Dr Vaughan Wood
Position
Post Doctoral Fellow, 'Empires of Grass'
Qualifications
B.Sc.(Hons),B.A.(Hons),M.A.(Distinction)(Canterbury), Ph.D.(Otago)
Contact Details
Room:315
Phone: +64 3 364 2987 ext. 3047
Fax: +64 3 364 2907
gareth.wood@canterbury.ac.nz
Postal address:
Department of Geography
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch
New Zealand
Research
My area of research interest is historical geography, with an emphasis on technological and environmental change in New Zealand farming, and land settlement in New Zealand. Presently, I am engaged in the study ‘Empires of Grass’ which examines the evolution of, and experimentation within, New Zealand grassland farming in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (see weblink for more details). I am also interested in the geographical implications of developments in the chemical sciences since the 18th century, especially in relation to use of natural resources.
Involved in the following research projects:
Teaching
Selected Publications
- Cant G, Hodge R and Wood V, 2004, The impact of environmental changes on Lake Waikaremoana and Lake Waikareiti, Te Urewera, report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal, Wai 894, D1.
- Wood V, 2004, Soil fertility management in nineteenth century New Zealand agriculture, Newsletter of the Commission for History, Philosophy and Sociology of Soil Science, International Union of Soil Sciences, No 11, pp 9-13.
- Wood V, 2003, Appraising soil fertility in early colonial New Zealand: the 'biometric fallacy' and beyond, Environment and History, Vol 9, No 4, pp 393-405.
- Wood V, 2003, Soil analysis in New Zealand: the pre-Lincoln (to c.1880) story, New Zealand Soil News, Vol 51, No 2, pp 33-38.
- Brooking T, Hodge R, and Wood V, 2002, The Grasslands Revolution revisited, in Pawson E and Brooking T (eds), Environmental histories of New Zealand, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, pp 169-182.
- Wood, V, and Brooking, T, 2001, Canterbury farming intensifies, in Cant G and Kirkpatrick R (eds), Rural Canterbury: celebrating its history, Wellington, Daphne Brasell / Lincoln University Press, pp 80-99.