Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku has released a new memoir entitled 'Hine Toa'. Photo: Supplied
As a curator of ethnology at Waikato Museum in the 1980s, Te Awekōtuku was among the first to insist museums rethink how they represent Māori culture, both in New Zealand and overseas. In 1981, she became the first Māori woman to earn a doctorate from a New Zealand university, with a PhD on the effects of tourism on the Te Arawa people. In 1996 she became the country's first Māori woman professor.
Te Awekōtuku is now poised to release her fiery memoir about identity and belonging, Hine Toa: A story of bravery. Heralded as 'heartbreaking and triumphant', the memoir traces what was possible for a restless working-class girl from the pā, who became a founding member of Ngā Tamatoa and the Women's and Gay Liberation movements.
