15 Jan 2022

Māmari Stephens: the Tohunga Suppression Act

From The Weekend , 10:07 am on 15 January 2022

There has been a lot of discussion over the previous year about what role Mātauranga Māori can have in Aotearoa New Zealand. There was the famous letter to the Listener in which 6 academics argued that it wasn't science, and a roaring response from Pākehā and Māori academics alike. 

In December the Waitangi Tribunal  found that "Māori were put at a disproportionate risk of being infected by Delta" and that Government was in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi for what the tribunal referred to as "political convenience". These ideas and disparities have a strong history in Aotearoa New Zealand, and no more so than in the Tohunga suppression act. But what actually was that, and what is it's legacy now? Emile is joined by Ahonuku - Reader in Law at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington Māmari Stephens. 

A closeup of kowhai flowers against a dark background

Photo: Flickr / Bernard Spragg