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A book celebrating the life of an extraordinary contributor of the wider understanding of Maori by other New Zealnders is to be launched today as part of Ngati Porou's Ngata lecture series.
Paikea is a biography by Oliver Sutherland of his father Ivan Sutherland, a brilliant scholar who was a close friend of Sir Apirana Ngata until his death in 1952 at the age of just 54.
Sutherland's 1934 book The Maori Situation was a defence of Ngata and a call for a bicultural New Zealand.
Erana Reedy from Radio Ngati Porou says as a cultural psychologist and social anthropologist, Sutherland proved a valuable friend and ally for the Ngati Porou politician.
"There was a view that Maori were going to get amalgamated by Pakeha, but what academics like Ivan studied abot Maori society and how unique we were, we weren't brown-skinned Pakeha, we were Maori, we were heirs of or own culture and our own who we were," she says.
The book is being launched at Tairawhiti Marae in Rangitukia, the first marae in Ngati Porou to welcome Ivan Sutherland.
Paikea: The Life of I.L.G. Sutherland is published by Canterbury University Press.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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