Archives: From Places of Silence and Silencing to Places of Regeneration

This chapter outlines a group research project facilitated by the author that involved identifying ‘unnamed natives’ from photographs held at the archives of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. By recovering the names and identities of the people in the photographs, their descendants were able to claim history and stabilise identity. For a small Māori community, this project became a way of reconnecting with ancestors and telling stories of their historical, cultural, and spiritual connections to place.