Unpacking the Kists

Historians have suggested that Scottish influences are more pervasive in New Zealand than in any other country outside Scotland, yet curiously New Zealand’s Scots migrants have previously attracted only limited attention. A thorough and interdisciplinary work, Unpacking the Kists is the first in-depth study of New Zealand’s Scots migrants and their impact on an evolving settler society.

The authors establish the dimensions of Scottish migration to New Zealand, the principal source areas, the migrants’ demographic characteristics and where they settled in the new land. Drawing from extended case studies, they examine how migrants adapted to their new environment and the extent of influence in diverse areas including the economy, religion, politics, education and folkways. They also look at the private worlds of family, neighbourhood and community, customs of everyday life and leisure pursuits, and expressions of both high and low forms of transplanted culture.

Contributing to international scholarship on migrations and cultural adaptations, Unpacking the Kists demonstrates the historic contributions Scots made to New Zealand culture by retaining their ethnic connections and at the same time interacting with other ethnic groups.

With Rebecca Lenihan, University of Guelph, and Tanja Bueltmann, Northumbria University