Historian Dr Toby Boraman has been appointed as the 2025 JD Stout Fellow by the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
As the JD Stout Fellow, Dr Boraman will continue his in-depth research for his upcoming book, provisionally titled Knocking Off: A History of Strikes in Aotearoa New Zealand from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
Dr Boraman says this was the most popular and lengthy period of strike action in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history, yet it has been often overlooked.
“It was a time of profound strike activity, yet it has remained largely unexplored in historical scholarship.
“This project will explore the extent to which the period under study was a key transitional phase that has profoundly shaped the present. Much like today, it also demonstrates how political polarisation, and right-populism, can develop rapidly in response to major crises and conflict.”
A specialist in the labour history and social movements of Aotearoa New Zealand, Toby has published numerous articles and chapters on the political and social turbulence of the 1970s and 1980s. He has also worked as a historian at the Waitangi Tribunal and served as a politics lecturer at Massey University. His international experience includes a fellowship at the re:work International Research Centre studying the global history of work at Humboldt University in Germany.
His research aims to uncover the hidden history of strikes, amplifying voices that have long been excluded—Māori workers, migrant Pasifika workers, women workers, and rank-and-file unionists—while offering a comprehensive, multi-dimensional history of workplace conflict, combining critical analysis of the causes, reactions, lasting impacts, and contested legacies of these disputes.
“This research project will close a significant gap in our knowledge of the period in question. I am very much looking forward to hosting Toby at the centre,” says Professor Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich, Director of the Stout Research Centre.
The JD Stout Fellowship is funded from the legacy of John David Stout and stewarded by Perpetual Guardian. It awards a scholar of high standing the opportunity to research an area of New Zealand society, history, or culture.
The Fellowship, which was established in 1985, has resulted in a body of influential publications in the field of New Zealand studies.
Dr Boraman will take up the Fellowship on 1 March 2025.
Learn more about the Fellowship on the Stout Research Centre’s website: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/stout-centre/research-opportunities/the-john-david-stout-fellowship-in-new-zealand-studies/jd-stout-info
