Dame Anne Salmond - Leading the Charge of New Zealand Romantic Thinking - by Colinxy
The Romantic Cloak
Few figures embody the Romantic impulse in New Zealand’s intellectual life more vividly than Dame Anne Salmond. Her writings, media appearances, and social media engagements reveal a deep commitment to cultural relativism and poststructuralist thought. She venerates the theorists of fragmentation and ambiguity, and in doing so, positions herself as a defender of what is known as the “Noble Savage.” Within this framework, behaviours that might otherwise be condemned are excused if they emerge from her preferred cultural narrative, while anything associated with European ancestry is treated with suspicion—except, of course, when it comes to herself and her academic circle.
