Keeping a Low Profile: An Oral History of German Immigration to New Zealand

This is the first oral history of German immigration to New Zealand, and the first scholarly monograph on this highly significant immigrant grouping. It not only covers the subject comprehensively in an accessible form, but also places the account of the immigrants in scholarly theoretical perspective, in historical and social context.

It is based on extensive field research in new Zealand, including 102 life history interviews, and in-depth study of archival sources and secondary literature. It is significant in the international scholarly literature on migration because of the breadth of the sample, taking in several disparate migrant groups over a 60-year period. It will appeal to a New Zealand readership fascinated by questions of what it is to be a Kiwi, and who counts as one.

BRIGITTE BOENISCH-BREDNICH has held the National Library Fellowship. Keeping a Low Profile is the revised and translated version of her PhD thesis.