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Unsettled Bliss: whiteness in Aotearoa
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July 4, 2025My academic background is in history and I was excited about a book that appears to discuss the social and cultural construction of whiteness in New Zealand and how it has influenced institutions and day to day life. Sadly, this was not the case.
Now I’m not saying that this book isn’t well-researched – it is a reworking of Cook’s PhD thesis so her knowledge on the topic cannot be faulted. Rather the writing felt overly didactic and academic for a book targeted at a general audience. At some points, it felt like Cook was saying “I’ve done the work, I’m better than you, and now I must lecture and educate you”. This might be because internal reflection is important in presenting a sociology thesis but I didn’t feel it was necessary for a book targeted at a general audience or it could just be that writers of history would either forgo the navel gazing completely or restrict it to an introduction.
Putting my frustrations with the writing aside, Unsettled Bliss is an excellent introduction for those looking to understand white supremacy and its impact on shaping the political, cultural, and social landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand. Cook shows that early negative representations of Māori continue to influence how we talk about Māori and attempt to rationalise why Māori experience more poverty, harm and other social trauma than white people. Potentially references to solipsism and Humbert in Lolita could have been removed to make the text more appealing but I appreciated the discussions of what it means to be a pākehā guest in a Māori world.
While I enjoyed this work, it didn’t meet my expectations for a more rigorous examination of whiteness or appear to advance new thinking about whiteness in New Zealand. A lot seemed to be summarising previous thinking by the late Moana Jackson. There were some well made and interesting points but not necessarily new points. Moreover, the conclusion that we must challenge capitalism to end white supremacy wasn't clearly advanced through the main body.
Overall a well researched contribution and primer for wider learning and discussion on race.
Now I’m not saying that this book isn’t well-researched – it is a reworking of Cook’s PhD thesis so her knowledge on the topic cannot be faulted. Rather the writing felt overly didactic and academic for a book targeted at a general audience. At some points, it felt like Cook was saying “I’ve done the work, I’m better than you, and now I must lecture and educate you”. This might be because internal reflection is important in presenting a sociology thesis but I didn’t feel it was necessary for a book targeted at a general audience or it could just be that writers of history would either forgo the navel gazing completely or restrict it to an introduction.
Putting my frustrations with the writing aside, Unsettled Bliss is an excellent introduction for those looking to understand white supremacy and its impact on shaping the political, cultural, and social landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand. Cook shows that early negative representations of Māori continue to influence how we talk about Māori and attempt to rationalise why Māori experience more poverty, harm and other social trauma than white people. Potentially references to solipsism and Humbert in Lolita could have been removed to make the text more appealing but I appreciated the discussions of what it means to be a pākehā guest in a Māori world.
While I enjoyed this work, it didn’t meet my expectations for a more rigorous examination of whiteness or appear to advance new thinking about whiteness in New Zealand. A lot seemed to be summarising previous thinking by the late Moana Jackson. There were some well made and interesting points but not necessarily new points. Moreover, the conclusion that we must challenge capitalism to end white supremacy wasn't clearly advanced through the main body.
Overall a well researched contribution and primer for wider learning and discussion on race.
July 7, 2025
Loved the concept, I was really hoping this would be a book that would take the reader on a journey, by shining a light on their privileged blind spots with tactful gentleness and a little bit of guile. Sadly there was very little of that, I fear this book will take very few on the journey, it's just too blunt and presumptive. It's written for the choir (who will be vocal of course) but not the audience... (The endnotes do soften it a tad.). Sorry, I had such high hopes, maybe that was my undoing.
August 28, 2025
A must-read for New Zealanders.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews