UC lecturer and award-winning author begins second book
UC lecturer and award-winning author begins work on
his second book
September 29,
2013
University of Canterbury gang lecturer and
award-winning author Dr Jarrod Gilbert today announced he is
beginning work on his second book, looking at murders in New
Zealand.
As part of his PhD thesis, Dr Gilbert
spent 10 years with New Zealand gangs researching his book
Patched: The history of Gangs in New Zealand, which
recently won the New Zealand Post Book Awards People's
Choice Award.
Today he launched a new Facebook page
– Murder: A New Zealand History – to begin
writing and researching for his next book.
``I want
to take interested people through the process as to how the
book is researched and written. For me it’s a tough,
torturous process, from a concept through to the finished
product.
``This is a big project to embark on and
an even more ambitious book than Patched but I am
happy to take people along for the ride. It’s fantastic
being based at UC and being able to lecture about gangs and
related issues.
``Certain murders have gripped New
Zealand, titillating, outraging, or sharply dividing the
public. Most often, a great deal is known about these events
but Murder will look at more than the events
themselves by examining what these killings say about New
Zealand and how they reflected our society at the time.
``The history of murder in this country becomes a
history of New Zealand more generally. Murder will
cast light on important parts of New Zealand history that
are hitherto unexplored.
``I am convinced that
Murder will be a bigger and more important work, and
offer a greater number of essential findings that challenge
our assumptions and inform deeper understandings of New
Zealand history.’’
Dr Gilbert has worked
alongside the Howard League for Penal Reform, the Department
of Corrections, the New Zealand Police and key experts at
UC, including criminologist Professor Greg Newbold, which
will give him an advantage in accessing participants in the
research, as well as databases and files necessary to carry
out the book project.
The ideas for his project
have been matured by discussions with a number of key people
from long standing police detectives to Queen’s Counsel
lawyers and history and sociology academics, all of whom
support the project.
ENDS