Rugby League: A New Zealand History

In this talk, historian Ryan Bodman will explore the value of social media as a 21st century history-research tool. Over the past five years, Ryan has been researching and writing Rugby League: A New Zealand History, which is a social and cultural history of the football code in New Zealand.

As part of this project, he has developed a social media account under the same name, which promotes public engagement with his research outputs and has brought a collaborative component to his research process.

Ryan will explore the use of social media in the development of his book, paying particular attention to the value of social media to academic historians seeking to engage with people from outside of the university-setting.

These free public history talks are a collaboration between the National Library of New Zealand and Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. They are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month March to November.

Speaker profile: Ryan Bodman is a Pākehā from Mt Maunganui, who now lives in Auckland. In his work, he seeks to create uncomplicated, lively text that places an emphasis upon the voices of those who lived through the historic moment under discussion. His research interests fall under the broad categories of New Zealand's social and cultural history, with a particular focus on social movements, working-class life, music and sport. Rugby League: A New Zealand History will be his first book. In 2017 Ryan Bodman received a Friends of the Turnbull Library research grant to assist with his rugby league project.