Veronica Tawhai

Veronica Makere Hupane Tawhai is a New Zealand academic and an associate professor at Massey University.

Early life and education

Tawhai identifies her heritage as Māori, British and Irish. She affiliates with the Māori nations Ngāti Uepohatu and Ngāti Porou. She grew up in Palmerston North and spent time also in Mahora near Ruatorea.

Tawhai was the president of the Māori Student Union at university.

Career

Tawhai started at Massey University as a lecturer in 2008. She is now an associate professor and lectures in policy and politics at Te Pūtahi a Toi and is Pūkenga Tiriti (Tiriti Capability Lead).

Her fields of research include the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori and youth political engagement and constitutional change. Tawhai is also a Treaty educator outside of her university work.

Between 2012 and 2017 she was a member of Matike Mai Aotearoa, coordinating the Rangatahi Youth for Constitutional Transformation education project, she authored the Rangatahi: Progress and Findings Report (2014).

Honours and awards

Fulbright-Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga scholarship award Life membership - Te Mana Ākonga (the National Māori Tertiary Students Association) Research fellowship - Centre for World Indigenous Studies - The Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA, USA) Research fellowship - National Centre for Indigenous Studies, Australian National University (Canberra, Australia).

Selected works

Co-authored with M. Mulholland Weeping waters: The Treaty of Waitangi and constitutional change, (2010) Wellington, Huia Publishers Tawhai, VMH., & Cheyne, CM. (2009). “Like, if it’s really important, they should be saying!” Research with Rangatahi Māori about Local Political Participation.. He Pukenga Kōrero. 9(1), 52-63 [Journal article] Tawhai, VMH. (2008). Teaching Diversity, Advancing Democracy: Challenges for Citizenship Education in Aotearoa New Zealand. The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations. 8(4), 153-160 [Journal article] Warren, KTR., Forster, ME., & Tawhai, V. (2017). Tangata whenua: Māori identity and belonging. In T. Cain, E. Kahu, & RH. Shaw (Eds.) Tūrangawaewae: Identity and belonging in Aotearoa New Zealand. (pp. 53 – 69). 2017: Massey University Press [Chapter] Tawhai, VMH. (2016). Indigenous peoples and indigeneity. In The Palgrave International Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Social Justice. (pp. 97 – 119). [Chapter] Tawhai, VM.(2014). Matike Mai Aotearoa Rangatahi: Progress and Findings Report June 2014. [Technical Report]