Emeritus Professor Judy Bennett, Our People, History, University of Otago, New Zealand

Contact Details

Academic Qualifications

1980: PhD (History) Australian National University

Research Interests

Professor Bennett’s research interests are in Pacific History, Environmental History and Australia's and New Zealand's relations with the Pacific Islands.

Judy’s most recent books include Oceanian Journeys and Sojourns: Home thoughts Abroad, which she edited in 2015, which considers human mobility and its social meanings in the Pacific.

Judy was the lead investigator of her first Marsden-funded project, entitled "Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen” with Associate Professor Angela Wanhalla in 2010-2012. That book has been published by University of Hawaii Press and the University of Otago Press (2016)
If you are looking for further information on the Mothers' Darlings research project, or you are looking for your American serviceman father or relative, please follow this link:

http://www.otago.ac.nz/usfathers

and see Youtube: Children of Conflict, a documentary shown in Maori TV on Anzac Day 2014 which traces the experiences of some of the children of the wartime Pacific.

Currently leading her second Marsden project (2015-2017: Constant coconuts), the project focuses on the history of the coconut and its related commodities in the tropical Pacific and seeks to discover the meanings and implications attached to these commodities along the chain from producer to consumer.

Research Profile

• Former co-editor and current board member of 'The Journal of Pacific History' (Canberra).
• Editorial Board of 'Pacific Affairs' (Vancouver).
• Assessor of Pacific-related applications for the Australian Research Council.
• Referee for 'Agricultural History' (USA), 'Pacific Studies' (Hawaii), 'Global Environmental Politics' (Sydney).
• Board member of the Pacific History Association.
• Member of the Forest History Society
• Member of the University of Otago’s Centre for Research on Colonial Culture.

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Publications

Bennett, J. A., & Poyer, L. (2023). World War II and the Pacific. In A. P. Hattori & J. Samson (Eds.), The Cambridge history of the Pacific Ocean (Vol. 2): The Pacific Ocean since 1800. (pp. 588-613). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108226875.031

Bennett, J. A. (2023). The Pacific world: Doing history from lagoons to the deep. In R. T. Jones & M. K. Matsuda (Eds.), The Cambridge history of the Pacific Ocean (Vol. 1): The Pacific Ocean to 1800. (pp. 107-124). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108539272.008

Bennett, J. A. (2022). Growing coconut palms in the Pacific Islands: Colliding knowledge and values. Environment & History, 28(1), 17-52. doi: 10.3197/096734019X15755402985659

Bennett, J. A. (2021). Fluid frontiers and uncertain geographies: US controls on immigration from the Pacific, c. 1880−1950. Journal of Pacific History, 56(3), 236-257. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2017.1406319

Bennett, J. A. (2020). [Review of the book Pursuing respect in the Cannibal Isles: Americans in nineteenth-century Fiji]. Journal of World History, 31(4), 817-820. doi: 10.1353/jwh.2020.0058

Bennett, J. A. (2009). Natives and exotics: World War II and environment in the southern Pacific. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, 439p.

Authored Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2000). Pacific Forest: A History of Resource Control and Contest in Solomon Islands, c.1800-1997. Brill Academic, Leiden: White Horse Press, Cambridge, 512p.

Authored Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (1999). Solomons Islands History: Christianity and Colonialism. Honiara: Curriculum Development Centre, 100p.

Authored Book - Research

Bennett, J. A., & Wanhalla, A. (Eds.). (2016). Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, 379p.

Edited Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (Ed.). (2015). Oceanian journeys and sojourns: Home thoughts abroad. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press, 390p.

Edited Book - Research

Bayliss-Smith, T., & Bennett, J. A. (Eds.). (2012). An Otago storeman in Solomon Islands: The diary of William Crossan, copra trader, 1885-86. Canberra, Australia: ANU E Press, 95p.

Edited Book - Research

Ballantyne, T., & Bennett, J. A. (Eds.). (2005). Landscape/community: Perspectives from New Zealand. Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago Press, 181p.

Edited Book - Research

Bennett, J. A., & Russell, K. J. (Eds.). (2003). Journeys in a small canoe: The life and times of a Solomon Islander [by L. M. Gina]. Canberra: Pandanus Books, 301p.

Edited Book - Research

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2016). Bora Bora: "Like a dream". In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. 31-41). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2016). No Bali Ha'i: New Hebrides. In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. 118-145). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2016). On the atolls: Gilbert Islands. In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. 270-299). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2016). Prologue: War comes to the Pacific. In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. xxi-xxiv). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2016). The Solomon Islands: Off the radar. In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. 228-242). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2016). Tonga in the time of the Americans. In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. 165-182). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2016). Wallis (Uvea) Island: A different kind of love story. In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. 146-164). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2016). War surplus? New Zealand and American children of indigenous women in Sāmoa, the Cook Islands, and Tokelau. In K. Pickles & C. Coleborne (Eds.), New Zealand Pacific empire. (pp. 179-194). Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A., & Wanhalla, A. (2016). Introduction: A new net goes fishing. In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. 1-30). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Wanhalla, A., Bennett, J. A., & Anderson, R. (2016). Epilogue. In J. A. Bennett & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Mothers' darlings of the South Pacific: The children of indigenous women and US servicemen, World War II. (pp. 300-308). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2015). John Burke, historian and collector: Taking Solomon Islands back to the United States after World War II. In J. A. Bennett (Ed.), Oceanian journeys and sojourns: Home thoughts abroad. (pp. 246-275). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2015). Seeking the heart of mobility. In J. A. Bennett (Ed.), Oceanian journeys and sojourns: Home thoughts abroad. (pp. 10-36). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A., Leckie, J., & Wanhalla, A. (2015). Mothers' darlings: Secrets and silences in the wake of the Pacific War. In C. Twomey & E. Koh (Eds.), The Pacific War: Aftermaths, remembrance and culture. (pp. 214-232). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2014). A vanishing people or a vanishing discourse? W.H.R. Rivers’s ‘psychological factor’ and the depopulation of the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides. In E. Hviding & C. Berg (Eds.), The ethnographic experiment: A. M. Hocart and W. H. R. Rivers in Island Melanesia, 1908. (pp. 214-251). New York: Berghahn Books.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2012). 'Inevitable erosion of heroes and landmarks': An end to the politics of Allied war memorials in Tarawa? In M. Gegner & B. Ziino (Eds.), The heritage of war. (pp. 88-106). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2011). The American imperial threat to New Zealand's Pacific dependencies in World War Two. In I. Conrich & D. Alessio (Eds.), New Zealand, France and the Pacific. (pp. 41-57). Nottingham, UK: Kakapo Books.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2006). Framing the exotic. In P. Ahrens (Ed.), Tour of paradise: An American soldier in the South Pacific. (pp. 21-30). Queensland, Australia: Vulgar Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Ballantyne, T., & Bennett, J. A. (2005). Introduction. In T. Ballantyne & J. A. Bennett (Eds.), Landscape/community: Perspectives from New Zealand. (pp. 9-16). Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. (2005). From ignorance to intervention: The role of Australia. In J. Henderson & G. Watson (Eds.), Securing a peaceful Pacific. (pp. 430-441). Christchurch, New Zealand: University of Canterbury.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2004). Pests and disease in the Pacific War: Crossing the line. In R. P. Tucker & E. Russell (Eds.), Natural enemy, natural ally: Towards an environmental history of war. (pp. 217-251). Oregon State University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Bennett, J. A. (2022). Growing coconut palms in the Pacific Islands: Colliding knowledge and values. Environment & History, 28(1), 17-52. doi: 10.3197/096734019X15755402985659

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2018). Pacific coconut: Comestible, comfort and commodity. Journal of Pacific History, 53(4), 353-374. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2018.1523705

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2018). Voices of Rotuma: Enduring refrain. Journal of Pacific History, 53(4), 502-520. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2018.1507728

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2013). Meditations: New directions in the study of the decolonisation of Melanesia. Journal of Pacific History, 48(3), 323-329. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2013.840430

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2009). Japanese wartime internees in New Zealand: Fragmenting Pacific Island families. Journal of Pacific History, 44(1), 61-76. doi: 10.1080/00223340902900795

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2006). Gorai and population decline in the Shortlands: A reply to Peter Sack. Journal of Pacific History, 41(1), 97-102. doi: 10.1080/00223340600652482

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2006). Malaria, medicine, and Melanesians: Contested hybrid spaces in World War II. Health & History, 8(1), 27-55. Retrieved from http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/hah/8.1/bennett.htl

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2005). Big picture, myopic gaze: Histories of the Solomons' crisis. Journal of Pacific Studies, 28(1), 118-133.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2004). Fears and aspirations: US Military Intelligence operations in the South Pacific, 1941-1945. Journal of Pacific History, 39(3), 283-307.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2003). Local resource use in the Pacific War with Japan: Logging in Western Melanesia. War & Society, 21(1), 83-118.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2002). Wartime Emergency and the Displacement of Indians in Fiji: Cost and Compensation. Journal of Pacific History, 37(2), 205-219.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2001). Germs or rations? Beriberi and Japanese Labor Experiment in Colonial Fiji and Queensland. Pacific Studies, 24(3), 1-17.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2001). War, emergency and the environment: Fiji, 1939-1946. Environment & History, 7, 255-287.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2000). Across the Bougainville strait: Commercial interests and colonial rivalry, c.1880-1960. Journal of Pacific History, 35(1), 67-82.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2000). The grievous mistakes of the Vanikoro concession: The Vanikoro Kauri Timber Company, Solomon Islands, 1926-1964. Environment & History, 6(3), 317-347.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (1996). Logging labour on Vanikoho, Solomon Islands: The achievements of "The most deeble in the commercial world" 1923-1964. Pacific Studies, 19(2), 1-36.

Journal - Research Article

Bennett, J. A. (2020). [Review of the book Pursuing respect in the Cannibal Isles: Americans in nineteenth-century Fiji]. Journal of World History, 31(4), 817-820. doi: 10.1353/jwh.2020.0058

Journal - Research Other

Bennett, J. A. (2017). [Review of the book Isles of amnesia: The history, geography, and restoration of America’s forgotten Pacific Islands]. Journal of Pacific History, 52(1), 120-121. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2016.1268670

Journal - Research Other

Bennett, J. A. (2017). [Review of the book Niue 1774–1974: 200 years of contact and change]. Pacific Affairs, 90(3), 637-639. [Book Review].

Journal - Research Other

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