Associate ProfessorHelen Gardner

Helen's first book, 'Gathering for God: George Brown in Oceania' was published
in 2006 by the University of Otago Press, and was shortlisted for the Ernest
Scott History Prize in 2007.

Helen is currently working on two major research projects. The first is a book
on nineteenth century anthropology in Oceania with a particular focus on the
early study of kinship in the region published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015:
Southern Anthropology - A History of Fison and Howitt's Kamilaroi and Kurnai

[http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/southern-anthropology-the-history-of-
fis](http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/southern-anthropology-the-history-of-
fison-and-howitts-kamilaroi-and-kurnai-helen-gardner/?K=9781137463807)[on-and-
howitts-kamilaroi-and-kurnai-helen-
gardner/?K=9781137463807](http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/southern-
anthropology-the-history-of-fison-and-howitts-kamilaroi-and-kurnai-helen-
gardner/?K=9781137463807).

The second is a collaborative study on the decolonisation of Melanesia and the
role of the churches in the politics of the Pacific.

Knowledge Areas
Pacific History - History of Christian Missions; Colonisation and
Decolonisation in the Pacific - local, national and global perspectives;
Church and State in the Pacific; Nation building in the Pacific Islands,
historical and contemporary perspectives.

History of Anthropology: The history of anthropology in Oceania. Missionary
anthropology in Oceania in the nineteenth and twentieth century. The field and
the metropole in the spread of anthropological theories. The culture concept
in twentieth century Pacific history.