Tony Ballantyne (historian)

[16] More specifically, Orientalism and Race (2001) analysed the 'orientalizing' texts of British officials in colonial India and their attempts to decode both Hinduism and Sikhism more broadly in terms of their understandings of Aryanism and race; at the same time it examined similar discourses directed toward understandings of Māori as, first, 'Semitic', then Indo-Aryan, and ultimately, Māori reconfigurations of Christianity on their own terms.

Along the lines of Benedict Anderson's formulation of 'print capitalism', Ballantyne has, in turn, addressed the place of print culture and literacy in the encounters between Māori and the Pākehā colonists.

Articles and editorials exposed a 'negative, top-down, management culture that undermined trust, productivity and mental health' and that created a 'climate of suppression…and fear of repercussions'.

[35] Concerns about Otago's top-down management style and its deleterious effect on morale were widely expressed, including by Sir David Skegg, in a highly unusual intervention by a previous Vice-Chancellor of the university itself.

Disputing Ballantyne's claim that redundancies were necessary because of declining enrolments, Skegg emphasized that '[a]ny financial crisis at Otago cannot be attributed to falling student numbers'.

[44] In this capacity Ballantyne also led the creation of a new university logo, with the effort criticised for costing about $700,000 whilst large numbers of academic staff were made redundant on the grounds of budgetary shortfalls.

[45] [46] In early 2024 it was announced Ballantyne would be stepped down from External Engagement, as part of 'major' 'almost wholesale' replacement of university leadership apparently sought by new incoming Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson.