Excited and nearly
recovered from extreme cases of jet lag, we headed off to our second seminar of
the Pacific Studies course: “United States Servicemen in New Zealand and the
Pacific during WWII.” As a history
major, I was looking forward to this historically-based lecture. I was interested to see how the
University’s History Department approached its topics and conducted research. I was not disappointed. It was obvious that the professor, Dr.
Angela Wanhalla, was passionate about her research and eager to share her
findings with our group. She
seemed to be a wealth of knowledge, and answered any questions we had with
enthusiasm and ease. However, I
was most impressed with her methodology.
She continually emphasized history’s role in both the past and present,
as well as that of the historian. Rather
than simply regurgitating facts and dates, she discussed the importance of what
she was researching in relation to the people affected by it. The majority of her research was based
on accessing oral histories from sources like personal letters and interviewing
direct descendants of WWII Maori war brides and US servicemen. Also, she travelled throughout the
Pacific Islands and the Americas as part of her research. I later discovered that she teaches a course
equivalent to TAMUK’s much-feared Methods of Historical Research class! This
lecture gave me a perfect first impression of the University of Otago’s History
Department. I had not seriously
considered it before, but I will definitely be putting in an application for
postgraduates studies at this university!
-
-Kelsey D.
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