Tom Isern, Distinguished Professor of History, presented the keynote address to the New Zealand Historical Association on Nov. 28. The meeting was held at Massey University, Palmerston North.
Isern’s address, drawing on both his experience as an author for "Environmental Histories of New Zealand" and his long-term research experience in Central Otago, was titled "Past Like a Mask: The Trouble with 'The Trouble with Wilderness.' " The presentation argues that historians of the environment should eschew the "ideal of wilderness" and the "dialectic of ecology" in order to write histories that recognize chaos and embrace complexity.