Hegemonic masculinity and femininity in the 'backblocks' of the Waikato and King Country 1860s-1930s

Abstract

Through the medium of archival and visual sources, as well as oral histories, this study explores the transformation of one freshwater place, the Waipa River located within the Waikato and King Country districts of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand, from the 1860s through till the 1930s. This article addresses the neglect of gender within existing environmental history and historical geography literatures on settler colonial societies, and explores the gendered dimensions of Pākehā settlers' transformation of the landscapes and waterscapes of the Wāipa River catchment. We draw attention to the role of Pākehā women in efforts to remove and remodel the indigenous forests and wetlands, and in doing so challenge the long-standing historical narrative that positioned Pākehā settler men as the sole actors in the radical environmental changes that took place within Aotearoa since the commencement of formal British colonisation in 1840. Through the lens of hegemonic masculinity and femininity we demonstrate how Pākehā gender norms informed the ways in which Pākehā men and women in the Waikato and King Country perceived their local environments (such as wetlands), their own and others' day-to-day activities, and how they interacted with other communities (both human and ecological).