Rachael Ka'ai-Mahuta is of New Zealand Māori, Native Hawaiian, Cook Island Māori and Samoan descent. Rachael is a lecturer in Te Ara Poutama, Faculty of Māori Development, at the Auckland University of Technology, Aotearoa/New Zealand. She is also a researcher in Te Ipukarea – The National Māori Language Institute, and has worked on several projects focussed on the revitalisation of the Māori language. In December, 2010 Rachael graduated with her doctorate in Māori Development. Her thesis provides a critical analysis of how Māori songs act as archives of Māori political history. She developed an online digital repository to aid in the preservation of Māori songs and to archive important historical knowledge contained within the songs. In 2011, Ka'ai-Mahuta was a Te Wheke a Toi Post-Doctoral Fellow. Ka'ai-Mahuta research interests include the history and politics of the Māori language, the Māori oral tradition (specifically Māori song), Māori politics, and comparative Indigenous politics.
Biographical sources
- https://www.aut.ac.nz/study-at-aut/faculty-of-maori-and-indigenous-development/our-staff/senior-lecturers/rachael-kaai-mahuta 11 October 2016
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http://wananga.tearapoutama.ac.nz/students/profiles/dr-rachael-kaai-mahuta 11 October 2016
Non-fiction
- "When opposing world-views converge: A review of the early literature pertaining to waiata and haka." Symposium of the Maori Performing Arts. Auckland, N.Z, 2010.
- "The use of digital technology in the preservation of waiata and haka." Symposium of the Maori Performing Arts. Auckland, N.Z, 2010.
- "The impact of colonisation on te reo Maori: A critical review of the State education system." Te Kaharoa 4.1 (2011): 195-225.
- Me mate au, me mate mo te whenua’: Themes of land, resistance and politics in waiata and haka. Auckland, N.Z.: AUT, 2011
Theses
- He kupu tuku iho mo tenei reanga: A critical analysis of waiata and haka as commentaries and archives of Maori political history. Doctoral Thesis, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, N.Z. 2010.