Kuni Kaa Jenkins Explained

Kuni Kaa Jenkins (born 1941) is an educationalist and author in New Zealand. She is a Professor in Education at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi.[1] She has researched early Māori written documents looking at relationships between Māori and Pākehā.[2] She co-authored the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards winner Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds.

Early life and education

Kaa Jenkins was born in Pōrangahau, a settlement in Hawkes Bay New Zealand in 1941.[3] She affiliates with the Māori nation Ngāti Porou.[4]

She studied in Wellington at the Wellington Teachers’ College training to be a teacher and afterwards taught in primary schools in the Hutt Valley. She was also a teacher in the 1980s in Christchurch at schools in Linwood and St. Martins and then in Auckland including being the Principal of Aka Aka County School and Oruawharo School and in 1983-88 Assistant Principal at Kingsford School, Mangere.

She went back to study in the late 80s and graduated in 1987 with a B.A. in Māori Studies and Education from Auckland University. She stayed on to do a Masters in Education graduating in 1990. Kaa Jenkins has a PHD from Auckland University awarded in 2000 titled Haere tahi tāua: an account of aitanga in Maori struggle for schooling.[5] She is a professor of education at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi.[6]

Career

In 2011 as an extension of a Marsden grant Kaa Jenkins published a book He Kōrero: Words Between Us; First Māori–Pākehā Conversations on Paper (Huia Publishers) co-authored with Alison Jones. The research was about early Māori writing and the two-way teaching and learning relationships between Māori and Pākehā from 1769 to 1826.[7] The book is structred in 16 capters where Kaa Jenkins and Jones wrote about 16 'different textual artefacts or groups of artifacts' they encountered at various archives and libraries. An example is a letter to the chief of Rangihoua pā, Ruatara, in 1814 by Samuel Marsden.[8] In 2012 this book won Best Book in Higher Education Publishing at the CLNZ Educational Publishing Awards, Te Kōrero Pono - Non-fiction at the Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards and an award at the Publishers Association New Zealand (PANZ) Book Design Awards.[9] This research work was also an exhibition.[10]

In 2012 Kaa Jenkins was appointed the head of social services organisation Ririki to replace the founding chairperson Hone Kaa.[11]

Kaa Jenkins book Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds co-authored with Alison Jones and published by Bridget Williams Books won the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in the Illustrated Non-Fiction category.[12] [13] [14] The book is about two young Māori men who travelled in 1817 to England, Ngare Raumati chief Tuai and Tītere. Reviewer Briar Wood describes how in this book Jones and Kaa Jenkins use primary sources such as letters and journals and a 'cautious interpretation of the significance of Tuai’s journey' to create a 'profoundly interconnected book'.[15] The book was launched in 2017 at Kororareka Marae in the Bay of Islands. It is part of a series 'Te Takarangi: Celebrating Māori' produced by the Royal Society Te Apārangi and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. The Ockham prize money was put towards a trip of Ngare Raumati to London to take some of Tuai’s drawings loaned to an exhibition Oceania at the Royal Academy of the Arts.[16]

The writing partnership between Kaa Jenkins and Jones has been a long one and extends to academic papers.[17]

Kaa Jenkins has appeared at the Auckland Writers Festival.[18]

Books

Selected academic articles

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds – Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins (2017) . 2024-04-27 . Royal Society Te Apārangi.
  2. Web site: Kuni Jenkins . 2024-04-27 . HUIA . en.
  3. Web site: Kuni Elaine Hineatauira Jenkins . 2024-04-27 . Komako.
  4. Web site: Jones . Kuni Kaa Jenkins and Alison . 2017-07-08 . Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds . 2024-04-29 . E-Tangata . en-NZ.
  5. Haere tahi tāua: an account of aitanga in Maori struggle for schooling . ResearchSpace@Auckland . 2000-01-01 . Kuni Kaa . Jenkins.
  6. Web site: Kuni Kaa Jenkins - BWB Bridget Williams Books . 2024-04-29 . www.bwb.co.nz . en-US.
  7. Web site: He Kōrero: Words Between Us; First Māori–Pākehā Conversations on Paper—Alison Jones and Kuni Jenkins (2011) . 2024-04-29 . Royal Society Te Apārangi.
  8. Book: Jones, Alison . He Kōrero: Words Between Us: First Māori–Pākehā Conversations on Paper . Jenkins . Kuni Kaa . 2011-01-01 . Huia Publishers . English.
  9. Web site: He Kōrero: Words Between Us-First Māori-Pākehā Conversations on Paper by Alison Jones and Kuni Jenkins . 2024-04-29 . HUIA . en.
  10. Web site: 2020-10-01 . Words Between Us - He Kōrero . 2024-04-29 . Going West Writers Festival . en-GB.
  11. Web site: 2012-05-16 . New Ririki head braces for challenging job . 2024-04-29 . RNZ . en-nz.
  12. Web site: Writer: Kuni Kaa Jenkins - Writers • Auckland Writers Festival . 2024-04-27 . www.writersfestival.co.nz . en.
  13. Web site: Tuai takes out top award at Ockhams - The University of Auckland . 2024-04-29 . www.auckland.ac.nz.
  14. Web site: 2024-04-27 . Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins: The day Maori first said, Haere mai, Pakeha . 2024-04-27 . NZ Herald . en-NZ.
  15. Web site: 2018-07-31 . A Superb Scrutiny . 2024-04-29 . Landfall . en-NZ.
  16. Web site: Tuai takes out top award at Ockhams - The University of Auckland . 2024-04-29 . www.auckland.ac.nz.
  17. Web site: Kuni Jenkins's research while affiliated with Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and other places . ResearchGate.
  18. Web site: Writer: Kuni Kaa Jenkins - Writers • Auckland Writers Festival . 2024-04-29 . www.writersfestival.co.nz . en.
  19. Web site: Tuai : a traveller in two worlds / Alison Jones & Kuni Kaa Jenkins. . 2024-04-29 . National Library.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kuni Kaa Jenkins".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.