ABSTRACT
In the case of contested landscapes, there will be several worldviews and versions of history. The dominant narrative can be balanced by the counter-narratives of the excluded. Two categories in particular are discussed – feminists and the dispossessed and marginalised. The first has made a valuable contribution by questioning fundamental assumptions of the standard narrative. The second is represented by two essays from New Zealand (or Aotearoa), one by a Māori indigenous representative, the other by someone of settler descent, and both grappling with how to come to terms with the colonial past and to rationalise their standpoints. This illustrates that the question of the viewpoint, or bias, of the narrator is relevant to the quest of presenting balanced viewpoints.
