Rate My Professor Lachy Paterson

Emeritus Professor Lachy Paterson is affiliated with Māori Studies in Te Tumu: School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, University of Otago, within the Humanities Division. He completed his BA in History and Māori Studies, Postgraduate Diploma in Arts in Māori Studies, and PhD in Māori Studies at the University of Otago, where his doctoral thesis examined colonial discourses in niupepa Māori newspapers from 1855 to 1863, published as Colonial Discourses: Niupepa Māori, 1855-1863 by University of Otago Press in 2006. Before entering academia, Paterson worked as a signal maintainer for New Zealand Railways in Dunedin, self-teaching te reo Māori through night classes and correspondence. Following graduation, he lectured in History at Massey University for two years before joining Otago in late 2007 as a lecturer. He progressed to Associate Professor and then Professor, holding key administrative roles such as Acting Dean of Te Tumu, Acting Associate Dean (Academic), Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) for Te Kete Aronui, and Acting Dean of the Graduate Research School. Paterson retired at the end of June 2023, receiving the Emeritus Professor title in recognition of his outstanding contributions to teaching, research, and university service. He also holds RSA/Cambridge CELTA certification.

Paterson's research specializes in Māori history encompassing social, cultural, and political dimensions; te reo Māori; niupepa Māori; race relations; and indigenous textual cultures, particularly mid-nineteenth and early-twentieth century print media. Notable publications include the co-authored He Reo Wāhine: Māori Women’s Voices from the Nineteenth Century with Angela Wanhalla (Auckland University Press, 2017) and the co-edited Indigenous Textual Cultures: Reading and Writing in the Age of Global Empire with Tony Ballantyne and Angela Wanhalla (Duke University Press, 2020). Recent collaborative work under a 2018 Marsden Fund grant with Wanhalla on “Te Hau Kāinga: Histories and Legacies of the Māori Home Front, 1939-1945” has produced outputs such as chapters in Health & History (2025) and Picturing Citizenship (2025). Earlier grants include University of Otago Research Grant (2008) and Massey University Research Grant (2006). Awards comprise the Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangihiroa) Prizes in Māori Studies (1997, both 200- and 300-level) and University of Otago Prestigious Scholarship (1999). He has supervised postgraduate theses and dissertations on Māori and Indigenous topics, including some in te reo Māori, and delivered the Inaugural Professorial Lecture “Colonialism, Race and Print.”