Entanglements of Empire: Missionaries, Maori, and the Question of the Body

Tony Ballantyne’s wide-ranging, energetic, and intellectually provocative writing has profoundly shifted debates in new imperial history and a cluster of cognate disciplines. In Entanglements of Empire, Ballantyne returns home to New Zealand for a deep reconsideration of key moments in the precolonial 1810s and 1820s. In particular, he illuminates encounters between Maori and British missionaries and explores the legacy of the Reverend Samuel Marsden, a foundational figure in the Church Missionary Society’s efforts in the South Pacific.