Ngahuia Te Awekotuku

Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
Name	Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
Birth date	1949
Birth place	Gisborne, New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand
Occupation	Academic, activist, curator, writer

Ngahuia Te Awekotuku is a New Zealand Māori academic, activist, curator, and writer known for her work in Māori cultural preservation, sexuality studies, and indigenous rights. She has held positions at national institutions and universities, contributed to museum practice, and participated in public debates involving art, heritage, and human rights. Her career spans engagement with iwi, national arts organisations, and international indigenous networks.

Early life and education

Born in Gisborne and raised within whakapapa connected to Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, and Ngāti Māhanga, she grew up in a milieu shaped by whānau links to Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and regional communities such as Turanga-nui-a-Kiwa and Tairāwhiti. Her schooling included attendance in local kura and secondary institutions influenced by postwar New Zealand debates involving Māori Affairs Department policy and the Native Schools Act 1867 legacy. She undertook tertiary study at institutions including Victoria University of Wellington and engaged with lecturers associated with Waipapa Taumata Rau and visiting scholars from University of Auckland. During her studies she developed interests that connected to literature from figures such as Hēnare Mōkena Kōhere, activist literature linked to Ngā Tamatoa, and scholarship emergent from the Waitangi Tribunal era.

Academic career and research

Her academic appointments have included roles at universities and research organisations such as Victoria University of Wellington, University of Waikato, and partnerships with museums like Te Papa Tongarewa and Auckland War Memorial Museum. Her research spans kaupapa Māori methodologies linked to scholars associated with Linda Tuhiwai Smith and theoretical frameworks influenced by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o-adjacent decolonial thought and indigenous scholarship in the tradition of Frantz Fanon critiques. She has published on topics that intersect with Māori tikanga in journals connected to New Zealand Journal of History, contributions to edited volumes alongside editors from Auckland University Press, and chapters in compilations used at Massey University and University of Canterbury. Her curatorial practice informed museum studies conversations at conferences hosted by organisations such as the International Council of Museums and networks like Association of Māori and Pacific Museums.

Activism and kaupapa Māori work

Te Awekotuku has been prominent in activist circles intersecting with groups including Ngā Tamatoa, Aotearoa LGBT community organisations, and national campaigns involving institutions such as Human Rights Commission (New Zealand), Equality Network, and iwi-based advocacy for tino rangatiratanga claims associated with Waitangi Tribunal processes. She participated in public debates over censorship involving cases before bodies like the Obscene Publications Tribunal and dialogues connected to artists represented by galleries such as City Gallery Wellington and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Her activism engaged with networks of kaupapa Māori practitioners collaborating with entities such as Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Creative New Zealand, and international indigenous coalitions like United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues delegates and meetings with representatives from Assembly of First Nations and Sámi Council.

Contributions to Māori arts and cultural preservation

As a curator, writer, and advisor she contributed to exhibitions at Te Papa Tongarewa and regional institutions including Dowse Art Museum, Hocken Collections, and iwi-run galleries in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Whakatāne. She worked alongside artists and cultural practitioners such as Ralph Hotere, Dame Robin White, Shane Cotton, Emily Karoki, and weavers connected to Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa. Her efforts supported kaupapa such as language revitalisation initiatives linked to Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori and wānanga associated with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato. She advised on repatriation and taonga management involving collections from institutions including British Museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and regional archives like Alexander Turnbull Library.

Public service, honours, and recognitions

Her service includes appointments and advisory roles with organisations such as Human Rights Commission (New Zealand), panels for Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, and committees within Ministry for Culture and Heritage (New Zealand). She has been recognised by awards and honours from bodies like New Zealand Order of Merit-adjacent recommendations, acknowledgements from iwi authorities such as Ngāti Porou leadership, and lifetime recognitions presented at festivals including Matariki Festival events and arts awards hosted by New Zealand Book Awards panels. Internationally she has been invited to speak at events hosted by Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, and universities including Harvard University and University of Oxford.

Personal life and legacy

Her personal life is embedded in whānau commitments and connections to marae in regions including Gisborne District and Hawke's Bay Region. Colleagues and contemporaries from institutions such as Victoria University of Wellington, Auckland University of Technology, and community organisations in Porirua and Rotorua cite her influence on successive generations of Māori scholars, curators, and activists. Her legacy is reflected in ongoing programmes at museums, language revitalisation projects connected to Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust, and contributions to discourses taken up by writers appearing in outlets like Landfall (literary magazine) and academic series from Bridget Williams Books.

Category:New Zealand academics Category:Māori writers Category:Māori activists