{"id":48048,"date":"2025-09-28T10:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T10:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/48048\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T10:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T10:05:13","slug":"oxford-confers-maori-scholar-makereti-papakura-with-posthumous-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/48048\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxford confers M\u0101ori scholar M\u0101kereti Papakura with posthumous degree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oxford University has honoured M\u0101kereti Papakura, believed to be the first indigenous woman to study at the institution, with a posthumous degree nearly 100 years after she attended. <\/p>\n

Over 100 people from Aotearoa New Zealand flew over to attend the graduation ceremony which took place overnight in the UK. Papakura’s descendants were presented with her Master\u2019s in Philosophy from the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at Oxford. <\/p>\n

Born in 1873, Papakura matriculated to the university in 1927 where she studied anthropology at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Her thesis explored the customs and practices of Te Arawa from a female perspective. In 1930, she died three weeks before she was due to present her thesis, but it was eventually published posthumously as a book, titled The Old Time M\u0101ori, by her friend and academic colleague TK Penniman.<\/p>\n

Her descendants had been fighting for recognition<\/a> of her achievements for decades.<\/p>\n

\"Mākereti<\/p>\n

M\u0101kereti Papakura (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Relative June Northcroft Grant received the degree certificate on behalf of the wh\u0101nau. She said Papakura has been a legend in the family for over a century.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned about her prowess as a guide, an entrepreneur, an entertainer, an astute businesswoman and an academic scholar when our parents and grandparents talked about her and their memories of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said their family had been telling Papakura\u2019s story for decades and sharing her thesis as an important piece of history and knowledge for future generations.<\/p>\n

\"June<\/p>\n

June Northcroft Grant in front of portrait of M\u0101kereti Papakura (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never imagined that her work would be lauded and acknowledged. We, the Ihaia wh\u0101nau of Ng\u0101ti W\u0101hiao, are humbled by the recognition and conferment of this great honour from Oxford University and all those individuals who were instrumental in making this happen,\u201d said Northcroft Grant.<\/p>\n

Held at the Sheldonian Theatre, the ceremony was presided over by Oxford University vice chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is wonderful that so many of M\u0101kereti\u2019s descendants and community have travelled so far to join us in Oxford to celebrate this remarkable woman,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delighted to recognise her academic achievements with a posthumous MPhil Degree and to acknowledge her influence as a scholar and as an inspiration to many in the M\u0101ori community and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa chief executive Evie O\u2019Brien is a board member for the Pitt Rivers Museum. She said she connected with Papakura and her story during her time as the executive director at the Atlantic Institute, Rhodes Trust in Oxford.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is wonderful to be back in Oxford to see her work and contribution recognised by the University with the award of a posthumous degree,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile M\u0101kereti had a deep connection with her home and people in Aotearoa she also had a special connection with Oxford, choosing to be buried in Oddington, Oxfordshire, so it is fitting that we are marking this historic occasion with events reflecting both Oxford and M\u0101ori traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the graduation, a haka p\u014dwhiri, speeches and kapa haka took place at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the site of the inaugural M\u0101kereti Papakura Lecture in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oxford University has honoured M\u0101kereti Papakura, believed to be the first indigenous woman to study at the institution,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4432,29720,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-48048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-maori-issues","tag-matauranga","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}