Abstract:
The central argument of this thesis is that history is a self-referential discourse, the principal referent of which, the past, exists as an organising device within the discourse itself and not as a material exoteric that can be visited and studied. As a consequence, 'historical discourse is a fake performative discourse' that relies on 'the reality effect' to make the past seem present and accessible in order to achieve its teleological aims. History, therefore, is not axiomatic and has a limited social utility. The principal purpose of this thesis is to dehegemonize settler historiography in Aotearoa New Zealand in the hope of finding a way to overcome the différend that separates Maori (tangata whenua or people of the land) and Pakeha (tangata tiriti or tauiwi, respectively, people of the Treaty or foreigners) and thereby help to bring about a deep and lasting healing in this place. It thus contends that an alternative to the historic-legal language on which the contemporary dialogue is based must be found. To these ends, it relies on ideas from linguistic philosophy, particularly those of Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, and Jean-Francois Lyotard, to deconstruct the 'groundless grounds' on which contemporary history writing rests, and deploys these ideas to demonstrate that settler historiography, as a textual site, is central to a discursive system that performs a double function: it affirms the settler's right to belong while displacing the narrative of the indigenous population whose geography the settler has seized by force and other dubious means. It argues that we should break with the positivist model that informs the modern historiographical project and approach the différend on a philosophic-ethical basis, while learning to live with the aporias and contradictions that inhere within the human condition. Finally, this thesis advocates for an unceasing deconstruction of the hegemonic while seeking the unexpected in Derrida's 'democracy to come'.