University of Waikato PhD student Ngahuia Murphy has been awarded a $109,700 PhD scholarship from the Health Research Council of New Zealand.
Murphy (Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Ruapani ki Waikaremoana, Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu), is one of twenty-one emerging Māori health researchers to receive an HRC Māori Career Development Award.
Her PhD is titled Investigating customary Māori philosophies regarding the whare tangata and examines ceremonial traditions related to Māori women through a mana wahine theoretical framework.
“For well over 100 years Māori girls and women have been written about in a way that is derogatory, with female sexuality being the source. I hope to provide a space for the multiple voices and stories of Māori women to converge in exploration of our own sacred knowledge traditions related to the whare tangata. By reclaiming traditional philosophies that celebrate the whare tangata I hope to produce knowledge that is emancipatory, decolonising, and transformative for Māori women, girls and the entire whānau," says Murphy.
She says her research can be used to "foster the self-esteem and cultural identity of Māori women" and encourage them to celebrate their own mana and tapu.
Murphy completed a Bachelor of Social Science in 2007 with a double major in Māori and Human Geography, a certificate in Tikanga Māori in 2009 and her Honours Degree that same year. In 2011 she completed a Masters of Arts and is now coming to the end of the first year of her PhD.