Christchurch: The Most English of New Zealand's Cities?
Author(s): Katharine J. Watson
Year: 2016
Summary
Established by the Canterbury Association in 1850, Christchurch, New Zealand, has long been regarded as the most English of New Zealand's cities. This sobriquet - sometimes meant positively, but often used negatively - has been based in large part on the city's appearance. Curiously, however, the validity of this assumption has never really been tested, and certainly has not been tested using archaeological data. The volume of archaeological work in Christchurch since the 2011 earthquakes - 2000 sites recorded, and counting - provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine the city's identity, English or otherwise. This paper draws on one element of Christchurch's appearance - 19th century houses recorded as a result of the earthquakes - to consider just how English the city is.
Cite this Record
Christchurch: The Most English of New Zealand's Cities?. Katharine J. Watson. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 434500)
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Keywords
General
Buildings
•
cities
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Identity
Geographic Keywords
New Zealand
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Oceania
Temporal Keywords
c.1850-c.1900
Spatial Coverage
min long: -176.843; min lat: -50.852 ; max long: 178.558; max lat: -34.415 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 501