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Download AudioThe Royal Society Te Apārangi has elected groundbreaking wahine Māori academic Ngāhuia Te Awekotuku a companion of the society – its highest honour.
Dr Te Awekotuku’s record includes developing the first tertiary sector Māori and Pacific art history programme to a PhD level, helping to establish women’s studies as an academic discipline at Waikato and Auckland universities, and developing takatapui (LGBT) courses at Victoria University of Wellington–Te Herenga Waka, as well as overseeing the emergence of Pacific studies as an independent department at Victoria.
She’s an emeritus professor at the University of Waikato.
Her publications include essays on feminism, art and politics and books on ta moko and weaving.
She says her academic success came because her Ngati Whakaue community backed her to do things in a Maori way, and the same potential exists in any Maori student.
“Education initiatives, like the rumaki and reo Māori systems within the schools are helping, but I think that Matatini is a major force. You’re getting lots of kids that would normally never participate suddenly feeling pride, suddenly feeling a sense of who they are,” Dr Te Awekotuku says.
The other new Te Apārangi companions are sustainable agriculture champion Dr Liz Wedderburn and science administrator Dr Prue Williams, joining the list of past companions including Lord Ernest Rutherford, Te Rangi Hiroa Sir Peter Buck, Tā Timoti Kāretu and Tā Tipene O’Regan.
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