Ngā Kete Mātauranga

Shortlised for the 2022 Bert Roth Award for Labour History

In this beautiful and transformative book, 24 Māori academics share their personal journeys, revealing what being Māori has meant for them in their work. Their perspectives provide insight for all New Zealanders into how mātauranga is positively influencing the Western-dominated disciplines of knowledge in the research sector.

It is a shameful fact, says co-editor Jacinta Ruru in her introduction to Ngā Kete Mātauranga, that in 2020, only about 5 percent of academic staff at universities in Aotearoa New Zealand are Māori. Tertiary institutions have for the most part been hostile places for Indigenous students and staff, and this book is an important call for action. ‘It is well past time that our country seriously commits to decolonising the tertiary workforce, curriculum and research agenda,’ writes Professor Ruru.

The book demonstrates the power, energy and diversity that can be brought out into the world by Māori scholars working both comfortably and uncomfortably from within, without and across diverse academic disciplines and mātauranga Māori. – Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith

These deeply personal stories provide a portal into the te ao Māori world, which many outside it seek to understand, but struggle to find a frame in which to do so. The abstract concept of decolonising the tertiary workforce is brought to life and given meaning by these kōrero of strength, where the authors display courage and vision from within an environment so often hostile to Indigenous ways of knowing. Read it, be inspired, and welcome this refreshingly written challenge to embrace mātauranga Māori and build a stronger academy. – Professor Juliet A. Gerrard, Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Kaitohutohu Mātanga Pūtaiao Matua ki te Pirimia

The editors

Jacinta Ruru (Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui) is a professor of law at the University of Otago and co-director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. Her extensive research considers Indigenous people’s rights, interests and responsibilities to own and care for lands and waters. She seeks to disrupt colonial legal norms and inspire a more just legal system. She has multidisciplinary research collaborations around the world, including as co-author of Discovering Indigenous Lands: The doctrine of discovery in the English colonies (Oxford University Press, 2010). She has won awards for teaching, research and graduate supervision.

Linda Waimarie Nikora (Tūhoe, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti) is a professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Auckland and co-director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence. Her specialty interest is in the development of Indigenous psychologies to serve the interests and aspirations of Māori and Indigenous peoples. She has been involved in research about Māori flourishing; tangi and Māori ways of mourning; traditional body modification; ethnic status as a stressor; Māori identity development; cultural safety and competence; Māori mental health and recovery; social and economic determinants of health; homelessness; relational health and social connectedness.