Much of Lachy's primary research involves niupepa (Māori-language newspapers) and other texts of the mid-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. From these and other sources he explores the social, political and religious discourses promulgated within these publications, and has published widely on this topic.
His most recent monograph (co-written with Professor Angela Wanhalla) is He Reo Wāhine: Māori Women’s Voices from the Nineteenth Century (Auckland University Press, 2017). More recently he co-edited (with Professor Tony Ballantyne and Professor Angela Wanhalla) Indigenous Textual Cultures: Reading and Writing in the Age of Global Empire (Duke University Press, 2020).
Lachy’s most recent project, has been working with Angela Wanhalla on “Te Hau Kāinga: Histories and Legacies of the Māori Home Front, 1939-45”, supported by the Royal Society Te Aparangi’s Marsden Fund. This project explores the impact of war at home on ordinary Māori families and communities, and on Māori society more broadly, during and after the conflict. Two publications are expected in 2024, one in English and the other in te reo Māori.
Supervision
As seen below, Lachy has supervised a wide range of postgraduate students completing PhD and Masters theses, as well as Masters and Honours-level dissertations. His students have included various topics relating to Māori or Indigenous history, theology, education, language and culture, some written in te reo Māori, researching a wide array of historical or contemporary issues.
Megan Pōtiki, PhD (2023), Historic Language Loss at Ōtākou (Submitted)
Keomailani Eaton, MIndS (2021), Aloha ʻĀina: Land, language and Kanaka ʻŌiwi Identity
Pania Tahau-Hodges MIndS (2021) The Protection and Development of Indigenous Knowledge/Mātauranga Māori and Cultural Expression in the New Zealand Publishing Industry
Matiu Payne, PhD (2020), Tamaiti whāngai in a Ngāti Mutunga context
Kelli Te Maiharoa, PhD (2020), Māori peace-making traditions
Tania Oxenham, MEd (2017), Te Awa: an essay-writing model for first year degree Māori students in tertiary studies
John Birnie, PhD (2017), Learner-centredness in the teaching of te reo Māori
Gianna Leoni, PhD (2016), Mā te taki te kāhui ka tau. Te waiaro ki te reo Māori i ngā hinonga kāwanatanga. (Use of te reo Māori in government departments. Submitted in Māori.)
Kate Timms, PhD (2013), Language policies for te reo Māori in New Zealand and Gaelic in Scotland
Matiu Payne, MIndS (2013), Case Studies: Whāngai adoptions and the Native Land Court
Michelia Ward, MIndS (2012), New Zealand Trade Aid and the Quecha of Peru
Alexander Stevens, MIndS (2012), Impact of mispronunciation of Māori names
Eilis Haden, MIndS (2010), Youth work in Derry, Northern Ireland
Hauiti Hākopa, PhD (2011), Indigenous digital mapping
Hone Te Rire, MIndS (2009), The impact of Christianity on Māori identity
Jacinta Paranihi, BA(Hons) (2008), Case study: Post-contact hapū formation
Emily Owen, MA (Massey, 2008), Early New Zealand Whaling
Vic Evans, MA (Massey, 2007), Studio pottery movement in Nelson, 1956–1976
Research Grants
A.C. Wanhalla and L. Paterson (2018) Marsden Fund Te Hau Kāinga: Histories and Legacies of the Māori Home Front, 1939-1945 ($746,000)
Paterson, L. (2008). University of Otago Research Grant: $7382. Project title: Women Workers of the Presbyterian Māori Mission.
Paterson, L. (2006). Massey University Research Grant: $4950. Project title: Presbyterian Deaconesses within Māori Communities.
Distinctions
1999: University of Otago Prestigious Scholarship
1997: Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangihiroa) Prize in Maori Studies (200-level)
1997: Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangihiroa) Prize in Maori Studies (300-level)
Publications
Paterson, L. (2023). Race and revolution: Haiti and the Kīngitanga, 1863. In A. Wanhalla, L. Ryan & C. Nurka (Eds.), Aftermaths: Colonialism, violence and memory in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. (pp. 157-166). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L., & Warbrick, P. (Eds.). (2023). Journal of New Zealand Studies, 35(1) [Special Issue: He Tuhinga Tuku Iho: Texts, contexts, resonances]. [Guest Editors].
Other - Edited Journal
Paterson, L. (2023). Ngā ritenga pai: Māori and Modernity in the 1850s. Journal of New Zealand Studies, 35, 22-35. doi: 10.26686/jnzs.iNS35.8113
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L., & Warbrick, P. (2023). Introduction. Journal of New Zealand Studies, 35, 1-6. doi: 10.26686/jnzs.iNS35.8127
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2022, June). Te Hau Kāinga: Researching the Māori Home Front. Whakātane Historical Society Address, Knox Presbyterian Church, Whakātane, New Zealand. [Research Presentation].
Other Research Output
Paterson, L. (2021). Ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi: The early years of the Young Māori Party. Kaiako Tāhuhu Kōrero, 1(8), 6-12. Retrieved from https://nzhta.org.nz/nzhta-journal
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2021, April). Pukapuka Māori. Research Roundup: Hocken Talk Series, Hocken Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Research Presentation].
Other Research Output
Paterson, L. (2021, November). He Kōrero ki ngā Tāngata o Dunedin Community House. Guest presentation at the Dunedin Community House AGM, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Invited Presentation].
Other Research Output
Paterson, L. (2021, September). Periodicals and proselytising: Māori and religion during the Second World War. Te Tumu: School of Māori, Pacific & Indigenous Studies Seminar Series, University of Otago [Online]. [Department Seminar].
Other Research Output
Paterson, L. (2021, September). Te Reo Māori and the Citizens Advice Bureau. Guest presentation at the Citizens Advice Bureau Dunedin AGM, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Invited Presentation].
Other Research Output
Paterson, L., & Wanhalla, A. (2021, February). Te Hau Kāinga: Māori Home Front. Research Roundup: Hocken Talk Series, Hocken Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Research Presentation].
Other Research Output
Ballantyne, T., Paterson, L., & Wanhalla, A. (Eds.). (2020). Indigenous textual cultures: Reading and writing in the age of global empire. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 368p. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv153k5kj
Edited Book - Research
Ballantyne, T., & Paterson, L. (2020). Indigenous textual cultures, the politics of difference, and the dynamism of practice. In T. Ballantyne, L. Paterson & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Indigenous textual cultures: Reading and writing in the age of global empire. (pp. 1-28). Durham, NC: Duke University Press. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv153k5kj.4
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2020). Māori literacy practices in colonial New Zealand. In T. Ballantyne, L. Paterson & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), Indigenous textual cultures: Reading and writing in the age of global empire. (pp. 80-98). Durham, NC: Duke University Press. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv153k5kj.7
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2020). Te Karere o Poneke: Creating an indigenous discursive space? Itinerario, 44(2), 365-390. doi: 10.1017/S0165115320000170
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2020). Ngā Niupepa Māori: Māori-language newspapers, and why they are important today [Keynote]. Proceedings of the Bibliographical Society of Australia & New Zealand (BSANZ) Annual Conference: The History of the Book and the Future of the World. (pp. 6). Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/view/bsanz-conference-2020
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Paterson, L. (2019). [Review of the book Ko Taranaki Te Maunga]. Australian Historical Studies, 50(4), 536-537. doi: 10.1080/1031461X.2019.1663753
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2019). Confronting the dark past [Review of the book The New Zealand wars: Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa]. Landfall Review Online. Retrieved from https://landfallreview.com
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2019, December). Postcolonial/national histories. Panel discussion at the Annual Meeting of the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres (ACHRC), Wellington, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2019, September). A year in the life of Te Waka Māori. Verbal presentation at the 1869 Conference and Heritage Festival: Ka mua, ka muri, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Reilly, M., Duncan, S., Leoni, G., Paterson, L., Carter, L., Rātima, M., & Rewi, P. (Eds.). (2018). Te Kōparapara: An introduction to the Māori world. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press, 484p.
Edited Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2018). Pāora Tūhaere's voyage to Rarotonga. In R. Standfield (Ed.), Indigenous mobilities: Across and beyond the Antipodes. (pp. 233-254). Canberra, Australia: Australia National University Press. doi: 10.22459/IM.06.2018
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2018). Piki, Heke: Opportunity and disappointment, 1840-1863. In M. Reilly, S. Duncan, G. Leoni, L. Paterson, L. Carter, M. Rātima & P. Rewi (Eds.), Te Kōparapara: An introduction to the Māori world. (pp. 194-208). Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Wanhalla, A., & Paterson, L. (2018). ‘Tangled up’: Intimacy, emotion, and dispossession in colonial New Zealand. In P. Edmonds & A. Nettelbeck (Eds.), Intimacies of violence in the settler colony: Economies of dispossession around the Pacific Rim. (pp. 179-199). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-76231-9_9
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L., & Wanhalla, A. C. (2018). He Reta Aroha: Languages of emotion on the colonial frontier. Proceedings of the Australian Historical Association (AHA) Annual Conference. Retrieved from http://adc-2018.m.aha2018.currinda.com/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Paterson, L. (2018, November). Ngā ritenga pai: Māori and modernity in the 1850s. Verbal presentation at the He Tuhinga nō Neherā Symposium: Texts, Contexts, Resonances, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2018, November). Whakamāoritanga Whakapākehātanga: Translations between Māori and English. Verbal presentation at the University of Otago Centre for the Book Symposium: Translation and Transculturation, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L., & Wanhalla, A. (2017). He Reo Wāhine: Māori women's voices from the nineteenth century. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press, 372p.
Authored Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2017). The Te Waka Maori libel case of 1877. law&history, 4(1), 88-112.
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2017). [Review of the book Haerenga: Early Maori journeys across the globe]. New Zealand Journal of History, 51(1), 208-209. [Book Review].
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2017). [Review of the book The first migration: Maori origins 3000BC-AD1450]. New Zealand Journal of History, 51(1), 208-209. [Book Review].
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2017, March-April). Te Karere o Poneke: Creating an indigenous discursive space? Verbal presentation at the Print worlds and the making of a colonial public sphere conference, New Haven, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2017, November). Māori and books during the missionary period. Verbal presentation at the University of Otago Centre for the Book Symposium: Books and Users, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2016). The New Zealand government's Niupepa and their demise. New Zealand Journal of History, 50(2), 44-67.
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2016, August). U.S. slave 'humor' in New Zealand newspapers. Verbal presentation at the 109th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association: Uncharted Terrain: The Challenge of Re-Imagining Traveling to the Past, Waikoloa Beach, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Cooper, A., Paterson, L., & Wanhalla, A. (Eds.). (2015). The lives of colonial objects. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press, 368p.
Edited Book - Research
Cooper, A., Paterson, L., & Wanhalla, A. (2015). Introduction: A scheme of things. In A. Cooper, L. Paterson & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), The lives of colonial objects. (pp. 13-19). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2015). 'A sparrow alone upon the house top': The Te Pihoihoi Press. In A. Cooper, L. Paterson & A. Wanhalla (Eds.), The lives of colonial objects. (pp. 117-121). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2015, April). The New Zealand Government's 'Niupepa' and their demise. Verbal presentation at the Print Media in the Colonial World Conference, Cambridge, UK.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2015, December). 'Although my words may be bad': The "Waka Maori Libel Case" and its ramifications. Verbal presentation at the Australia and New Zealand Law and History Society Conference: Legal Reform and Innovation, Adelaide, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2015, October). Southern Kāi Tahu and Māori-language newspapers. Verbal presentation at the Historians in the Pā Symposium, Bluff, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2014). Visual identity in Niupepa Māori nameplates and title-pages: From traditional to aspirational. Script & Print, 38(2), 67-79.
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2014). [Review of the book Racial Crossings: Race, Intermarriage and the British Empire]. Britain & the World, 7(2), 298-300. doi: 10.3366/brw.2014.0161
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2014, June-July). Māori literacy practices. Verbal presentation at the Indigenous Textual Cultures Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2014, May). Niniwa-i-te-rangi as public intellectual. Verbal presentation at the Sixteenth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women: Histories on the Edge, Toronto, Canada.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2014, November). Paora Tuhaere's voyage to Rarotonga. Verbal presentation at the Rethinking Native Spaces: Indigenous Mobilities Across and Beyond the Antipodes, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2014, November). Speech to text: Missionary endeavours to render Te Reo Māori in written form. Verbal presentation at the Dialogues Symposium: Exploring the Drama of Early Missionary Encounters, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2013). Te Hokioi and the legitimization of the Māori nation. In B. Hokowhitu & V. Devdas (Eds.), The fourth eye: Māori media in Aotearoa New Zealand. (pp. 124-142). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2013). 'The similarity of hue constituted no special bond of intimacy between them': Close encounters of the indigenous kind. Journal of New Zealand Studies, 14, 19-40.
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2013). Identity and discourse: Te Pipiwharauroa and the South African War, 1899-1902. South African Historical Journal, 65(3), 444-462. doi: 10.1080/02582473.2013.770063
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2013, March). Rangatiratanga: A constitutional problem child? Verbal presentation at the Colonial Origins of New Zealand Politics and Government Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2013, November). Te waiata tangi mō Epiha Pūtini (The lament for Epiha Pūtini). Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Historical Association Biennial Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Morrison, H., Paterson, L., Knowles, B., & Rae, M. (Eds.). (2012). Mana Māori and Christianity. Wellington, New Zealand: Huia, 356p.
Edited Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2012). Pakeha or English? Māori understandings of Englishness in the colonial period. In L. Fraser & A. McCarthy (Eds.), Far from 'Home': The English in New Zealand. (pp. 123-143). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2012). The rise and fall of women field workers within the Presbyterian Māori mission, 1907-1970. In H. Morrison, L. Paterson, B. Knowles & M. Rae (Eds.), Mana Māori and Christianity. (pp. 179-204). Wellington, New Zealand: Huia.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2012, August). Mana enhancing?: Māori histories. Verbal presentation at the Writing Colonial Histories Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2012, December). He reo wāhine: Māori women's voices from the nineteenth century [Panel discussion: He Kōrero, he Tuhituhinga: Utilizing indigenous-language texts]. Verbal presentation at the Pacific History Association Twentieth Conference: Generations: Histories with a Future, Wellington, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2012, March). Indigenous texts, indigenous historians. Verbal presentation at the Inaugural Centre for the Book Symposium: The Book: A Life Cycle, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Watson, J., & Paterson, L. (Eds.). (2011). A great New Zealand prime minister? Reappraising William Ferguson Massey. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press, 176p.
Edited Book - Research
Stevens, S. M., & Paterson, L. (2011). Nga Tamatoa and the rhetoric of brown power: Re-situating collective rhetorics in global colonialism. In D. Payne & D. Desser (Eds.), Teaching writing in globalization: Remapping disciplinary works. (pp. 17-38). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Chapter in Book - Research
Watson, J., & Paterson, L. (2011). Introduction. In J. Watson & L. Paterson (Eds.), A great New Zealand prime minster? Reappraising William Ferguson Massey. (pp. 7-14). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2011). Government, Church and Māori responses to mākutu (sorcery) in New Zealand in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Cultural & Social History, 8(2), 175-194. doi: 10.2752/147800411X12949180694308
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2011). Te Whakamahi i te Kupu Rangatiratanga i te Tekau mā Iwa o ngā Rautau. He Pukenga Kōrero, 10(1), 15-22.
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2011). The Kohimārama Conference of 1860: A contextual reading. Journal of New Zealand Studies, 12, 29-46.
Journal - Research Article
Ballantyne, T., Paterson, L., & Wanhalla, A. (2011). Introduction: Communicating culture in colonial New Zealand [Editorial note]. Journal of New Zealand Studies, 12, v-vi.
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2011). [Review of the book Stories without end: Essays 1975–2000]. Journal of Pacific History, 46(3), 406-408. doi: 10.1080/00223344.2011.632951
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2010). Hāwhekaihe: Māori voices on the position of 'half-castes' within Māori society. Journal of New Zealand Studies, 9, 135-156.
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2010). Print culture and the collective Māori consciousness. Journal of New Zealand Literature, 28(2), 105-129.
Journal - Research Article
Ballantyne, T., Paterson, L., & Wanhalla, A. (2010). Introduction: Cultures of print [Editorial]. Journal of New Zealand Literature, 28(2), 5-9.
Journal - Research Other
Paterson, L. (2010, November). Print culture and the collective Māori consciousness. Verbal presentation at the Beyond Representation Conference: Cultural Histories of Colonial New Zealand, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ballantyne, T., Kerr, D., Paterson, L., Rogers, S., & Waite, N. (2009, August-September). Makeshift and makeready: Establishing a national print culture in New Zealand. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand's National Identity Research Colloquium: Fact or Fiction? Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2009, November). Professional helpmeets or dispensable stand-ins? Presbyterian women missionaries to the Māori, 1907-1970. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Historical Association Conference: Centre and Periphery, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2009, November). Race, gender and te ao Māori: Pākehā women field workers of the Presbyterian Māori Mission. Verbal presentation at the Aspects of Māori Christianity and Mission Symposium: Historical, Theological and Contemporary Perspectives, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2009, September). Searching for hāwhe-kaihe. Verbal presentation at the Antipodes: New Directions in History and Culture Aotearoa New Zealand Conference, Wellington, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Rae, M., Paterson, L., & Morrison, H. (2009, August-September). Faultlines in the concept of identity. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand's National Identity Research Colloquium: Fact or Fiction? Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2008). Māori "Conversion" to the rule of law and nineteenth-century imperial loyalties. Journal of Religious History, 32(2), 216-233. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9809.2008.00708.x
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2007). Rēweti Kōhere's model village. New Zealand Journal of History, 41(1), 27-44.
Journal - Research Article
Paterson, L. (2007, November). By way of experiment: Early deaconesses in the Presbyterian Māori Mission. Verbal presentation at the New Zealand Historical Association Conference, Wellington, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Paterson, L. (2006). Colonial discourses: Niupepa Māori 1855-1863. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press, 250p.
Authored Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2006, July). Maori Anglicanism, the Empire and the South African War. Verbal presentation at the Biennial Conference of the Australian Historical Association, Canberra, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Stenhouse, J., & Paterson, L. (2004). Ngā poropiti me ngā Hāhi: Prophets and the curches. In T. M. Ka'ai, J. C. Moorfield, M. P. J. Reilly & S. Mosley (Eds.), Ki te Whaiao: An introduction to Māori culture and society. (pp. 171-180). Auckland, New Zealand: Pearson Education New Zealand.
Chapter in Book - Research
Moorfield, J. C., & Paterson, L. (2002). Loanwords used in Māori-language newspapers. In J. Curnow, N. Hopa & J. McRae (Eds.), Rere Atu, Taku Manu! Discovering history, language and politics in the Maori-language newspapers. (1 ed.) (pp. 60-77). Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2002). Kiri Mā, Kiri Mangu: The Terminology of race and civilisation in the mid-nineteenth century Maori-language newspapers. In J. Curnow, N. Hepa & J. McRae (Eds.), Rere Atu, Taku Manu! Discovering History, Language and Politics in the Maori-Language Newspapers. (1 ed.) (pp. 78-97). Auckland: Auckland University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Paterson, L. (2002). Haiti and the Maori King movement. History Now / Te Pae Tawhito O Te Wa, 8(1), 18-22.
Journal - Research Article