About

The past exerts a powerful hold over our present and future. Understanding the selective
processes of remembrance and forgetfulness about difficult events in New Zealand’s colonial era is
an important step towards becoming a more confident, engaged and self-aware nation. These are our
stories, our history. Documenting how memories are transmitted across generations within tribal
settings, and the ‘art of forgetting’ that underlies wider public silences, will greatly advance our
knowledge of contested or fractured memories and how they shape contemporary group identities. Read more about the project and our team.

Image (top): Joanna Kidman conducting fieldwork at Ōmarunui. Photograph: Vincent O'Malley