC, the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre (NTRC) was founded for the purpose of being a leader in indigenous scholarship and to provide a centre for the intellectual capital and development of Ngāi Tahu. Our research in Ngāi Tahu studies includes Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu's treaty-settlement negotiations with the Crown. 

The Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies (MBC) promotes and advances scholarship and understanding of the Pacific region, including Aotearoa New Zealand, its people, societies and cultures, arts, politics, environment and resources. Areas of current research include: Vision and Reality in Pacific Religion, and Securing a Peaceful Pacific. 

Members of Southeast Asia Research Initiative (SEARI) are engaged in research on contemporary Southeast Asia across many disciplines including comparative politics, international relations, history, anthropology and geography.

Research strengths

Ngāi Tahu studies

Areas of current research in Ngāi Tahu studies include:

• Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu's treaty-settlement negotiations with the Crown
• The values and history of The Ōtākaro and North and East Frames
• Canterbury earthquake narratives
• Property Rights in Kaiapoi
• I riro whenua atu me hoki whenua mai | The return of land and the Waikato-Tainui raupatu settlement
• The politics of history and Waikato-Tainui's Raupatu Treaty Settlement
• Understanding Maori 'lived' culture to determine cultural connectedness and wellbeing

Research centres and groups

• Kā Waimaero | Ngāi Tahu Research Centre

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are:

Pacific studies

Areas of current research in Pacific studies include:

• Vision and reality in Pacific religion
• Securing a peaceful Pacific
• Strategic atolls - Tuvalu and the Second World War

Research centres and groups

• Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are:

Asian studies

Areas of current research in Asian studies include:

• Health effects and epidemiology of inorganic arsenic exposure in South Asia
• Government and philanthropy in early colonial Madras
• Productivity differences and exchange rate movements in ASEAN and SAARC countries
• Tibetan and Bhutanese music
• Historical and cultural studies of childhood and education with focus on home-school relationships, literacy, disability, diversity and social justice
• History and ethnography of captive elephant management
• Narratives and rituals of embodiment and notions of social justice with regard to Goludev, a widely worshipped folk deity from Kumaon.
• History of Mathematics and Science in Ancient and Medieval India
• Organisational changes in India after liberalization (post-1991)

Research centres and groups

• New Zealand South Asia Centre
• Confucius Institute
• Southeast Asia Research Initiative

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are:

European studies

Areas of current research in European studies include:

• EU global perceptions
• Crisis, conflict and critical diplomacy: EU perceptions in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine (C3EU)
• Mainstreaming, Methodology and Human Rights in Disaster Risk Management: EU and the Pacific
• The European Union in the eyes of Taiwanese
• EU perceptions in 10 strategic partners: analysis of the perception of the EU and the EU's politics abroad

Research centres and groups

• National Centre for Research on Europe

Researchers and supervisors

Staff actively working in these areas are: