Ailish Wallace-Buckland

Ailish is researching the boundaries of femininity and womanhood in Aotearoa/New Zealand between the 1920s-1986.

Qualifications

PGDip in Museum and Heritage Practice, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2022

MA in History, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2020

BA(Hons) with First Class Honours in History, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2019

BA in Classical Studies, History, and Italian, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2018

Profile

PhD Working Title: ‘Manly women’: Experiences and understandings of womanhood and femininity in New Zealand, c.1920-c.1986

Ailish’s interest in women’s history, the history of mental health, and understandings of masculinity and femininity in the past led her to her postgraduate research at Te Herenga Waka.

Following a keen interest in the history of the First World War – which led her to be chosen as a Young Ambassador for the Shared Histories programme in 2014 – Ailish pursued an Honours thesis that examined understandings of shell-shock. Her Honours thesis title was: Understanding Effeminacy and Masculinity in Discussions of Shell-Shock in British Medical Culture, 1914-1922. Ailish’s Masters’ research further pursued her interest in masculinity, this time focusing on New Zealand. Her MA was titled: ‘The Menace of Effeminacy’: Medical and Popular Discussions of Masculinity in Interwar New Zealand, c. 1918–1939. Her current PhD research has seen Ailish switch her focus to femininity, as she examines the shifting boundaries around acceptable (and expected) femininity and womanhood for New Zealand women between the 1920s-c.1986.

Supervisors

Publications

‘National Treasures: Airing New Zealand’s History on the Small Screen’, Museum Worlds, Vol.9, Issue 1, 2021, pp.160-166; available at https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/museum-worlds/9/1/armw090113.xml?rskey=7DfeDA&result=1

‘Treasure in the Children’s Toy Box’, Katherine Mansfield House & Garden, 24 August 2021; available at https://www.katherinemansfield.com/article/treasure-in-the-childrens-toy-box

‘On Harry Styles, campness and post-WWI men’s fashion in New Zealand’, The Spinoff, 5 April 2021; available at https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/05-04-2021/the-nz-mens-magazine-that-celebrated-camp-80-years-before-harry-styles/