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The Unsettled: Small stories of colonisation
After Richard Shaw published his acclaimed memoir The Forgotten Coast in 2021, he made contact with Pakeha with long settler histories who were coming to grips with the truth of their respective families' ‘ pioneer stories' . They were questioning the foundation of aggressive acts of colonisation and land confiscation on which those stories had been constructed.The Unsettled weaves those stories with Shaw' s own and features New Zealanders who are trying to figure out how to live well with their own pasts, their presents and their possible futures. They may be unsettled, but they are doing something about it.It is an indispensable companion for the journey towards understanding the complex and difficult history of the New Zealand Wars and their ongoing aftermath.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2024
About the author
Richard Shaw
3 books1 followerRichard Shaw is Professor of Politics at Massey University whose research is published in leading international journals. He is a regular commentator on political issues.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 23, 2025
3.5… really decent in the middle third where Shaw slides into historical analysis mode, and really highlights the uncomfortable truth that many white migrants to Aotearoa were Irish people who’d been colonised by the English, and then became active colonisers on arrival. I wished for more of that, but a lot of the rest of the book is kinda just recounting testimonies from Shaw’s readers without much analysis. and there were way too many random literary references … like i love joan didion but i don’t think she’s relevant here sorry luv x but overall a very good and thought provoking read!
June 11, 2024
A must read for Pākehā in Aotearoa. I know I am going to return to this book again and again when I need some words to help make sense of my own discomfort or when I want to think more about the unpicking and re-weaving of taken for granted histories, both personal histories and wider national histories.. when I am looking for more ways to challenge the stories we tell ourselves and are raised on, I’ll return again to this book.
I don’t have the same family history as Richard Shaw and the other Pākehā colonial stories captured in this book, but I have related stories of settler-colonial family who moved to Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe. These are uncomfortable stories to hold in my own identity. As a descendent of settlers in Rhodesia, I now live in another land where the indigenous of this land have been systematically removed from their places and precious resources. What is my responsibility to this imperial colonial history, including my own family, that took land, took resources, took it all? What do I do with that today?
This book is a balm for people already thinking about these sorts of questions.
I don’t have the same family history as Richard Shaw and the other Pākehā colonial stories captured in this book, but I have related stories of settler-colonial family who moved to Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe. These are uncomfortable stories to hold in my own identity. As a descendent of settlers in Rhodesia, I now live in another land where the indigenous of this land have been systematically removed from their places and precious resources. What is my responsibility to this imperial colonial history, including my own family, that took land, took resources, took it all? What do I do with that today?
This book is a balm for people already thinking about these sorts of questions.
December 30, 2025
Colonial stories, and stories of colonialism are all too often told on a large canvas (mea culpa, guilty), often as things of the back then which we can acknowledge but for many largely gloss over. Woven through this impressive exploration of the experience of living in a colonial state, the acts of statecraft, of systemic development, of law and the military is colonialism’s need of the acts of many to become actual. Here Richard Shaw explores what it means to take responsibility for those acts making the colonial state.
Shaw, a Professor of politics, has been developing a focus on these small stories of colonialism for the last five or so years, after an investigation into his family history revealed an intimate association with the daily aspects of coloniality – great grandparents in the local militias, farming land confiscated from Māori in the most dubious of circumstances, and a close association with everyday settler cultural institutions. He first ventured into print with an essay in The Conversation in 2021 looking at his family involvement in the colonisation of Taranaki, on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, linked to his memoir at the same time, The Forgotten Coast . The Unsettled is very much a sequel, but stands alone.
Shaw’s point is clear, but only once explicit, that it is not an issue of feeling guilt for the actions of those who came before us, our ancestors, collectively and of our families, but of taking responsibility for the outcomes of what they did, the sense of structural advantage that flowed to the colonisers and their descendants. Guilt, he makes clear, is a useless emotion; responsibility can and should lead to action.
Woven through this all is the question of local, family, and domestic history, and the simple but powerful observation that most what we know about our pasts is from family stories, and they’re likely to paint us in a good light. (Here I was reminded of one of my favourite books of the 1980s, Elizabeth Stone’s superb Black Sheep and Kissing Cousins: How Our Family Stories Shape Us and the challenges of overcoming those stories.) Shaw’s point here is not to condemn those stories but to make clear the need to explore the historical evidence, noting how patchy that evidence can be. He builds his case from a quizzical look at an old family photo, exploration of military records, knowledge of local land history, and the occasional appearance of his family as small farmers in local records; such is the nature of doing historical research, building analyses from traces, especially when looking at and for the ordinary.
The other key part of this work is his ongoing discussions with people who got in touch after the 2021 piece in in The Conversation, people engaged in similar explorations of their pasts, their families, and their responsibilities. In most cases, these investigations disrupt and unsettle the known – the things the families know to be true. In some, they present paradoxes. Shaw, for instance, finds in his family history in Ireland peasant farmers unceremoniously evicted from land they had farmed for years by colonial forces who then travel half way round the world, join the colonial military, and do the same to Māori. Many of the small stories of colonialism are woven through with paradox.
These kinds of inquiry are refreshing, and refreshingly not alone. We see similar issues explored in Australia, going back to work such as Peter Read’s impressive Belonging and Returning to Nothing unpacking non-Aboriginal Australian’s engagement with place. In North America, we see these everyday acts of conciliation (I can’t see it as ‘reconciliation’) in work such as Margaret Jacobs’ impressive After One Hundred Winters: In Search of Reconciliation on America's Stolen Lands . Crucially, also, this is work settlers and settler descendants are doing in and with their communities at both the local and system levels (one of the best discussions of being settler I know is Emma Battell Lowman and Adam Barker’s Settler: Identity and Colonialism ). Indigenous Peoples continue to work on dealing with the effects of colonisation, and as Shaw notes, where a crucial part of unsettlement is listening and knowing when to say silent they’re not our stories to tell.
This is a powerful and essential book, small in its scale and extensive in its effect, about locality, specificity, and responsibility, about acting in the light of being colonial and shaping what we might become. It is about what he refers to in the final chapter, reporting a conversation with a relative, a nun, being “in search of letting things go” (p 192). Vital reading for our times.
Shaw, a Professor of politics, has been developing a focus on these small stories of colonialism for the last five or so years, after an investigation into his family history revealed an intimate association with the daily aspects of coloniality – great grandparents in the local militias, farming land confiscated from Māori in the most dubious of circumstances, and a close association with everyday settler cultural institutions. He first ventured into print with an essay in The Conversation in 2021 looking at his family involvement in the colonisation of Taranaki, on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, linked to his memoir at the same time, The Forgotten Coast . The Unsettled is very much a sequel, but stands alone.
Shaw’s point is clear, but only once explicit, that it is not an issue of feeling guilt for the actions of those who came before us, our ancestors, collectively and of our families, but of taking responsibility for the outcomes of what they did, the sense of structural advantage that flowed to the colonisers and their descendants. Guilt, he makes clear, is a useless emotion; responsibility can and should lead to action.
Woven through this all is the question of local, family, and domestic history, and the simple but powerful observation that most what we know about our pasts is from family stories, and they’re likely to paint us in a good light. (Here I was reminded of one of my favourite books of the 1980s, Elizabeth Stone’s superb Black Sheep and Kissing Cousins: How Our Family Stories Shape Us and the challenges of overcoming those stories.) Shaw’s point here is not to condemn those stories but to make clear the need to explore the historical evidence, noting how patchy that evidence can be. He builds his case from a quizzical look at an old family photo, exploration of military records, knowledge of local land history, and the occasional appearance of his family as small farmers in local records; such is the nature of doing historical research, building analyses from traces, especially when looking at and for the ordinary.
The other key part of this work is his ongoing discussions with people who got in touch after the 2021 piece in in The Conversation, people engaged in similar explorations of their pasts, their families, and their responsibilities. In most cases, these investigations disrupt and unsettle the known – the things the families know to be true. In some, they present paradoxes. Shaw, for instance, finds in his family history in Ireland peasant farmers unceremoniously evicted from land they had farmed for years by colonial forces who then travel half way round the world, join the colonial military, and do the same to Māori. Many of the small stories of colonialism are woven through with paradox.
These kinds of inquiry are refreshing, and refreshingly not alone. We see similar issues explored in Australia, going back to work such as Peter Read’s impressive Belonging and Returning to Nothing unpacking non-Aboriginal Australian’s engagement with place. In North America, we see these everyday acts of conciliation (I can’t see it as ‘reconciliation’) in work such as Margaret Jacobs’ impressive After One Hundred Winters: In Search of Reconciliation on America's Stolen Lands . Crucially, also, this is work settlers and settler descendants are doing in and with their communities at both the local and system levels (one of the best discussions of being settler I know is Emma Battell Lowman and Adam Barker’s Settler: Identity and Colonialism ). Indigenous Peoples continue to work on dealing with the effects of colonisation, and as Shaw notes, where a crucial part of unsettlement is listening and knowing when to say silent they’re not our stories to tell.
This is a powerful and essential book, small in its scale and extensive in its effect, about locality, specificity, and responsibility, about acting in the light of being colonial and shaping what we might become. It is about what he refers to in the final chapter, reporting a conversation with a relative, a nun, being “in search of letting things go” (p 192). Vital reading for our times.
October 14, 2024
the content itself is actually good (but not anything i didn't already know) but i found the actual reading and flow was quite bad. 2.5/5
December 10, 2024
A fascinating and vital book.
August 27, 2024
Lovely writing, important topic. The stories of people wrestling with their complicity in settler colonialism gives me hope, especially considering many of the people who are featured are technically boomers!
February 5, 2026
"..colonisation is not synonymous with civilisation for all."
The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation by Richard Shaw
The Unsettled by Richard Shaw is a reflective and thought-provoking work that situates personal and family histories within the broader context of colonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on his own lineage and the stories of other Pākehā with deep settler roots, Shaw weaves together “small stories” that illuminate how colonisation has shaped individual identities, family narratives, and contemporary social realities.
One of the book’s notable strengths is its candid engagement with discomfort. Shaw does not shy away from the unease that arises when familiar pioneer myths are scrutinised—especially when these myths are tangled with land confiscation and the dispossession of Māori. The book invites readers to consider not just historical facts, but the emotional and moral dimensions of knowing and living with these histories.
The structure, organised around individual testimonies and thematic questions, allows a range of voices to emerge. At times, this approach opens up ideas and moments that feel especially compelling, and there are instances where the author touches on themes that seem ripe for deeper exploration. In these moments, some readers may find themselves wishing Shaw had spent more time unpacking and developing these threads, as they raise questions that linger beyond the page.
The focus remains largely on Pākehā perspectives and how settlers’ descendants grapple with their inheritance. Some readers may see this as a limitation, while others may appreciate it as a deliberate attempt to encourage self-reflection among non-Indigenous readers, rather than speaking over Māori voices.
Shaw’s prose is conversational and contemplative rather than overtly academic, making the book accessible to a broad audience. While this style can occasionally feel loosely structured, it supports the book’s central aim: to encourage readers to sit with uncertainty and complexity rather than seeking easy resolution.
Overall, The Unsettled is a thoughtful entry point contribution to contemporary conversations about history, memory, and identity in New Zealand. It does not attempt to offer definitive answers, but instead foregrounds personal engagement with the past as a meaningful starting point for readers reflecting on the ongoing legacy of colonisation.
The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation by Richard Shaw
The Unsettled by Richard Shaw is a reflective and thought-provoking work that situates personal and family histories within the broader context of colonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on his own lineage and the stories of other Pākehā with deep settler roots, Shaw weaves together “small stories” that illuminate how colonisation has shaped individual identities, family narratives, and contemporary social realities.
One of the book’s notable strengths is its candid engagement with discomfort. Shaw does not shy away from the unease that arises when familiar pioneer myths are scrutinised—especially when these myths are tangled with land confiscation and the dispossession of Māori. The book invites readers to consider not just historical facts, but the emotional and moral dimensions of knowing and living with these histories.
The structure, organised around individual testimonies and thematic questions, allows a range of voices to emerge. At times, this approach opens up ideas and moments that feel especially compelling, and there are instances where the author touches on themes that seem ripe for deeper exploration. In these moments, some readers may find themselves wishing Shaw had spent more time unpacking and developing these threads, as they raise questions that linger beyond the page.
The focus remains largely on Pākehā perspectives and how settlers’ descendants grapple with their inheritance. Some readers may see this as a limitation, while others may appreciate it as a deliberate attempt to encourage self-reflection among non-Indigenous readers, rather than speaking over Māori voices.
Shaw’s prose is conversational and contemplative rather than overtly academic, making the book accessible to a broad audience. While this style can occasionally feel loosely structured, it supports the book’s central aim: to encourage readers to sit with uncertainty and complexity rather than seeking easy resolution.
Overall, The Unsettled is a thoughtful entry point contribution to contemporary conversations about history, memory, and identity in New Zealand. It does not attempt to offer definitive answers, but instead foregrounds personal engagement with the past as a meaningful starting point for readers reflecting on the ongoing legacy of colonisation.
April 5, 2026
An excellent book exploring aspects of what happens when the descendants and beneficiaries of colonialism begin to take stock of the ambiguities and darker aspects of their family stories in relation to possessing land dispossessed from others.
For Richard Shaw (a professor of politics at Massey University, who traces his New Zealand roots to Taranaki), the journey began in earnest when he discovered that his rugby-playing Irish Catholic great grandfather had been a member of the Armed Constabulary that invaded and occupied Parihaka, then subsequently obtained confiscated land for his farms.
Shaw put out a book called 'The Forgotten Coast' and received a lot of mail from unsettled Pākehā. The 'unsettledness' fell into two rough categories. Firstly, those angered by his work. In part, this second book serves as a documentation of the kind of vitriol that often attends these kinds of discussions, and the raw nerve that is hit. Secondly, those who, through unsettling truths and intimations, begin to face an often discomforting journey, of readdressing and redress, with an openness of intent.
It's a book of small stories, and small movements towards a different way of being, a redrawing of the lines.
A random observation. I love a good footnote; Shaw clearly does too. I had to stop pursuing them though (there are many), to maintain the flow of the reading experience. But I'm fascinated by how a footnote functions conceptually. They are asides, subtexts, indicating other possible lines of inquiry. Entirely apt, in other words, given the concept and theme of this book.
'The Unsettled', and what it espouses, is good work. The unsettling is no easy thing, but there is a deep call in it; something profound and necessary; something, I would argue, spiritual and perhaps even divine.
For Richard Shaw (a professor of politics at Massey University, who traces his New Zealand roots to Taranaki), the journey began in earnest when he discovered that his rugby-playing Irish Catholic great grandfather had been a member of the Armed Constabulary that invaded and occupied Parihaka, then subsequently obtained confiscated land for his farms.
Shaw put out a book called 'The Forgotten Coast' and received a lot of mail from unsettled Pākehā. The 'unsettledness' fell into two rough categories. Firstly, those angered by his work. In part, this second book serves as a documentation of the kind of vitriol that often attends these kinds of discussions, and the raw nerve that is hit. Secondly, those who, through unsettling truths and intimations, begin to face an often discomforting journey, of readdressing and redress, with an openness of intent.
It's a book of small stories, and small movements towards a different way of being, a redrawing of the lines.
A random observation. I love a good footnote; Shaw clearly does too. I had to stop pursuing them though (there are many), to maintain the flow of the reading experience. But I'm fascinated by how a footnote functions conceptually. They are asides, subtexts, indicating other possible lines of inquiry. Entirely apt, in other words, given the concept and theme of this book.
'The Unsettled', and what it espouses, is good work. The unsettling is no easy thing, but there is a deep call in it; something profound and necessary; something, I would argue, spiritual and perhaps even divine.
June 19, 2024
As a former student of Richard's, I am used to his dryer published works (see: Public Policy in New Zealand) - however this book had me feeling like I was back in one of his lectures. Richard is fantastic at sprinkling humour and wit throughout his words, and this book really brought it out.
This is a subject I consider often as Pākehā with a vested interest in Politics and Sociology. Richard is fantastic at painting a picture with his words - being from Taranaki myself, the descriptions of the history in SH45 and other areas I thought myself familiar with has me seeing them in an entirely new light. I also loved the way that he delves into the global zeitgeists of the settler stories.
I recommend this book to anyone that is keen on learning more on the fabric of our history and how to digest on it, or if you simply feel like reading non-fiction that will have you feeling amusement, engagement and awe in equal amounts.
This is a subject I consider often as Pākehā with a vested interest in Politics and Sociology. Richard is fantastic at painting a picture with his words - being from Taranaki myself, the descriptions of the history in SH45 and other areas I thought myself familiar with has me seeing them in an entirely new light. I also loved the way that he delves into the global zeitgeists of the settler stories.
I recommend this book to anyone that is keen on learning more on the fabric of our history and how to digest on it, or if you simply feel like reading non-fiction that will have you feeling amusement, engagement and awe in equal amounts.
January 28, 2026
I had really high hopes for this book and it speaks to so many of the thoughts and questions I’ve had a white Australian (and immigrant in a lot of countries as I’ve moved throughout my life). I finished it feeling satisfied. The stories and discussions in the book were thought provoking and did not shy away from controversy. I wish more people consciously thought this way.
However, I did find it a tough read. I struggled getting into the flow and didn’t fully understand the structure and point of each chapter. Everyone’s stories got a little jumbled but in the end it all came together. Maybe there is something symbolic in that.
Regardless I would recommend this book as something brutally honest and confronting but that we (settlers) all need acknowledge.
Note: the Irish paradox - the book did so well but shied away from an obvious point to make here… racism.
However, I did find it a tough read. I struggled getting into the flow and didn’t fully understand the structure and point of each chapter. Everyone’s stories got a little jumbled but in the end it all came together. Maybe there is something symbolic in that.
Regardless I would recommend this book as something brutally honest and confronting but that we (settlers) all need acknowledge.
Note: the Irish paradox - the book did so well but shied away from an obvious point to make here… racism.
June 11, 2024
This book got me thinking. I do know a lot about my ancestors who first arrived in NZ but reading this book made me realise I didn't know who the land some of them acquired had come to be in Pākehā hands. How did I not know for example that Kemp's deed related to my family? Because in all the histories of various ancestors this isn't ever acknowledged. And that's the effect of the collective amnesia (or worse gaslighting) that we Pākehā have indulged in since we first set foot on these lands. I hope many Pākehā read this and reflect on their own family's history in this land so that we can all do better now and in the future.
October 3, 2024
A significant book about coming to terms with living on land confiscated or stolen from Māori and how that changes our perception of place and our taking it for granted. The author tells the stories of his own family, coming from confiscated land in Ireland to inflict the same suffering here, and the stories of various others throughout the country uncomfortable (unsettled) by the means by which their land was obtained.
August 20, 2024
This is a thought provoking and encouraging book. From the notion of useful guilt to the idea that those of us who are pakeha can learn to live with and in our stories of colonisation, this book reveals the possibility of a remarkable future, a rich and different way of being of Aotearoa. Highly recommended
September 25, 2024
Ach! So good. Exactly what I needed. Kept having to jot down notes - so many golden nuggets, thought provoking ideas. Appreciated the careful handling of the pioneer stories while encouraging/imploring us to look deeper.
December 26, 2025
Despite being somewhat meandering at times, I enjoyed this. I learned some new history, and was inspired to return to genealogy, now with an eye for the ways in which individuals were shaped by and participated in settler-colonialism in Aotearoa.
December 28, 2025
Well written and lots to think about. Ideas for my own family research to be getting on with and content to reflect on. I've followed mentioned links and found research papers to further my knowledge and thinking. This will be staying with me, I'm letting it percolate and seeing what develops.
March 14, 2026
A timely piece tackling topics currently shrouded and privatized by history, vilified by those into mass mentality mindlessness and ignored by tech generations. I think it covers difficult social differences in a respectful manner. Awesome effort.
June 3, 2025
Stories of the colonisers/settlers of the Taranaki area.
February 25, 2025
Powerful reflections on the role of settler/‘pioneer’ family histories in understanding Pakeha identity and national shared history. It deals with the site of ‘imagined history’ - a process of forgetting, configuring, and retelling… and invites one to peer back into the past, to find truth, to sit with discomfort, to reimagine and retell.
Essential and important reading for anyone who identifies as ‘New Zealander’ to begin exploring what this terms really means and how it’s been ‘built’ on top of small everyday acts of colonisation.
Essential and important reading for anyone who identifies as ‘New Zealander’ to begin exploring what this terms really means and how it’s been ‘built’ on top of small everyday acts of colonisation.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews