Researcher Summary
I am Maori of the Tuhourangi iwi and a professor in Aotahi: School of Māori and Indigenous Studies, University of Canterbury, specialising in Māori and Indigenous philosophy, with a particular focus on its revitalisation within a colonised reality. Committed to investigating indigenous notions of holism, I wrote Indigenous Education and the Metaphysics of Presence (2017, Routledge), along with several articles and chapters, on the issue of colonisation and reductionism. I am currently working on the Maori concepts of nothingness and darkness in response to an Enlightenment focus on clarity and am speculating on how they can form the backdrop of academic expression. I am also contributing to philosophical discussions arising around matauranga Maori and science.
I have experience teaching and researching in education and mātauranga Māori, the law, and global studies.
Internationally, I have held an adjunct professorship at RMIT and am involved in projects that engage with Indigenous philosophy: Sámi mánná jurddavázzin – Sámi Children as Thought Herders: Storytelling and critical philosophical inquiries in Indigenous Early Years Education (Swedish Research Council); and Understanding Indigenous ethics and wholism within academic and Aboriginal community research settings (SSHRC, Canada).
I welcome inquiries from doctoral students interested in diverse methods and delving into Maori and other Indigenous philosophies.
