Sam Ritchie

Sam's research explores intra-Māori violence in Aotearoa/New Zealand and intra-Aboriginal violence in southeast Australia during the nineteenth century.

PhD History

Sam Ritchie grew up in Raglan and attended high school in Hamilton before moving to Dunedin where he completed a BA(Hons) in history at the University of Otago in 2007. In 2009 he completed a MA (Distinction) in History at Victoria University of Wellington, for which he was awarded the 2009 F P Wilson Prize.

In 2009 Sam was awarded a Victoria Postgraduate Scholarship for PhD Study. His research explores intra-Māori violence in Aotearoa/New Zealand and intra-Aboriginal violence in southeast Australia during the nineteenth century. In particular, the project seeks to trace the shift from European attempts to prevent intra-indigenous violence in the Tasman world during the first half of the nineteenth century, to European attempts to control and take advantage of intra-indigenous violence in the second half of the nineteenth century—particularly kūpapa Māori in the New Zealand Wars and the Native Police in southeast Australia.