Summarised by Centrist
Oxford University has posthumously awarded an MPhil in anthropology to Mākereti Papakura, a pioneering Māori scholar who died in 1930, just weeks before submitting her thesis documenting the traditions of her Te Arawa people.
Her thesis, The Old-Time Māori, was later published by her mentor, anthropologist TK Penniman, and remains a cornerstone of Māori cultural study nearly a century later.
Papakura, born in Rotorua in 1873, was a guide and performer before moving to England, where she became the first known Indigenous woman to study at Oxford.
At a ceremony in Oxford, more than 100 descendants and tribal members gathered to witness the belated recognition. Her descendant June Northcroft Grant accepted the degree, describing the moment as “very surreal” and “emotional,” while a haka was performed in her honour.
Vice-chancellor Irene Tracey called Papakura’s work “an extraordinary contribution” to anthropology, noting that few women studied at Oxford at the time, and even fewer came from Indigenous backgrounds.
Papakura’s writings captured oral histories, genealogies, and the social customs of Te Arawa at a time when colonial pressures were eroding Māori culture and language. Her research has since helped Māori communities reclaim ancestral knowledge and land rights.
A carved tōtara pou (ancestral or symbolic pillar) that Papakura brought to England in 1911 was also restored and presented to the British Council as part of the commemorations, a symbolic reconnection between her people and the work she began more than a century ago.
