Dr Tahu Kukutai

Qualifications: BA(Hons) MSocSc Waikato, MA PhD Stanford

Research Interests

Most of my research has focused on the nexus of ethnic identification, classification and inequality. I am especially interested in how these processes relate to Māori and other indigenous peoples in the settler states of North America and Australia. My interest in this area has lead me to investigate a diverse range of topics including state constructions of collective identities in the census; emergent forms of cultural and socio-economic “segmentation” between Māori; ethnic identification choices amongst early adolescents; and the interplay of gender and ethnicity in shaping higher education experiences.

I was recently awarded a Marsden Fast-Start to investigate state practices of ethnic counting and classification on a global scale. I am also an associate investigator on two research programmes examining the relationships between education, employment and gender in New Zealand; and the dynamics of Māori transnationalism. I am firmly committed to inter-disciplinary research and have collaborated with colleagues in sociology, education, history, Māori and indigenous studies, public policy, economics and law. I teach Honours-level papers in Demography and am particularly enthusiastic about building indigenous capability in demographic and quantitative social science research.

About Me

I am a Senior Research Fellow at the National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, University of Waikato. I have degrees in History and Demography from the University of Waikato. I also hold a PhD in Sociology from Stanford University. My tribal affiliations are Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto and Te Aupōuri

I currently serve on the Population Association of New Zealand Council, 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. I am also an associate editor of the International Indigenous Policy Journal.

Recent Publications

• Pool, I., Kukutai, T. (2011) Taupori Māori - Māori population change
  Book Chapters - Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
• Kukutai, T. (2011) The New Zealand census: Counting people, making people count
  Oral Presentation - Awatere Club
• Seuffert, N., Kukutai, T. (2011) Under the Eye of the Law: Mobile Peoples in the Pacific
  Ed. Issue of Journal - Law Text Culture
• Kukutai, T. (2011) The thin brown line: Re-indigenizing inequality in Aotearoa New Zealand
  Oral Presentation - Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences Seminar Series

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