“We challenge students to think about their own perceptions and prejudices and how these impact on the provision of healthcare.”—Associate Professor Fa’afetai Sopoaga, winner of the Prime Minister’s Supreme Award for Excellence in Tertiary Teaching.
We won’t see significant change in educational achievement for Māori until we free our children from the negative narratives about them in their everyday lives.
We often think of He Whakaputanga as the poor cousin, the runner-up, of constitutional documents. But He Whakaputanga has been a force in the north for a long time.
“It’s so important for me to get Māori kids on the page, which is why my protagonists are always Māori. Because when I was growing up, you just didn’t see yourself.”
“Pacific Islanders do things a bit differently — especially because of their respect for authority or for elders. But you can have respect and still question without challenging offensively.”
“I had confidence in Jacinda. That’s the other thing I’ve learned on my journey. It’s the importance of recognising talent — including talent that’s better than you.”
“I think the global indigenous cinema needs a global indigenous fund. We need to see the value of our stories, which somebody else takes the profit from.”
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our justice system so that it better serves humanity.
"Education can provide information but may do little to change a person’s worldview or heart."
Both major parties are more than happy to put the boot into Māori if that helps position them in the political centre at election time.
“Labour’s Māori MPs live and work in two worlds, relating to Māori voters as Māori, but also as workers, citizens and more. The problem for the Māori Party is it never did the same.” —Morgan Godfery, in an extract from a new book, 'Stardust and Substance'.
“It takes courage to step out from a lifetime of bullying and discrimination to be the me I was meant to be.”—Ashleigh Feu’u
“From the beginning, each of us recognised something in the other: two Māori boys off to conquer the world.” —Witi Ihimaera
For decades, May Mackey provided "compassion and aroha and prayer support without judgment" to prisoners. Last week, the 98-year-old was honoured for that work.
"There’s a vast untapped market that is hungry for books where Pasifika peoples are centered, where we are the mainstream and not the marginalised Other."
"Being an outsider because of my personality quirks was an identity I could embrace. Better than being defined purely by my lack of culture and language. Give me Crazy Pālangi over plain Pālangi any day."
When I hear a child saying she hates Pākehā, it doesn’t sit right with me. It’s the same when I hear people referring to the “bloody Pākehās”.
The good news is that the country seems to be in a process of recovery — and for Pākehā, discovery — of the Māori conceptual world.
I grew up in a predominantly Pākehā town in the South Island. My mother is Pākehā. My father, who...
A bilingual education policy may well become the greatest strategy for racial harmony and social cohesion that this country has ever seen.
“If we're not going to use the reo on a regular basis in our homes, as we’re raising our children, we're probably going to miss the main way forward for reo Māori.”
"It doesn't make sense to be sharing a land with others, if you don't make an effort to learn their stories or their language."
Four plays in four languages staged over four weeks — a theatre experiment which aims to challenge the idea of English as the “mainstream” language and all other languages as exotic.
To all of you who warmed our hearts and boosted our bank account, a big, big thank you.
If we’re to develop E-Tangata into an operation that can give Māori and Pasifika communities a strong, articulate media voice, we urgently need to find more funding.
"It’s not enough for Pākehā readers and publishers to 'love' Pasifika or Māori or 'other' writers, while barely giving them space in print."
"The bliss of freedom enjoyed by those who have power should never mean the right to cause pain to those who are comparatively powerless."
"I was so lucky to grow up with my 23 cousins. We all liked to joke around. I was used to banter and coming back with one-liners. And being a smartarse."
Comedian James Nokise, an Edinburgh Fringe festival veteran of seven years, on why Rose Matafeo winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award last week is a very big deal.
“People have come in for the haka boogie, and when they stay for a while, we can see them becoming empowered to take on fulfilling roles.”
Being original and unique is an enormous reason that Black Grace is still here. We don't copy what happens in Europe or anywhere else.
“Parihaka was a place and an event that could be lost and found, over and over. It moved into view, then disappeared, just like the mountain.”— Rachel Buchanan.
"We were the last mothers of that generation. The last to go through before the cradle-to-grave welfare state came crashing down around us. After that, single mothers were further stigmatised — and life got much harder."
Remembering Koro Wetere — a dour, street-smart fighter for Māori rights.
My mother used to say: “Forgive thine enemies, my son, but write down their names.” You forgive and remember what you've got to do because you can't keep carrying those things forever.
E-Tangata and Radio Waatea are longtime friends, and support each other's kaupapa.
E-Tangata is an online Sunday magazine specialising in stories that reflect the experiences of Māori and Pasifika in Aotearoa.
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