Listen Now: 
Download AudioA new book is describing road checks as an expression of rangatiratanga and a step in Aotearoa’s constitutional journey.
Stepping Up by Victoria University academics Maria Bargh from Te Arawa and Ngāti Awa and Luke Fitzmaurice from Te Aupōuri captures stories of the whānau who volunteered during the first Covid lockdown, looks at the response from Māori and the general public, and considers their wider legal and social implications.
Dr Bargh says the pou kōrero were part of a wider public health response and were maintained despite their cost to the volunteers and their communities.
“It’s also reminding us that the crown needs to share those resources with Māori, not trickle them down slowly on a sort of piecemeal basis but that rangatiratanga sphere of authority needs to be resourced to be the same size and in the same vein as the kāwanatanga sphere,” she says.
Stepping Up: COVID-19 Checkpoints and Rangatiratanga is the first of Huia Publishers’ new Huatau series of thought-provoking short books on topical issues.
RELATED NEWS
