Abstract
I start with a proposition. Historians are story-tellers, not simply fact accumulators. We try to tell true stories. Here, I want to talk about stories of progress and stories of repair.
First, a reflection on pluralism and the idea of progress – or pluralism as a progressive idea – in a very particular context. A recent headline in the New Zealand media related how law students and academics have responded to the government’s inquiry into the teaching of tikanga, prompted by the KC Gary Judd’s complaint on this matter. Some refer to Judd’s claim as an ‘antiquated’ view (see for example Sachdeva 2024). The claim presents a certain value judgment about which views are progressive and which are not. I suggest that framing issues in such a way misses an opportunity for a more interesting and less binary debate.