Aroha Harris

Aroha Gaylene Harris (born 1963) is a Māori (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) academic. As of 2020, Harris is an associate professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in Māori histories of policy and community development. She is also a member of the Waitangi Tribunal.

Early life Harris was born in Auckland in 1963, to parents Margaret (née Leef) and Milton Harris, a truck driver. After a PhD titled Dancing with the state: Māori creative energy and policies of integration 1945–1967 at the University of Auckland in 2007, Harris was employed at the University of Auckland, where she is an associate professor.

Harris was a founding member of Te Pouhere Kōrero, the New Zealand national association for Māori historians. She is a co-editor of the Te Pouhere Kōrero journal.

Her first book, Hikoi: Forty Years of Māori Protest, was published in 2004. It described political protest in the second half of the twentieth century, showing that individual protests are part of a cohesive movement.

Honours and awards In 2017 Harris was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's 150 women in 150 words, celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand. In 2025, the book was selected as one of the 180 most significant works of Māori-authored non-fiction.

In the 2020 New Year Honours, Harris was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori and historical research.

A special Outstanding Contribution to Māori History award was given to Harris in 2021 at the New Zealand Historical Association Conference.

Selected works