Ngahuia Te AwekotukuMNZM (born 1949) is a New Zealand academic specialising in
Māori cultural issues and a
lesbian activist.[1] In 1972, she was famously denied a visa to visit the United States on the basis of her sexuality.
In 1972, Te Awekotuku was denied a visitor's permit to the USA on the grounds that she was a homosexual. Publicity around the incident was a catalyst in the formation of
gay liberation groups in
New Zealand.[9] This may have been related to a TV interview she gave in 1971, in which she described herself as a '
sapphic woman'.[10]
Research into tā moko
Te Awekotuku has researched and written extensively on the traditional and contemporary practices of tā moko (tattoo) in New Zealand. Her 2007 (re-published in 2011) book Mau Moko: the world of Maori tattoo, co-authored with Linda Waimarie Nikora, was the product of a five-year long research project conducted by the Māori and Psychology Research Unit at Waikato University, funded by a Marsden Fund grant.[11][12]
In 2009 Te Awekotuku and Linda Waimarie Nikora received a $950,000 Marsden Fund grant as lead researchers in the Māori and Psychology Research Unit at Waikato University for the research project 'Apakura: the Maori way of death'. A further $250,000 was received from the Nga Pae o te Maramatanga National Institute of Research Excellence to explore past and present practices around
tangihanga.[15]
He tikanga whakaaro: Research ethics in the Maori community: A discussion paper
Ministry of Māori Affairs
On art and artists
We will become ill if we stop weaving. From Mana Whina Maori Selected writings on Maori Women's art, culture and politics. Republished in ATE Journal of Māori Art, 2020, vol 2 pp. 90—103.
E ngaa uri whakatupu – weaving legacies : Dame Rangimarie Hetet and Diggeress Te Kanawa, Hamilton: Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, 2015.
ISBN9780473326036
'Traditions endure : Five Maori Painters at Auckland Art Gallery', Art New Zealand, Winter 2014, no. 150, pp. 58–61.
'A glorious tradition', Art New Zealand, Winter 2003, no.103.
Unveiling our hidden treasures : the Seventh Pacific Festival of Arts 1996;', Art New Zealand, Summer 1996/1997, no. 81, pp. 42–45,84.
'Forgiving, but never forgetting : Shared Visions at the Auckland City Art Gallery', Art New Zealand, Winter 1996, no. 79, pp. 74–77.
'He Take Ano: Another Take – Conversations with Lisa Reihana', Art New Zealand, Spring 1993, no. 68, pp. 84–87
'Kura Te Waru Rewiri', Art New Zealand, Spring 1993, no. 68, pp. 91–93
Mana wahine Maori: Selected writings on Maori women's art, culture and politics, Auckland: New Women's Press, 1991.
ISBN0908652631
'Art and the spirit', New Zealand Geographic, Jan/Mar 1990, no. 5, pp. 93–97.
'Mats of the Pacific', Art New Zealand, Spring 1989, no. 52, pp..88–90
'Te whakahoutanga o Te Winika (The restoration of Te Winika)', New Zealand Listener, 28 November 1987, p. 67.
'Ngahuia Te Awekotuku in conversation with Elizabeth Eastmond and Priscilla Pitts’, Antic, no. 1, 1986.
On tā moko
'Tā Moko: Māori Tattoo', in Goldie, (1997) exhibition catalogue, Auckland: Auckland City Art Gallery and David Bateman, pp. 108–114.
'More than Skin Deep', in Barkan, E. and Bush, R. (eds.), Claiming the Stone: Naming the Bones: Cultural Property and the Negotiation of National and Ethnic Identity (2002) Los Angeles: Getty Press, pp. 243–254.
Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, with Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua and Rolinda Karapu, Mau moko : the world of Māori tattoo, Auckland: Penguin Books, 2011.
ISBN9780143566854
On death in Maori culture
Tess Moeke-Maxwell, Linda Waimarie Nikora, and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, 'Manaakitanga: Ethical research with Māori who are dying', in M. Agee, T. McIntosh, P. Culbertson, & C. Makasiale (eds.), Pacific Identities and Well-Being – Cross Cultural Perspectives, London: Routledge, 2003, pp. 188–203.
Tess Moeke-Maxwell, Linda Waimarie Nikora, and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, 'End-of-life care and Māori whānau resilience', MAI Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 140–152.
^Whaanga, Mere Joslyn (2012).
Rata, the Effect of Māori Land Law on Ahikāroa (PhD thesis). The University of Waikato: Te Whare Wananga o Waikato.
Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
^"New Year honours list 2010". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2009.
Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
^"Museum Medals". aucklandmuseum.com.
Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019.