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Division of Humanities Departments

Division of Humanities Departments

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Apart from being able to specialise in traditional core disciplines (such as History, Philosophy and Music), Humanities students may also choose among a variety of new interdisciplinary programmes such as Asian Studies, Film and Media Studies, and Performing Arts), as well as programmes that lead to professional qualifications in Law and Teaching. Students taking Humanities at Otago are encouraged to combine their liberal studies with papers and programmes that have a professional or vocational orientation, especially by doing a double degree for example, BA/BCom, BA/LLB, or BA/BTchg(Prim).

Sub-communities within Division of Humanities Departments

Centre for Sustainability [213]
Department of English [89]
Department of Geography [208]
Department of Languages and Cultures [33]
Department of Media, Film and Communication [38]
Department of Theology and Religion [123]
Music, Theatre and Performing Arts Studies [65]
Te Tumu School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies [91]

Collections in Division of Humanities Departments

Anthropology and Archaeology [125]
Centre for Research on Children and Families [6]
Classics [27]
College of Education [96]
History and Art History [192]
Law Collection [104]
National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies [43]
Philosophy [35]
Politics [55]
Sociology, Gender and Social Work [187]
Visual Culture [2]

Recent Deposits

Spiritual Journeying with ‘A New Zealand Prayer Book: He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa’: Perspectives from Three Tikanga.

Gerritsen, Max Anthony (Thesis, Master of Theology, 2017)

This thesis begins by exploring the varied spiritual backgrounds and current practices of people of the three Tikanga Anglican Church within the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. It focuses on the New Zealand ...
Between motion and stasis : Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia and Schönheit im Olympischen Kampf

Morris, Stella Anne (Dissertation, B.A. (Hons.), 2012)

This dissertation examines the impact of viewing images in motion compared to when static. This is achieved through an analysis of the film Olympia compared to the photographic book Schönheit im Olympischen Kampf In doing ...
Making the Choice for Music

Brown, Sara Margaret (Thesis, Master of Arts, 2017)

This research examines the impact of formal and informal music education experiences on the decision-making process of students who choose to pursue tertiary music studies. By examining the literature on this subject, and ...
The Colonial Family Album : Photography and Identity in Otago, 1848-1890

Haley, Jill Marie (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017)

This thesis looks at photography and album culture in Otago, New Zealand, between 1848 when the first Otago settlement colonists arrived and 1890 when snapshot cameras became widely available. It builds on work by Elizabeth ...
The Age of the Superhero: The Cycle of Appropriation & Revitalisation in the Hollywood Blockbuster

Smith, Edmund (Thesis, Master of Arts, 2017)

Over the course of the 2000s, the Hollywood blockbuster welcomed the superhero genre into its ranks, after these films saw an explosion in popularity. Now, the ability to produce superhero films through an extended transmedia ...
The Dunedin Energy Study 2015-2016

Dippie, Olive; Stephenson, Janet; Jack, Michael (Commissioned Report for External Body, 2017)

The Dunedin Energy Baseline Study is a joint research project between the Dunedin City Council (DCC) and the Centre for Sustainability at the University of Otago. The study takes stock of and analyses energy inputs to the ...
Fanohge Famalåo’an & Fan’tachu Fama’lauan: Women Rising Indigenous Resistance to Militarization in the Marianas Archipelago

Frain, Sylvia (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017)

This project examines how Indigenous women nonviolently resist the invisible and visible sexist and environmental politics of everyday and expanding militarization by the United States in the Marianas Archipelago. As ...
The potential of queer theorising in early childhood education: Disrupting heteronormativity and practising for inclusion

Gunn, Alexandra C. (Chapter in Book, Sexual Cultures in Aotearoa/New Zealand Education, 2015)
Painting with Sound: Exploring Transformational Aspects of Studio Production Processes, within the framework of Acousmatic Music Practice

Cotton, Dale William (Thesis, Master of Music, 2017)

This Thesis investigates a series of transformative studio production processes used in the creation of Acousmatic music from fixed media sourced on a research trip to the Huế peninsula in Vietnam. It also looks at a ...
Good Governance, Corruption and Growth: A Political Economy of Post-Socialist Industrial Transformation in Albania and Kosovo, 1998-2015

Uberti, Luca J. (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017)

Since the mid-1990s, the “rediscovery” of institutions in development theory and policy has brought political and bureaucratic corruption to the centre stage of donor interventions in developing countries. The Post-Washington ...
Freshwater allocation in New Zealand and Florida: Learning to improve our first-in, first-served approach.

Byron, Sherilyn Kaye (Thesis, Master of Planning, 2017)

Freshwater is the world's most valuable resource. How we manage access to and use of that resource is important. New Zealand's freshwater management system has evolved from common law beginnings into a multi layer regulatory ...
Creative Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Forging a New Path for Ethnographic Film in Aotearoa New Zealand

Metzler, Ryan (Thesis, Master of Arts, 2017)

This thesis envisions a new path for ethnographic cinema. While revisionist works challenge a colonial study that has invaded, marginalized, and catalogued the researched Other, my research recognizes film as a collaborative ...
Exploring resilience to climate change and other environmental challenges in Samoan communities

Latai- Niusulu, Anita (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017)

Climate change could be one of the most significant challenges of this century, and information about how societies have endured difficult times is crucial to the development of survival strategies. The latter is fundamental ...
Relativization in Korean: Formal Restrictions and Functional Solutions

Lee, Jieun (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017)

This study is about how Korean deals with restrictions in relative clause (RC) formation by using constructions that are functionally similar to an RC. Korean is regarded as a language that uses the pronoun-retention ...
Production, Genre and Composition: A study of approaches to contemporary studio production

Parkins-Craig, Madeleine (Thesis, Doctor of Musical Arts, 2017)

Within Popular Music Studies genre has been most commonly approached from the perspectives of music consumers, and rarely from that of music creators. On the rare occasions that the influence of genre on music creators has ...
The balance of vulnerability and the distribution of fear in East Asia

Bailey, John (Thesis, Master of Arts, 2017)

This dissertation examines East Asian reactions to the rise of China. More specifically, it seeks to address the question: ‘how can the distribution of fear in East Asia, which reflects a direct response to China’s rise, ...
Silence in Translation: Interpreting 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 in Myanmar

Hluan, Sui (Anna) (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017)

The concept of silence, which is understood by Myanmar people as a sign of submission to the powerful who are anyone in a position of authority, has gained importance in Myanmar due to its prolonged history of imperial, ...
Ageing in an Increasingly Diverse Aotearoa New Zealand

George, Mary (Molly) (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017)

Well within the span of older New Zealanders’ lifetimes, the country’s population has changed substantially from its bicultural roots consisting primarily of Māori (the Tangata Whenua and indigenous peoples) and a ...
Timebanking in New Zealand: Academic and Activist Discussions of its Challenges and Pleasures

McGuirk, Emma (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2017)

This ethnographic and participatory action research project explores the emerging movement of timebanking in New Zealand. Beginning in 2004, timebanks have developed in more than 25 locations around New Zealand, drawing ...
Durational Thematicism and the Temporal Process: The Golden Ratio as a Thematic Idea in Beethoven's B-flat Major String Quartet, Op. 130, and the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133

Suggate, David Michael (Thesis, Master of Arts, 2017)

This thesis explores the use of Fibonacci sequences, and other rhythmic proportions corresponding to the golden ratio in Beethoven's string quartet No. 13, Op. 130, and its original finale, the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133. This ...