Ranginui Walker

Walker was born in 1932 into a farming family on the tribal lands of Whakatōhea, near Ōpōtiki in the Bay of Plenty. His mother was Mihikore Walker. He was adopted by his mother's sister Wairata Walker and her husband Isaac Walker.{{cite encyclopedia |first= |last= |date=2024 |title=Walker, Ranginui Joseph Isaac |url= https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6w8/walker-ranginui-joseph-isaac |encyclopedia=Dictionary of New Zealand Biography |via=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=20 June 2025}} He credited Wairata for helping him to learn Māori language and culture at a young age. In his own history of Whakatōhea (2007) Walker explained that at this time Māori language and culture were unfashionable, and that his generation was expected to assimilate.

Walker was sent to St Peter's Maori College Auckland at the age of twelve. He went on to attend Auckland Teachers' Training College, and worked as a primary school teacher for 10 years. He gained a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma in Teaching in 1962, a Master's in 1965, and finished his doctorate in 1970. The title of his doctoral thesis was The social adjustment of the Maori to urban living in Auckland.{{cite thesis |last=Walker |first=Ranginui |year=1970 |type=Doctoral thesis |title=The social adjustment of the Maori to urban living in Auckland |publisher=ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland |hdl=2292/3350 |url=https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/3350}}

Walker met Deidre Dobson at Auckland Teachers' Training College in Epsom, and the couple were married in 1953. They had three children. According to biographer Professor Paul Spoonley, "The acceptance of intermarriage was an issue for both sets of parents: Walker's parents were concerned that Deidre was a Pākehā and not Roman Catholic; Deidre's were concerned that their daughter was to marry a Māori."{{Cite book|last=Paul|first=Spoonley|title=Mata Toa: The Life and Times of Ranginui Walker|publisher=Penguin|year=2009|isbn=9781742288789|location=Auckland}}

Walker commented that the country's race problems would be solved 'in the bedrooms of the nation.'

Walker was a member of Māori activist group Ngā Tamatoa and Secretary of the Auckland District Māori Council from 1969 to 1973 and chairman from 1974 to 1990.

In 1993 he became the Professor and Head of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland.[http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/walkerranginui.html "WALKER, Ranginui", New Zealand Book Council official website. Retrieved Sept, 29, 2006]

In 2003, Walker became a member of the Waitangi Tribunal.[http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/about/wtmemb/rwalker.asp "Professor Ranginui Walker", Waitangi Tribunal official website] (Retrieved 17 July 2012) He held a strong belief in Maori Identity, and had stated that William Hobson's declaration that "He iwi tahi tātou", meaning "We are now one people", in the Treaty of Waitangi, was a cultural attack on the indigenous people of New Zealand.{{Cite web|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/life/life-life-in-nz/ranginui-walker-on-being-a-maori |title=Ranginui Walker: On being a Māori|author=Ranginui Walker |authorlink=Ranginui Walker |date=10 August 2019 |publisher=New Zealand Listener}}

In the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours, Walker was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori.{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2001 |title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2001 |date=4 June 2001 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=2 July 2020}} When the New Zealand government restored titular honours in 2009, he declined redesignation as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.{{cite news |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/2709161/Sir-Sam-too-grand-by-far-Neill-says |title=Sir Sam 'too grand by far', Neill says |date=10 August 2009 |first=Matt |last=Theunissen |work=Stuff.co.nz |accessdate=2 July 2020}}

In 2009, Walker received a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement{{cite web |url=http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/en/results-of-our-work/award-winners/prime-minister-s-awards-for-literary-achievement |title=Previous winners |publisher=Creative New Zealand |accessdate=24 October 2013}}

Following Walker's death in 2016, Prime Minister John Key said Walker was "not only an insightful commentator on important historical and contemporary issues but was a tireless and passionate advocate for Māori".{{cite news | url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/77368935/Academic-and-commentator-Ranginui-Walker-dies-aged-83 | title=Academic and commentator Ranginui Walker dies, aged 83 | work=Stuff.co.nz | date=29 February 2016 | accessdate=29 February 2016}}

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark tweeted "Greatly saddened by news of death of Ranginui Walker, one of New Zealand's finest people; eminent academic & author."

Walker published a number of books, including:

• Perceptions and Attitudes of the New Generation of Maoris to Pakeha Domination (1981)
• History of Maori Activism (1983)
• The Treaty of Waitangi (1983)
• The Political Development of the Maori People in New Zealand (1984)
• The Meaning of Biculturalism (1986)
• Nga Mamae o te Iwi Maori: Te Ripoata o te Hui i Turangawaewae (1987)
• Nga Tau Tohetohe The Years of Anger (1987)
• Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou / Struggle Without End (1990) Second Edition (2004)
• Liberating Maori from Educational Subjection (1991)
• Nga Pepa a Ranginui The Walker Papers (1997)
• He Tipua The Life and Times of Sir Apirana Ngata (2001)
• Opotiki-Mai-Tawhiti Capital of Whakatohea (2007)

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• Margie Thomson, "Bridging the Gap", Dominion Post, 9 May 2009, "Your Weekend", p. 10.
• Paul Spoonley, Mata Toa: The Life and Times of Ranginui Walker, Penguin, Auckland 2009.

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Category:1932 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:Māori activists

Category:New Zealand Māori academics

Category:Distinguished Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Category:New Zealand people of Lebanese descent

Category:People educated at Hato Petera College, Auckland

Category:People from Ōpōtiki

Category:University of Auckland alumni

Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland

Category:Members of the Waitangi Tribunal

Category:Whakatōhea people