Aleisha Amohia
Aleisha Amohia graduated from Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science (majoring in Computer Science and specializing in Artificial Intelligence) and a Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in Management and minoring in Information Systems). While at VUW, she was President of VUW Women in Tech for two years. She is now the Koha Technical Lead at Catalyst IT, an open source software company, where she started as an intern in 2014. Aleisha is a passionate young advocate for diversity and equity in all spaces, particularly in the technology industry. She is currently Co-President of the Wellington Branch of the National Council of Women in New Zealand (NZ) and has previously served on the Boards of the YWCA Greater Wellington, the Wellington Alliance Against Sexual Violence, and the Māori Design Group at InternetNZ. In 2022, Aleisha was a finalist for the NZ Impact Awards for contributing a young, Māori, Asian and female lens to NZ's gender equity movement, and other diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Keywords: activism during the COVID-19 pandemic, indigenous issues, intersectionality
Media: Transcript, YouTube Video
Norie Ape
Norie Ape is a Samoan-born, Auckland-raised and now Wellington-based Digital Product Manager (or ‘technology explainerer’) at Te Pukenga [New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology] specifically within the Building and Construction Industry Training Organization [BCITO]. In this role, Norie works alongside cognitively diverse technology teams and connects with the people who use digital services to design, build and implement digital solutions that enable better outcomes in vocational education in Aotearoa [New Zealand] with particular focus on Māori, Pasifika, and disabled learners & employers. In March 2023, Norie attended the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) in New York as the New Zealand Government NGO Delegate to provide high-level advice on the priority theme of “innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls” and liaise with non-governmental organizations across Aotearoa. Norie has experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and is passionate about increasing the number of Māori and Pasifika Women in Tech and leveraging a multi-stakeholder approach between government, civil society and private/industry to connect and collaborate to utilize technology for positive outcomes. Within New Zealand Norie is a member of P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A Inc, National Council for Women, InternetNZ, Digital Equity Coalition Aotearoa, TechWomen NZ, United Nations Association of New Zealand & Pacific Data Sovereignty Network & Pasifika in IT.
Keywords: indigenous issues, politics and the law, education
Media: Transcript, YouTube Video
Ngāhuia te Awekotuku
Ngāhuia te Awekotuku (Te Arawa, Tūhoe, Waikato, Ngapuhi iwi) was a leader of the women’s liberation movement in New Zealand in the 1970s. As a student, she was a member of the Ngā Tamatoa Māori activist group at the University of Auckland. As a Māori lesbian, Ngāhuia was at the forefront of a call to focus on reaching Māori and Pacific women, as well as lesbian rights.
In 1972, she was famously denied a visa to visit the United States on the basis of her sexuality. She was the first Māori woman to gain a doctorate from an Aotearoa/NZ university.
At the outset, women’s liberation groups adopted an all-inclusive ‘sisterhood is powerful’ approach. But it wasn’t long before differing perspectives on a range of issues led to disagreements. Many Māori women saw women’s liberation as a Pākehā concept with little relevance for them. They argued that Māori women’s rights were intertwined with the revival of Māori culture and the assertion of land rights. By 1973, separate Māori and lesbian groups had started to form and as the decade progressed ideological differences divided the movement further.
Te Awekotuku has worked across the heritage, culture and academic sectors as a curator, lecturer, governor, researcher, and activist. Her areas of research interest include gender issues, culture and heritage, ritual and performance. She has been curator of ethnology at the Waikato Museum; senior lecturer in art history at Auckland University, and professor of Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. She was Professor of Research and Development at Waikato University, and has researched and written extensively about the traditional and contemporary practices of tā moko (tattoo) in New Zealand, as well as Māori practices and traditions around death. She has served on many government boards in the arts and heritage sector. Ngāhuia is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Waikato, the first Māori female Emeritus in Aotearoa. She remains a leading feminist writer, lesbian rights activist, and advocate for Māori issues. She has published short fiction, poetry, and significant nonfiction. She continues to work and curate in the gallery sector. She is also an active practitioner of traditional chant and ceremony. In 2022, she presented the 3 episode video documentary Waharoa: Art of the Pacific that focuses on Māori and Pasifika art in New Zealand.
In recognition of her services to Māori culture, Ngāhuia was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2010. In 2016 she was made the inaugural Mareikura or Matriarch of the Pae Akoranga Wahine/Women's Studies Association of Aotearoa/New Zealand. In 2017 she was made a Fellow of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and she also received the Pou Aronui Supreme Award from the Royal Society of New Zealand for outstanding service to the arts and humanities. Currently, she is one of three inaugural Ruānuku, or Esteemed Scholarly Elders, of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, the National Centre for Māori Research Excellence.
Keywords: academia and women's studies, indigenous issues, LGBTQ+ rights
Media: Transcript, YouTube Video
Qiane Matata-Sipu
Qiane Matata-Sipu (Te Waiohua Te Ahiwaru me Te Ākitai, Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Pikiao, Rarotonga, Mangaia) is an esteemed Māori-Pasifika creative, storyteller, strategist and award-winning journalist and photographer. The impact-driven social activist and cultural commentator is all about disrupting the mainstream approach to amplify the voices of marginalised people and their communities to change the narrative for future generations. With a long career contributing to leading media publications and books across Aotearoa and the Pacific, Qiane is a regular guest speaker at women’s, education, arts, business, and leadership events. She is the founder and director of NUKU, a social enterprise championing Indigenous women through podcasts, live events, video and a book, and her multi-media production company QIANE+co. She is also a founding member and co-leader of SOUL Protect Ihumātao. In 2021, Qiane was awarded the Women of Influence Arts and Culture Award, and in 2023 became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to the arts. Her first book NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women was shortlisted in the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for Illustrated Non-Fiction and the PANZ book design awards.
Keywords: art/writing as activism, indigenous issues, intersectionality
Media: Transcript, YouTube Video
Tania Pariona Tarqui
Tania Pariona Tarqui, born in 1984, is an indigenous activist, Quechua leader, feminist, politician, human rights activist and former Congressperson. As an activist, she works to establish social equality for indigenous youth and women. She began her community work with National Movement of Organized Working Children and Adolescents of Peru (MNNATSOP), an overarching umbrella for many children’s working groups. She was chosen as a Latin American delegate and had her first experience of international representation at age 15 at the “World Summit for Children” at the United Nations in New York. She studied Social Work at the San Cristóbal of Huamanga University, graduating in 2009, and then Human Development at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima. She went on to work with the Centre for Indigenous Cultures of Peru (CHRIAPAQ), collaborating on several projects aimed at indigenous youth and women nationally and internationally. In 2010, with Andean and Amazonian sisters, she helped form the Organización Nacional de Mujeres Andinas y Amazónicas de Perú, (ONAMIAP) that promotes the participation of indigenous women and fulfillment of their individual and collective rights. She was the first youth secretary for ONAMIAP. She was elected to the Peruvian Congress in 2016 by the Broad Front for Justice, Life and Freedom, coalition of political parties. In September 2017, she joined the New Peru movement. From 2018-2019, she was the president of the Commission on Women and Family, which promoted the first thematic plenary session focused on a women’s agenda and equality between men and women. Her parliamentary work was dedicated to the defense of the rights of indigenous and native peoples against mining companies, the human right to water and reparations for the victims of the armed conflict, and working against impunity of the perpetrators of crimes, including compulsory sterilization under Alberto Fujimori's government. She is currently assuming responsibility for the Indigenous Women’s Program in CHIRAPAQ and has concerns for the indigenous populations of the Sierra and jungle coast, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: community activism, gender-based violence, indigenous issues, reproductive rights, rural women and land reform
Media: Transcript (Spanish, English), Video, YouTube Video (Spanish, English Subtitles), Name Pronunciation Audio
Interviewee Photo Credit
By psperu. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tania_Pariona_Tarqui.png. Creative Commons. Accessed 2 February, 2021.
