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Conference paper: Henry Williams’ intellectual formation in English Dissent
… and his views on the Waitara controversy, c. 1860. The slides and recording below represent a conference paper given at the New Zealand Historical Association Conference last week, at the University of Auckland. (The NZHA conference is the main conference of Aotearoa-NZ historians held biennially.) Abstract of paper: The Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionary…
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Published article on reconciling the Māori and English language texts of the Treaty-te Tiriti
Citation: Samuel D. Carpenter, “Reconciling the Treaty/te Tiriti Through the Discourse of Civil Government/Kāwanatanga,” Journal of New Zealand Studies 39 (2025): 44-64, https://doi.org/10.26686/jnzs.iNS39.9892. Link also here: Reconciling the Treaty/te Tiriti Through the Discourse of Civil Government/Kāwanatanga | The Journal of New Zealand Studies Abstract:This essay charts a middle course between the old, basically Pākehā orthodoxy…
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Talk at National Library on Henry Williams + Te Tiriti
I was invited by the National Library, “E Oho! Waitangi!” series, to share my research and insights into Henry Williams’ translation of the Treaty of Waitangi. I append below my text from this talk for download. (Please cite to this page if using for research purposes.) The Event page at National Library is here: E…
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Treaty Principles Bill: The principles need to remain tied to the historical Treaty
Published in the New Zealand Herald last week: online 19 November 2024, print 20 November 2024 Treaty Principles Bill: The principles need to remain tied to the historical Treaty – Dr Samuel Carpenter – NZ Herald
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From the Archives, no. 8
I have taken great pleasure recently in writing a concise narrative of the great sea battle of January 1815 between HMS Endymion and USS President, which took place at the close of the War of 1812 with America – after which the Napoleonic Wars in Europe also drew to a close. I received the other…
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Do we need the English text of the treaty too?
An imagined conversation: Yes, we need the English text, because the Māori text came from the English text… Hang on, the English text says Māori ceded sovereignty – but they didn’t! This confuses people visiting Te Papa museum. They didn’t cede their hapū rangatiratanga, yes, but they ceded to the Crown the kāwanantanga (government) of…
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Op-Ed: understanding “the Doctrine of Discovery” in context
I was recently asked to contribute an opinion piece on the recent discourse surrounding “the Doctrine of Discovery”. I attempted to locate the “doctrine” in context by explaining what it was (and what it wasn’t). I argued that it has little direct relevance to New Zealand history, while also acknowledging that an assertion of sovereignty…
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From the Archives, no. 4: early printed versions of He Wakaputanga 1835 and Te Tiriti 1840 – printed at the Paihia mission press
I came across these in my files this week and just thought I would post them here: first, because they are beautifully clear printing efforts by William Colenso (in 1836) and John Telford (in 1845) on the Paihia mission press; and second, because they are reminders of how interwoven the story of these documents are…
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Can te Tiriti-the Treaty be reconciled? A review of Ned Fletcher’s The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi – by S. Carpenter
Just published in the last week or so: Samuel Carpenter, ‘Review of The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi, by Ned Fletcher. Bridget Williams Books, 2022′, in New Zealand Journal of History 57/1 (2023): 93-94.
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from the lecture room #2
Below is a second lecture segment that highlights two of the most significant Māori political speeches and correspondence of the mid-nineteenth century: Rēnata Kawepō’s critique of the Waitara transaction, and Wiremu Tamehana’s defence of the Kīngitanga. (Another segment from my lecture series at Laidlaw College for the level 600 and 700 paper Te Harinui: Christianity…