2023 ASHA Seminar Series – Women and their houses in Victorian New Zealand – Christchurch Archaeology Project

In 2023, ASHA is continuing on with our free online seminar series, this time focusing on current archaeological research in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

The third seminar for 2023 will be on Women and their houses in Victorian New Zealand as part of the Christchurch Archaeology Project, presented by Dr Katharine Watson on Wednesday 26 July 2023. The seminar will start at 6pm AEST/ 8pm NZST.

The seminar will run for 45 to 50 minutes, followed by a Q&A session. All bookings will be through Eventbrite. A Zoom link will be sent to your registered email address closer to the date of the seminar.  We look forward to seeing you – virtually!

Women and their houses in Victorian New Zealand 

Dr Katharine Watson, Christchurch Archaeology Project

Analysis of women and houses in the Victorian world has typically focused on the gendered use of space within the house, drawing on advice manuals and often using the separate spheres model as an analytical lens (see, for example, the work of Jane Hamlett and Andrea Kaston Tange). There has been far less consideration of the relationship between women and the house as a whole, or the larger questions of what role a house might have played in women’s lives, and how women might have used their house for their own ends. This paper draws on my doctoral research and uses the techniques of buildings archaeology to explore the relationship between three women and their houses in Victorian Christchurch. In so doing, it reveals the house to have been far more than simply a space of domestic work and/or Victorian display for these women, but to have also been a source of power, income and independence.

Dr Katharine Watson

Katharine is an archaeologist based in Ōtautahi Christchurch. She recently completed her PhD at the University of Canterbury. This research analysed 101 houses to better understand why people built the houses they did and what life was like in 19th century Christchurch. Katharine is now working as a consultant and helps run Christchurch Archaeology Project, a not-for-profit set up to preserve, share and research Ōtautahi Christchurch’s archaeological heritage. Katharine is a member of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Board.

Christchurch Archaeology Project

For more information on the Christchurch Archaeology Project, please visit the project website at: https://www.christchurcharchaeology.org/

Eventbrite Link

Tickets are available via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/asha-seminar-series-women-and-their-houses-in-victorian-new-zealand-tickets-671344237687?aff=oddtdtcreator