Title

Senior Associate

Profile

Qualifications: BA (Hons) MSocSci Wai, MA PhD Stanford (April 2010)

Tahu Kukutai (Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto, Te Aupōuri) is a Senior Associate at IPS and a Senior Research Fellow at the Population Studies Centre at the University of Waikato. She is a graduate of the University of Waikato (History, Demography) and Stanford University (Sociology), and a former Fulbright recipient. Tahu’s research focuses on ethnic/racial identification and classification and inequality. Most of her research has examined these processes in relation to indigenous populations, and Māori in particular. She joins the IPS as an associate investigator on the FRST-funded research programme examining the relationships between education, employment, and gender in New Zealand. She is also an Associate Investigator on another FRST project examining the dynamics of Māori transnationalism.

Tahu is currently a member of the Māori Statistics Advisory Committee to the Government Statistician and He Waka Tāngata, a group of emerging leaders in the social sciences sponsored by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. She is also an associate editor of the International Indigenous Policy Journal.

Select publications:

Kukutai, T. and M. Webber. (Forthcoming). Navigating the ‘Space Between’: Authenticity and Identity in ‘Maori’ Social Science, New Zealand Sociology Journal.

Kukutai, T. and R. Didham. (Forthcoming). Remaking the Majority: New Zealander Ethnic Identification in the 2006 Census, Ethnic and Racial Studies.

Kukutai, T. and V. Thompson. (Forthcoming). Inside-out: The Politics of Ethnically Enumerating the Nation. In Social Statistics and Ethnic Diversity: Cross-national Perspectives in Classifications and Identity Politics, eds. P. Simon, V. Piché, and A. Gagnon. Amsterdam: IMISCOE-Amsterdam University Press.

Kukutai, T. (Forthcoming). Building Brown Boundaries: Defining Maori in the New Zealand Census. In Indigenous Peoples and Demography: The Complex Relation Between Identity and Statistics, eds. P. Sköld and P. Axelsson. Oxford: Berghan Books.

Kukutai, T. and R. Didham. (2009). In Search of Ethnic New Zealanders: National Naming in the 2006 Census, Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 36: 46-62.

Kukutai, T. and P. Callister. (2009). A ‘Main’ Ethnic Group? Ethnic Self-Prioritisation Among New Zealand Youth, Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 36: 16-31.

Walling, J., Small-Rodriguez, D., and T. Kukutai. (2009). Tallying Tribes: Waikato-Tainui in the Census and Tribal Register, Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 36: 2-15.

Kukutai, T. (2008). Ethnic Self-prioritisation of Dual and Multiethnic Youth in New Zealand. Report prepared for Statistics New Zealand. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand.

Pool, I., Kukutai, T., and J. Sceats. (2008). Heretaunga-Tamatea: Demographic and Statistical Analysis. Report prepared for the Crown Forestry Rental Trust by Portal Consulting and Associates. Wellington: Crown Forestry Rental Trust.

Kukutai, T. (2007/2008). Maori and Asians: An Ambivalent Alliance? Special Issue of New Zealand Population Review, 33 & 34: 129-151.

Kukutai, T. (2007). White Mothers, Brown Children: Ethnic Identification of Māori-European Children in New Zealand, Journal of Marriage and Family, 69: 1150-1162.

Kukutai, T. (2006). Elder or Merely Older?: Enhancing the Wellbeing of Older Māori in an Ageing Māori population. Discussion paper prepared for Enhancing Wellbeing in an Ageing Society project.

Kukutai, T. (2004). The Problem of Defining an Ethnic Group for Public Policy: Who is Māori and Why Does it Matter?, Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 23: 86-108.

Kukutai, T. (2003). The Dynamics of Ethnicity Reporting: Māori in New Zealand. Report prepared for Ministry of Māori Development/Te Puni Kōkiri. Wellington: Te Puni Kōkiri.