Tina Ngata

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Tina Ngata is an advocate, author and researcher based in New Zealand.

Contents

Early years and education

Ngata is Māori and affiliates with the Ngāti Porou nation. [1] When she was young she lived in Māngere, Auckland, where her father was a police officer. Later the family lived on the Gold Coast, Australia. [2]

From 2016 to 2018 Ngata undertook master's studies at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, graduating in 2019. Her masters thesis was on the application of the Doctrine of Discovery in New Zealand. [3] Her undergraduate degree was a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Māori Studies from Massey University. [3]

Career

Ngata advocates for environmental issues, Indigenous peoples and human rights. [4] Ngata promotes conservation from an Indigenous lens as 'best practice for a globally sustainable future'. [5]

Ngata has written articles for media outlets including E-Tangata (an on-line magazine that promotes stories from a Māori and Pasifika perspective), [6] The Spinoff [7] and Pantograph Punch. [8] She has contributed opinion pieces for newspapers The New Zealand Herald and the Guardian. [9] [10] She writes on a wide range of topics; for example, Ngata has articulated concern to parts of free trade negotiations and agreements between countries including United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). [11] Another article draws connections to the Voice referendum in Australia and the 2023 New Zealand election campaign, [12] and another on the negative outcomes from the stereotype of Māori people as a 'warrior race'. [13]

Racism is an economic project. The idea that one group has a right to claim domination over another — based on supremacy of genes, skin colour, ethnicity or similar characteristics — was never a mere intellectual exercise. From the very beginning, it’s been about the extraction of labour, resources and land from non-white people.

Tina Ngata,E-Tangata, Jul 30, 2023

In 2023 Ngata was the Activist in Residence with the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research & Evaluation (CARE) on anti-racism and in connection with Professor Mohan Dutta at Massey University (Manawatū campus). [14]

Anti-racist work Ngata has been involved in includes a public deputation to the Gisborne District Council in 2020 around the issue of statues related to Captain James Cook. [15] Ngata articulates the concept of 'ethical remembering' with regards to public monuments as not erasing history, but examining it in a different light. [16]

As a researcher Ngata has experience in Kaupapa Māori and quantitative Māori-centered research. Some of the work she has done has contributed to policy and planning documents for hapū and iwi, and she has developed programmes for freshwater and native forest monitoring. [17] On the East Cape in 2018 Ngata was involved in environmental monitoring to protect the Waiapu River including leading a series of workshops. [18] [19]

Ngata speaks at many events and conferences, including in 2018 at the National Aquarium of New Zealand, Napier; this talk was with Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins and was about plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean. [20] Another in 2020 was a webinar called Environmental Racism and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, chaired by Catherine Delahunty and on a panel with Moea Armstrong and Tuhi Ao Bailey, part of a year long event Te Tiriti-based Futures + Anti-Racism 2020. [21] In 2021 Ngata was on a panel at a conference for leaders in mental health, addiction and disability called Celebrating Leadership – Courageous and Bold. [22]

Ngata has contributed to the place Matakaoa in the Gisborne region [23] to strengthen health and safety outcomes for the community through their COVID-19 response. These efforts won an award in 2022, Ngā Pou Whirinaki o te Tau – NZ Community of the Year award for 'excellence, innovation and aroha shown by whānau of Matakaoa in facing the dangers of COVID-19'. [23] [24] Immediately after Cyclone Gabrielle, Ngata and others rallied with a successful fundraising campaign for disaster response and preparedness for the impacted communities of Matakaoa, Tokomaru, Te Puia and Waipiro Bay. [25]

In 2022 Ngata collaborated with Terri Crawford to create a digital artwork called I am Hine that was part of Mana Moana Volume 2: Digital Ocean, an immersive web-based digital art experience. [26]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. "About Me". Tina Ngata. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  2. "Turning the tide". New Zealand Geographic. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 "The Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry: Brief of Evidence Tina Ngata" (PDF). Waitangi Tribunal. Wai 2700 (#A88). 31 May 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  4. "Tina Ngata – Perspectives on a Global Green New Deal" . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  5. Ngata, Tina (29 July 2023). "Tina Ngata: Waiting for the fox to give the henhouse back". E-Tangata. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  6. "Tina Ngata, Author at E-Tangata". E-Tangata. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  7. Ngata, Tina (23 January 2023). "Tina Ngata". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  8. "Tina Ngata". Pantograph Punch. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  9. "Editorial: Dreadlock ban gets school in a tangle". NZ Herald. 16 January 2024. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  10. "We must dismantle our colonial system and rebuild it with Māori at the heart". The Guardian. 2 February 2020. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  11. Ngata, Tina (20 February 2019). "Lessons from Aotearoa: The Indigenous "exception" clause in Free Trade Agreements". Yellowhead Institute. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  12. Ngata, Tina (7 October 2023). "Tina Ngata: Our chance to reject hate". E-Tangata. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  13. Ngata, Tina (19 December 2018). "Once were gardeners, lovers, poets… and warriors". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  14. "CARE ACTIVIST IN RESIDENCE - TINA NGATA, AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND ACTIVIST | 15 - 18 MAY 2023 AT MASSEY UNIVERSITY – MANAWATŪ CAMPUS". CARE. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  15. "'Racism is not going to be fixed with one workshop' - Tina Ngata". Te Ao Māori News. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  16. Ngata, Tina (15 June 2020). "Racism, monuments and ethical remembering". Stuff. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  17. "Tina Ngata – Deep South Challenge". deepsouthchallenge.co.nz. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  18. "Stuff". www.stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  19. Pohatu, Pia; Walker, Kate (July 2021). Waiapu Koka Huhua (PDF). POIPOIA LTD. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  20. "Plastic Pollution and Solutions in the South Pacific". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Archived from the original on 31 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  21. "Te Tiriti-based Futures + Anti-Racism 2020". OurActionStation. Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  22. "Leadership in mental health and addiction | Te Ara Tūpuna Rangatira". Te Pou. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  23. 1 2 "Matakaoa 'Immunity Community' Wins New Zealand Community of the Year". Te Puni Kōkiri. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  24. "Matakaoa Community". New Zealander of The Year. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  25. "Community-led Flood Relief Appeal For East Cape Communities Meets Target". Scoop News. March 2023. Archived from the original on 31 January 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  26. "Māori and Pacific creatives weave art and tech together for digital exhibition". Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa. 25 November 2022. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  27. "Mountains to Sea - BWB Bridget Williams Books". www.bwb.co.nz. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.