Ko Heipipi te maunga
Ko Waiohinganga te awa
Ko Petane te marae
Ko Ngāti Whakaari te hapū
Ngāti Kahungunu te iwi
Heipipi is the mountain
Waiohinganga is the river
Petane is the tribal home
Ngāti Whakaari is the sub-tribe
Ngāti Kahungunu is the tribe
Mā tihei mauri ora!
Let there be life!
Awhina Tamarapa is of Māori descent from the Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Ruanui tribes.
She lives with her partner, son and related families within their Ngāti Toa Rangatira tribal settlement at Hongoeka Bay, Wellington.
Awhina has a PhD of Philosophy in Museum Studies from Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). She explored the role of museums in the maintenance of Māori weaving as a living cultural practice. Awhina is now a post-doctoral research fellow based at the Stout Research Centre, Museum and Heritage Studies, at VUW. Her three year research mission is to collate and share information with practitioners and communities on taonga puoro (Māori musical instruments) and karetao (puppets) in overseas museums. Awhina is a curatorial advisor for the Perth Museum, Scotland and Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Germany on taonga held in their collections, and involved in co-curating taonga exhibitions in both museums.
Awhina is a co-investigator for an Arts and Heritage Research Council (AHRC) funded project, “Namala: The Future of Indigenous Rights and Responsibilities: Ancestral Governance, Environmental Stewardship, Language Revival and Cultural Vibrancy,” with Professor Bryony Onciul, University of Exeter, and leaders of the Kumugwe Cultural Society. She will be an assistant researcher on a 2025-2028 AHRC Future Leaders Fellowship project led by Professor Onciul. The project is “The Heritage and Future of Indigenous Rights within Settler-Colonial Commonwealth Nations in the Environmental Emergency.”
Awhina is currently co-editing a handbook of intercultural heritage in Aotearoa New Zealand, led by Professor Conal McCarthy, with Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai and Michelle Horwood, to be published in 2025. Awhina has been a teaching fellow for the Museum and Heritage Studies course at VUW and co-authored a chapter with Professor McCarthy, “Teaching a Master’s Course on Museums and Māori: Decolonising and Indigenising Museum Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand.” In Museums and Community Action: Decolonising the Curriculum. Museum, International Committee for Museology of the
International Council of Museums (ICOFOM), 2022 and was editor of Whatu Kākahu: Māori Cloaks, Te Papa Press, 2011, 2019.