Martin Fisher

Martin's doctoral research addressed the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process from an international perspective.

PhD History

Martin Fisher was born in Budapest, Hungary, and has lived in Italy, Canada, the United States and New Zealand. In 2007 Martin completed his MA in History at McGill University in Montreal, before moving back to Wellington to begin his PhD in History at Victoria University of Wellington. In 2008 he was awarded a Victoria University Vice-Chancellor's Strategic Scholarship.

Martin's doctoral research addressed the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process from an international perspective. While there is a great deal of output on Waitangi Tribunal processes and reports, the reality is that Treaty-based settlements emerge not from the Tribunal but from negotiations between politicians and tribal groupings - with both parties heavily dependent on professional negotiators and historical, legal and policy advisers. Martin has analysed how the politics of history has played out as a social process in the present.

The Treaty of Waitangi settlements have attained international prominence and this project thus has important implications for traditional Anglo settler societies that are still also grappling with the difficulties of their turbulent past such as Australia, Canada and the United States. A strong focus of his project centred on a comparative analysis of both Treaty settlements and the process of reconciliation.