Profiling: Jim Williams
Te Tumu’s Research Blog will be posting occasional profiles of our academic staff, highlighting their research interests and publication.
Introducing Dr Jim Williams.
Jim is a Senior Lecturer and has been with Te Tumu since 1992.
Research direction
* Ngāi Tahu history and language.
* Resource management including mahika kai, and comparisons with other Indigenous peoples.
Jim is currently exploring the dynamics of oral transmission of traditional stories, with a view to publishing a book, which will examine the extent to which Māori families pass on Māui stories, compared with Navajo and their stories about Mai’I (coyote – the trickster that predominates amongst Native Americans). A secondary theme will be looking at Europeans attitudes to those stories.
Jim is most interested in talking to prospective students about comparison of traditional ways with the views of contemporary Māori.
Recent supervisions
PhD
Delyn Day, “Te Awhio-Rangi: Te Toki Mata Ngero o Te Ao Whetu” 2009 – 2013
Anne-Marie Jackson, “The Taiapure Process and to What Extent it Needs to be Altered to Achieve Tangata Whenua Objectives”, 2009 – 2011
David McKay, “Indigenous Perspectives in Environmental Education” 2009 – 2013
MA
Henare Mita, “The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998: The Quest for Ngāi Tahu Tino Rangatiratanga” 2008 – 2009
Katrina Bryant, “Hauā Matau Māori”, 2012 – 2014
BA(Hons)
Hori Barsdell “Pā” 2014.
Selected Publications
Book Chapters
(2014) “Food and the Maori” in Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Springer, Dordrecht
(2010) “Towards a Model for Indigenous Research on traditional topics” in Hokowhitu, B., Kermoal, N., Andersen, C., Reilly, M., Rewi, P. & Petersen, A. (2010, Indigenous Identity and Resistance: Researching the Diversity of Knowledge. Dunedin: University of Otago Press. Dunedin
Refereed Journal articles
2014 Williams, Jim 2014; “He Aitua nā Tamatea”, in Te Pouhere Kōrero Journal, Vol. 7, Pp.47-56.
2013 Williams, Jim 2013; “Juxtaposed Narratives of “The Battle of Crowheart Butte”, in Ethnohistory, Vol. 60 (4) Fall 2013, Pp 567-579.
2012 Williams, Jim 2012; Ngāi Tahu Kaitiakitanga, in MAI Journal 2012, Volume 1 (2):89-102.
2010 Williams, Jim 2010; ‘Mahika kai: THE HUSBANDING OF CONSUMABLES BY MĀORI IN PRE_CONTACT TE WĀIPOUNAMU”, in Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 119 (2) Pp 149-180
2006 Williams, Jim 2006; ‘Resource management and Māori attitudes to water in southern New Zealand’, in New Zealand Geographer Vol 62:75-82
Contact details
Please feel free to call in or make contact with Jim to discuss supervision.
Room Richardson South Tower, Rm 4S7
Phone 64 3 479 7385
Email jim.williams@otago.ac.nz
