Profile
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Former Positions
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Maori), Office of the Vice-Chancellor,
University of Auckland. Chair of Council (Te Whare Wananga
o Awanuiarangi: Indigenous University). Co-Director
of the Woolf Fisher Research Centre at The University
of Auckland; Deputy Chair of New Zealand Council for
Educational Research; Adjunct Professor of the Hubert
H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (University
of Minnesota); Retired Director (New Zealand Maori Rugby
Union Board). Retired Director (Sports Foundation, Recreation
Industry Training Organisation - SFRITO), Retired Foundation
Trustee and Director (Centre for Clinical Research and
Effective Practice Foundation – CCReP); Member
(Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Postcolonial
Education – JPE); Retired Member of Ministerial
Reference Group for the Ministry of Social Development.
NATIONALITY
New Zealand Maori
Tribal Affiliations
Patrilineage: Ngati Porou, Kai Tahu
Matrilineage: Ngati Apa, Ngati Kahungunu
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Distinguished Professor Smith is a prominent Maori
education scholar who has been at the forefront of alternative
Maori initiatives in the education field and beyond.
His recent academic work has centred on developing theoretically
informed transformative strategies related to intervening
in Maori cultural, political, social, educational and
economic crises. He is involved in the development of
Tribal Universities and is the recently retired foundation
Chairperson of Te Whare Wananga O Awanuiarangi Council
– an institution that has grown to become an indigenous
PhD granting Academy. In his former position as Pro
Vice Chancellor (Maori), he was responsible for developing
a Maori University structure within the University of
Auckland. He has contributed widely to educational developments
for Maori and indigenous peoples across many fronts
within the Tertiary education sector.
Professor Smith’s earlier training is in Social
Anthropology and he completed a MA (Hons) dissertation
on ‘Maori Rituals of Encounter’. He was
the first teacher of a Maori immersion Kura Kaupapa
Maori school, (Maori philosophy and principles based
School), which has grown from a single school in 1988
to over seventy-five publicly funded schools in 1999.
His theoretical leadership has helped inform the emergence
of Maori Education Studies as a distinct academic field
within New Zealand education and as an identifiable
educational area of study in particular New Zealand
Universities. His research work has stimulated a wide-ranging
academic discussion centred on Kaupapa Maori Theory,
Critical Theory and Transformative Praxis.
Professor Smith has made important contributions to
the political, social, economic and cultural advancement
of indigenous Maori communities. He has worked extensively
with other Indigenous/ First Nation’s peoples
across the world, including in Canada, Hawaii, US mainland,
Taiwan, Chile, Australia, Micronesia, and with various
other South Pacific nations. He is a regular contributor
to national forums on indigenous issues and has also
been an authoritative voice to international meetings
on indigenous education issues. Professor Smith is an
active contributor to the ongoing critical debate on
‘neo-colonialism’ and economic forms of
colonization, both in New Zealand and abroad. He has
had a long time involvement and maintains a strong influence
in the indigenous language revitalization movements.
More recently he has been involved in developing new
approaches to ‘relationship building’ within
Colonial states – focusing on balancing issues
of ‘apologies, reconciliation, redress and reparations’
(as well as Treaty issues) toward developing what he
has termed a ‘societal/ citizenship settlement’.
Currently Professor Smith has applied research projects
in New Zealand, Alaska and the U.S.; he is the Director
of the Doctor of Education (Aboriginal Pathway) at UBC;
he has developed the provincial wide SAGE programme
(an Aboriginal focused doctoral mentoring initiative);
he has worked with numerous post-secondary institutions
across Canada to assist Aboriginal responsiveness; he
has a large number of international indigenous doctoral
students whom he supervises; he is currently an international
advisor to the Campus 20/20 project aimed at charting
the future for post-secondary education in B.C.
Professor Smith is one the most influential Indigenous
educationalists today. He has published widely and is
in constant demand as a commentator on national and
international indigenous matters. He is married to Professor
Linda Tuhiwai Smith, and has one daughter, Kaapua Te
Paea Smith. He is of Ngati Apa, Ngati Kahungunu, Kai
Tahu and Ngati Porou tribal descent. |
