December 08, 2023
Decoloniser Smith an inspiring academic
The award of one of the country’s most prestigious tohu to a pioneer in indigenous research has been labelled profoundly deserved.
Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith, of Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Porou, has been awarded the Royal Society Te Apārangi ‘s Rutherford Medal for her work on the decolonisation of research methodology and her efforts to advancing Māori education and research.
Former student Tahu Kukutai says Dr Smith’s commitment to advancing knowledge by Māori for Māori goes back to her membership of Ngā Tamatoa as a student in the 1970s.
“I’m just one of many academics from around the world who have just been profoundly impacted by her intellectual contributions, by her scholarship, by her vision, by her passion, her truth to power and really opening doors for us to think about research in new ways.
Professor Kukutai says Dr Smith was instrumental in the founding of the country’s only indigenous-led research centre, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, based at Auckland University.