John Te Rangianiwaniwa Rangihau (5 September 1919 – 14 October 1987) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

academic and

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

leader of the

Ngāi Tūhoe Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning "steep" or "high noon". Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet ...

iwi. He was also called Te Nika and Te Rangihau. Rangihau was born at Kuha near Waikaremoana. He received his education at Kokako Native School and at Wesley College in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

. He fought with the 28th New Zealand (Māori) Battalion in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He worked as a Māori welfare officer for the Department of Maori Affairs and became a recognised leader of the Tuhoe people. From 1957 to 1959, Rangihau completed a diploma in social science at Victoria University. In 1973, Rangihau was working for the

University of Waikato , mottoeng = For The People , established = 1964; years ago , endowment = (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $263.6 million (31 December 2020) , chancellor = Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO, KStJ , vice_chancellor = Neil Quigley , cit ...

's Centre for Maori Studies and Research looking for ways to preserve the Māori language. He was involved in setting up Māori-language pre-school groups in 1974, but they lasted less than a year. In the

1975 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1975 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1975 to celeb ...

, he was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the Māori people. Rangihau became involved in the ministerial committee to prevent the decline in the number of Māori language speakers in New Zealand, and the scheme came to fruition with the kohanga reo scheme of Māori-language

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...

s in 1982. After 1982, Rangihau became an advisor to the Maori Affairs Department. He encouraged Māori elders to contact their children and grandchildren in prisons and encourage them to return to their families once released. He facilitated research into Māori health. Victoria University established a teaching and research position in his honour in 1989.

References

New Zealand Māori academics New Zealand recipients of the British Empire Medal Victoria University of Wellington alumni Māori language revivalists Ngāi Tūhoe people New Zealand military personnel 1919 births 1987 deaths {{academic-stub