Professor takes up role in Waikato

Brendan Hokowhitu.

Super-freezing winters are a thing of the past for the University of Waikato's new dean of the School of Maori and Pacific Development.

Professor Brendan Hokowhitu (Ngati Pukenga), who is originally from Opotiki, took up the role of dean on January 5 after nearly four years as dean and professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at Canada's University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Before that he worked at Otago University for 10 years in various positions ending with being associate professor in Te Tumu, School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies and the first associate dean (Maori) within the Division of Humanities.

Professor Hokowhitu's research looks at the stereotype belief that Maori do well at sport as opposed to other areas.

"Some of my research was a historical analysis into Maori in sport, and rugby in particular, and that in turn led to my work in Maori masculinity and thinking about stereotypes surrounding indigenous men. I found out that physicality was an underpinning idea which was linked to colonial history in general.

"I found that part of colonial history was limiting Maori to certain roles, so I'd call a lot of my research a history of contemporary stereotypes. Curricula in native schools, for example, was very focused on the physical, where for a long time, for instance, native schools didn't offer School Certificate, meaning Maori actually didn't have access to careers beyond physical labourer jobs. The Jake the Muss image was in some ways very real in that it arose out of that colonial history."

Professor Hokowhitu's more recent work has been into Maori media and indigenous media and how Maori men are being portrayed in media. He has published an edited collection with Otago colleague Vijay Devadas on Maori media.

Professor Hokowhitu has moved to Waikato with his wife Nalani and their two children.