Study History at Otago

Violeta Gilabert:

Kia ora, my name is Violeta Gilabert and I’m a teaching fellow here at the History program at Otago. Not so long ago, I was actually a student, and I’m here to tell you about my experience building up to becoming a historian.

So, when I was deciding what I was going to do as a university course, I chose to study history because I loved it. For many of the reasons that John cited, it helped me to understand the world and to think creatively and critically about how the past impacts the present.

I actively resisted the idea of thinking about my future and what I might do as a job because, according to popular logic and basically everyone I spoke to, I didn’t want to study history if I was going to land a job. What I wasn’t prepared for is that I’d get a job out of my second year.

In addition to internships, the one I did was at the Toitū Settlers Museum here at Otago. We offer a structured internship program. You can work at the Otago Daily Times, getting experience in journalism, or you can go for the Dunedin Public Art Gallery or even the Hocken Library, working with research archives. There is such a huge variety of opportunities to build your skills before you even get out the gate.

I had the most fun I’ve ever had studying history at Otago. The student community is just fabulous, and I couldn’t recommend it any more than that.

Associate Professor John Stenhouse:

Kia ora kotou, let me introduce myself, John Stenhouse is my name. I’m head of the History program at the University of Otago, and I thought I’d start off my little spiel this morning by giving a little history lecture.

Why did New Zealand do so well in the COVID-19 lockdown? Well, there are a number of factors: we had great political leadership, great medical and scientific leadership, and we’re geographically isolated. But one of the major factors lies in our past.

The fact is, in times of crisis in the past, we’ve pulled together as a team of well, five million, as Jacinda put it. We have pulled together for the sake of the common good, and that’s a set of values that were deeply rooted in our past. That got us through the First World War really well, and they are still with us.

Contrast this with the US, where there was more resistance during lockdown, with a lot of folks refusing to lock down and waving American flags. In America, the great political value is freedom. Here, it’s fairness and looking out for one another. So, the past isn’t even past—it lives in the present.

That’s one way of saying that if you study history at Otago, you’ll understand all sorts of things about our world today much better than otherwise.

We’ve got a great set of academics. We’ve got two more people arriving at the beginning of the second semester this year and at the beginning of next year.

The first-year courses you can study include New Zealand in the World from the 18th Century, a great new course on revolutions, a course on the global 20th century looking at totalitarian regimes, dictatorships, and the rise of democracy, and, of course, from Medieval to Modern Europe.

You’ll love them—they’re great courses, and we’ve got great lecturers. I’m looking forward to seeing you here next year.