Joanna is a sociologist with affiliations to Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Raukawa. Her work spans indigenous sociology, Māori youth, higher education, decolonization studies and comparative education. She is especially interested in the interplay of power relations between different groups of people.

Joanna is working on two Marsden projects: He Taonga te Wareware: Remembering and Forgetting New Zealand’s Colonial Past investigates how New Zealanders selectively remember and forget difficult and violent events from our colonial past; and

What Inspires and Sustains Young People's Engagement in Social Movements?, led by A/P Karen Nairn, University of Otago, explores the ways that hope for a better future motivates young New Zealanders to engage with politics and new social movements

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngati Whakatere
Victoria University of Wellington

Related Projects

21-28RP04

Matakitenga project Research Programme

Promising Futures Te Kawau Mārō: The Lifeworlds of highly qualified Māori - a cohort study of Māori PhD students and graduates

The teaching and development of a vibrant, dynamic, highly educated and sustainable Māori workforce operatingat the highest levels of tribal and government leadership and civic society, is crucial to driving positive economic, social and environmental transformation in Aotearoa. Current and future generations of Māori PhD students and graduates, Māori scholars and researchers, are needed to undertake excellent and transformative research, run research organisations and be change makers within their communities and New Zealand society more broadly.

Full project

Ngā Moemoea ō Ᾱpōpō: Empowering Taiohi Māori Leaders for the Future

E kore e ngaro nga tapuwae i nga wa o mua,
He arahina ke tatou ki te huarahi nei,
Me hangaia e tatou e tatou ano

We can never erase the footprints of our past,
They lead us to the paths of the future
We carve for ourselves.

In the 21st century, indigenous youth face an uncertain and challenging future. In the years ahead they will need to deal with a daunting range of issues, some of potentially unprecedented scale and scope.

Full project

Project commenced:

Māori Academic Socialisation and the University

Despite the proliferation of equity and diversity plans and policies that have been established in universities across New Zealand over the past 25 years, Māori academic staff make up only a very small proportion of the nation’s academic workforce (6%) and the proportion of Pacific academic staff is even smaller (2%).