Associate ProfessorRachael Ka'ai-Mahuta

Dr Rachael Ka'ai-Mahuta's research is informed by her Māori world-view and her background in Māori Studies and Political Studies. Rachael's areas of research reflect her commitment to reviving, promoting, and upholding Māori knowledge, culture, language, and traditions.

Rachael has worked on several research projects focussed on the revitalisation of the Māori language, including two Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga-funded research projects, 'Te Reo o te Pā Harakeke' (2016-2019) and 'He taipari, he taiope, he taiohi: Towards normalising te reo Māori among adolescents' (2020), and one Te Pūnaha Matatini-funded research project, 'Te Ara o te Reo Māori: The Trajectory of the Māori Language' (2023), where she was a Principal Investigator (PI).

Rachael has previously published on the revitalisation of te reo Māori (the Māori language), the Māori oral tradition (specifically, the Māori performing arts), the history and politics of the Māori language, digital technology for the preservation and dissemination of Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous Peoples' rights, and the politics of identity and place in relation to the Māori and Pacific diaspora.

Rachael has actively supported and promoted the use of te reo Māori in academic writing. Rachael was an editor of the bilingual text Kia Rōnaki – The Māori Performing Arts (2013) which won the Best Resource in Tertiary Education at the 2014 CLNAZ Educational Publishing Awards. She also wrote four of the chapters in the book, including one co-authored by highly respected respositories of Māori knowledge, Sir Tīmoti Kāretu and the late Professor James Te Wharehuia Milroy, which was written in te reo Māori.

Rachael was also an editor for the Māori language book, He Kupu Tuku Iho - Ko te Reo Māori te Tatau ki te Ao (2018) by Tīmoti Kāretu and Te Wharehuia Milroy. Structured conversations with the authors were undertaken and then transcribed and edited by the editorial committee. This book won the Te Mūrau o te Tuhi Māori Language Award at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Recently, Rachael has been revising the Te Whanake series of texts for learning and teaching te reo Māori by the late Professor John Moorfield. The 3rd edition of Te Kākano was published in 2023. It was the first revision of this textbook in 20 years, and the most comprehensive to date. The 3rd edition of the next book in the series, Te Pihinga, is almost complete.