Professor Tony Ballantyne will launch his new book, 'Captain Cook and the Unsettled Afterlives of Empire' (Bridget Williams Books), at a special event next month. “I wrote this book to demonstrate how images and interpretations of Captain Cook were shaped by local histories and how they evolved over time,” Tony says.
After nine years in the making, Professor Tony Ballantyne is looking forward to finally sharing his book on controversial figure Captain James Cook.
Captain Cook and the Unsettled Afterlives of Empire
Captain Cook and the Unsettled Afterlives of Empire (Bridget Williams Books) will be launched at a special event at the Hutton Theatre, Tūhura Otago Museum, on 5 August.
Tony – who is a Distinguished Chair Poutoko Taiea in History at Otago – says Cook has always been a contested figure, especially in places where the legacies of imperial violence and dispossession weigh most heavily.
“I wrote this book to demonstrate how images and interpretations of Captain Cook were shaped by local histories and how they evolved over time.
“The book highlights an array of competing assessments of Cook produced by historians and scientists, missionaries and iwi leaders, journalists and politicians, artists and activists. It explores how debates about Cook reflected radically different perspectives on empire and colonisation, and how these discussions contributed to visions of New Zealand’s history and national identity.”
The book will be launched by Otago Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson. Ngāti Oneone artist and historian Nick Tūpara will also speak, and Senior Strategic Adviser Māori Matiu Workman (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) will MC the event.
Tony would like to extend a special invitation to Otago kaimahi and tauira to join him in launching his sixth book.
“I am really grateful to my friends and colleagues here at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka for their support of my research and I am also very appreciative of the students who I teach and supervise – they really help me think carefully about the past and the purpose of History as a discipline.
“I also want to particularly acknowledge the fantastic teams in our Library and Hocken Collections, whose mahi continues to enable my research.”
Tony first arrived at the University as a student in 1990 and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1993. In 2002 he returned to Otago as a lecturer in the History Programme, eventually becoming Head of Department – History and Art History then Pro-Vice-Chancellor Humanities. He became Deputy Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement) in 2021 before returning to the History Programme in 2024.
“In many ways this is an Otago book: it was the great teachers and researchers at Otago who made me want to become a historian, the riches of Hocken Collections have been a key foundation of my research for a long time, and my development as a historian owes so much to this University.
“I am so pleased the book is being launched here in Ōtepoti.”
Launch details
When: Wednesday 5 August, 5.30 pm
Where: Hutton Theatre, Tūhura Otago Museum
– Kōrero by Internal Communications Adviser Laura Hewson
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