The Annual Michael King Memorial Lecture

Dr Megan Pōtiki, Acting Executive Director, Otago Polytechnic

My father walked into our lounge after I had given birth to my son and named him outright after his tupuna. In his tupuna’s obituary it stated that he was the last prince of Ngāti Hawea and Ngāti Māmoe iwi. The fatalistic notion that Māori were to die out was commonly seen in obituaries, books and newspapers. Fatigued and oppressed, our ancestors also became a part of this self-fulfilling prophecy. However, my son was named after his ancestor and is the embodiment of succession and is the figurative aho from his tūpuna to the now and into the future. It was these moments and narratives that have driven me to research my own Kāi Tahu history and utilise that as a reassertion of our mana.