Abstract
Kāwanatanga as praxis is a relational, collective, and transformational practice grounded in te Tiriti o Waitangi that supports structural and systemic change in Aotearoa New Zealand’s tertiary science education system. Under te Tiriti, kāwanatanga refers to the authority granted to the Crown and its subjects, conditional on and qualified by Māori tino rangatiratanga (Māori self-determination, sovereignty, autonomy, ultimate and paramount power and authority). This thesis argues that a truly te Tiriti-led tertiary science education system must be both collectively imagined and structurally enabled. Realising such a system requires the active protection and enabling of Māori tino rangatiratanga, alongside the disruption of hegemonic discourses that constrain it. Kāwanatanga as praxis is developed through critical engagement with historical and contemporary texts, institutional discourse, and lived experience. It emerges in a context where universities increasingly claim to be te Tiriti-led or honour te Tiriti, and the science and research sectors seek to engage with mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge). It is also a response to the growing political hostility towards te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori, and the Crown’s ongoing denial of Māori tino rangatiratanga.
This research is grounded in the constitutional foundations of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni (the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand, 1835) and te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840). Te Tiriti o Waitangi – an agreement between rangatira (chiefs) and the Crown – affirmed Māori tino rangatiratanga and framed kāwanatanga as a limited, external function of government, subordinate to Māori authority. In contrast, the English Treaty of Waitangi illegitimately proclaimed a unilateral notion of Crown sovereignty. The Waitangi Tribunal has confirmed that Māori did not cede sovereignty in 1840. Yet recent political and legislative changes – such as the removal of te Tiriti references from legislation – reflect the ongoing denial of Māori authority and a growing hostility towards te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori rights. In this context, tertiary education becomes a crucial site where te Tiriti obligations are either upheld or undermined.
Tertiary education has long marginalised Māori knowledge, language, and governance, while legitimising Western epistemologies through colonial, white supremacist, and neoliberal logics. Although universities claim to serve the public good, neoliberal and market-driven reforms now prioritise economic metrics over social and environmental responsibility. Many mainstream universities in Aotearoa are declaring themselves to be te Tiriti-led and sites where taonga (treasures) such as mātauranga Māori and tikanga (custom, protocol) Māori are embedded into their everyday functions and practices. Mainstream universities often do so within existing power structures that retain institutional control, thereby undermining Māori tino rangatiratanga over these taonga. Legislation and policy offer little guidance on what honouring or giving effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi means in practice – particularly within in the sciences. Indigenous scholars have long called for structural transformation of tertiary education institutions that enables Indigenous sovereignty and governance over education, knowledge, and research. This thesis argues that transformation is a collective responsibility – it is a call for collective action from those who maintain systems of colonial oppression – us, as non-Indigenous peoples within the academy. Genuine transformation requires more than symbolic inclusion – it demands a fundamental shift in power that reimagines the university as a site where tino rangatiratanga is structurally enabled, and a just, te Tiriti-led future can be realised.
The aim of this research is to explore kāwanatanga – as articulated in te Tiriti o Waitangi and key Waitangi Tribunal reports – and how it has been reinterpreted and reshaped within tertiary education legislation and policy, science and research policy, and tertiary education institution strategy. It examines the hegemonic discourses – including colonisation, neoliberalism, and institutional racism – that have shaped these reinterpretations and constrained Māori tino rangatiratanga within tertiary science education. Through these analyses, this research develops kāwanatanga as a praxis: a lived, relational, and transformative approach grounded in te Tiriti o Waitangi and conditional on the active protection of Māori tino rangatiratanga. This thesis ultimately asks what a truly te Tiriti-led tertiary science education system might look like – one guided not by Crown sovereignty or institutional control, but by kāwanatanga as the active protection and structural enabling of Māori tino rangatiratanga, and the disruption of the discourses and structures that constrain it.
Grounded in social constructionism, critical theory, and critical pedagogy, this research utilises Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis as both methodology and method to examine how kāwanatanga is discursively constructed, recontextualised, and operationalised within Aotearoa’s mainstream tertiary science education system. Importantly, this research is conducted from a tangata Tiriti (person here by right of te Tiriti o Waitangi or a non-Māori citizen of Aotearoa) positionality – committed to actively protecting Māori tino rangatiratanga and resisting the reproduction of colonial power within the academy. Fairclough’s four ‘objects of research’ – emergence, recontextualisation, hegemony, and operationalisation – structured the analyses in this thesis and contributed to the development of kāwanatanga as praxis. The thesis first examines the emergence of kāwanatanga discourses from te Tiriti o Waitangi translation texts and relevant Waitangi Tribunal reports. It then explores the recontextualisation of these discourses in tertiary education legislation and policy, science and research policy, and tertiary education institution strategy documents, tracing discursive shifts in meaning. A hegemony analysis interrogates the dominant discourses present in these texts, and how these discourses disrupt kāwanatanga and constrain tino rangatiratanga. To explore operationalisation, this research draws on two sites of lived practice: Te Koronga – a kaupapa Māori research and teaching excellence group – and the Karitāne-based community in the rohe (area, territory) of Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki. Through critical autoethnography and seven semi-structured interviews with Te Koronga tauira (students), manawhenua (those who hold mana whenua rights as authority over the land), and community members in Karitāne, this research examines how kāwanatanga can be enacted as relational praxis. Finally, this thesis uses the discourses of kāwanatanga as imaginaries to reimagine a te Tiriti-led tertiary science education system through the development of kāwanatanga as a collective and relational praxis.
This research produces four key findings. First, kāwanatanga is not an assertion of state sovereignty but a conditional and relational form of authority, qualified by the active protection of Māori tino rangatiratanga. Second, contemporary expressions of kāwanatanga in tertiary education legislation and policy, science and research policy, and tertiary education institution strategies remain dominated by Crown-centric interpretations that position the state and institutions as the ultimate decision-makers, thereby maintaining structural and epistemological control. Third, hegemonic discourses – including state control and institutional autonomy, the framing of te Tiriti as an institutional priority, and neoliberal logics – reframe te Tiriti and kāwanatanga in ways that undermine or obscure tino rangatiratanga, even as they appear to honour te Tiriti. Finally, kāwanatanga as praxis – grounded in responsibility, accountability, and relationships – offers a counterhegemonic pathway towards a genuinely te Tiriti-led tertiary science education system by actively protecting tino rangatiratanga and disrupting the discourses and structures that constrain it.
This research contributes to the policy and strategy landscape of tertiary science education in Aotearoa by illustrating how Crown-centric authority continues to constrain Māori tino rangatiratanga. It responds to the urgent need for practical, critical, and relational tools to guide tangata Tiriti engagement with te Tiriti o Waitangi in tertiary education and beyond. This thesis culminates in a vision of kāwanatanga as collective praxis, offering a series of provocations to support institutional leaders, educators, and researchers to disrupt dominant discourses, redistribute power, and enable tino rangatiratanga in everyday practice. While grounded in the specific constitutional and educational contexts of Aotearoa, this research contributes to global movements for Indigenous sovereignty as a foundation for tertiary education transformation. Many of the hegemonic discourses that constrain Māori tino rangatiratanga in Aotearoa – including colonisation, white supremacy, Western epistemic dominance and neoliberalism – are also deeply embedded in education systems worldwide. By responding to local and global calls for transformation in tertiary education, this thesis offers a model for how non-Indigenous peoples can stand genuinely alongside Indigenous movements for sovereignty and justice in tertiary education systems around the world.