Arapata Tamati Hakiwai is a New Zealand museum curator of Māori collections. He is a principal investigator with Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, a Māori research centre at

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. He is the current Kaihautū, or Māori leader, of

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

, and was the museum's acting chief executive before the appointment of Rick Ellis. In 2014 Hakiwai completed a PhD at Victoria University of Wellington with a thesis on the politics of Māori tribal identity.

Career

Hakiwai was a teacher at Wellington High School before starting work in the museum sector in 1989. While at Te Papa he has been involved in the repatriation of a number of Maori (human remains) from overseas institutions, and has also led a project involving the "

digital repatriation Digital repatriation is the return of items of cultural heritage in a digital format to the communities from which they originated. The term originated from within anthropology, and typically referred to the creation of digital photographs of ethn ...

" of (cultural treasures).

Personal life

Hakiwai is of

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative di ...

Rongowhakaata Rongowhakaata is a Māori ''iwi'' of the Gisborne region of New Zealand. Hapū and marae There are three primary ''hapū'' (subtribes) of Rongowhakaata today: Ngati Kaipoho, Ngai Tawhiri and Ngati Maru. Ngāti Kaipoho Ngāti Kaipoho descend fro ...

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

and

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Poi ...

descent.

References

External links

Linked-in

Profile
on the Te Papa website Living people New Zealand curators Ngāti Kahungunu people Rongowhakaata people Ngāti Porou people Ngāi Tahu people People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Victoria University of Wellington alumni Māori studies academics Halbert-Kohere family {{NewZealand-academic-bio-stub