Jacinta Arianna Ruru MNZM FRSNZ (born 1974) is a New Zealand academic and the first Māori professor of law.[1] Ruru is currently a professor at the University of Otago.[2]
Jacinta Ruru | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ruru in 2022 | |
| Born | 1974 (age 49–50) Glenorchy, New Zealand |
| Alma mater | University of Victoria |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Indigenous law |
| Institutions | University of Otago |
| Thesis | |
| Doctoral advisor | John Borrows |
| Website | www |
Academic career
editRuru completed a Master's at the University of Otago in 2001, with a thesis on the Treaty of Waitangi and national parks in New Zealand.[3] After a 2012 Fulbright-funded PhD at the University of Victoria in Canada, Ruru returned to New Zealand and the University of Otago, rising to full professor in 2016.[4]
Ruru's research centres on indigenous peoples' (primarily Māori in New Zealand and First Nations in Canada) legal relations with land and water.[5][6] She is the co-director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) the New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE).[7][8]
Recognition
editIn addition to winning the Prime Minister's supreme award for tertiary teaching,[9] Ruru has also been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.[10][11] In 2017, Ruru was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.[12] In the same year she was invited to give the 10th Shirley Smith Memorial Address. Her speech was "First laws: tikanga Māori in / and the law".[13]
In October 2019, Ruru was appointed one of seven inaugural sesquicentennial distinguished chairs, or poutoko taiea, at Otago University.[14]
In 2019–20 Ruru was on the panel that wrote the controversial report He Puapua.
In the 2022 New Year Honours, Ruru was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Māori and the law, and later that year received the University of Otago's Distinguished Research Medal.[15][16]
In 2024, during a radio interview on Waatea News, Dale Husband intimated that Ruru could be considered by some "an enemy of the state" due to her work decolonising New Zealand law.[17]
Selected works
edit- Ruru, Jacinta. (2004). "A politically fuelled tsunami: the foreshore/seabed controversy in Aotearoa Me Te Wai Pounamu/New Zealand." The Journal of the Polynesian Society 113, no. 1: 57–72.
- Miler, Robert J., and Jacinta Ruru. (2008). "An Indigenous Lens into Comparative Law: The Doctrine of Discovery in the United States and New Zealand." West Virginia Law Review 111: 849.
- Ruru, Jacinta. (2009). The legal voice of Māori in freshwater governance: a literature review. Landcare Research, New Zealand.
- Abbott, Mick, and Jacinta Ruru, eds. (2010). Beyond the scene: Landscape and identity in Aotearoa New Zealand. Otago University Press.
- Ruru, Jacinta. (2004). "Indigenous peoples' ownership and management of mountains: The Aotearoa/New Zealand experience." Indigenous Law Journal 3: 111–137.
- Ruru, Jacinta, and Linda Waimarie Nikora, eds. (2021). Ngā Kete Mātauranga: Māori scholars at the research interface. Otago University Press. ISBN 978-1-98-859255-8
Personal life
editRuru was born in New Zealand and is of Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Maniapoto descent. Her mother and both maternal grandparents were English and Australian.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ "First Māori law Professor a proud Fulbrighter". Fulbright.org.nz. 30 May 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ "Professor Jacinta Ruru". University of Otago. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ Ruru, Jacinta (2001). Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the management of national parks in New Zealand (Masters thesis). OUR Archive, University of Otago. hdl:10523/3199.
- ^ Gibb, John (13 September 2016). "Prof Ruru shedding her 'unease' | Otago Daily Times Online News". Odt.co.nz. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ Calderwood, Kathleen (8 September 2016). "Why New Zealand is granting a river the same rights as a citizen". abc.net.au. ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ Rousseau, Bryant (13 July 2016). "In New Zealand, Lands and Rivers Can Be People (Legally Speaking)". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ "Ko Wai Mātou | About Us". Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ Indigenous peoples and the state : international perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi. Mark Hickford, Carwyn Jones. London. 2019. ISBN 978-0-367-89544-0. OCLC 1124338401.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Gibb, John (18 August 2016). "Otago's Ruru wins top award | Otago Daily Times Online News". Odt.co.nz. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ "Royal Society tackling diversity issues". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ Gibb, John (29 October 2016). "Four new Royal Society fellows | Otago Daily Times Online News". Odt.co.nz. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ "Jacinta Ruru". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- ^ Jacinta, Ruru. "First laws: tikanga Māori in / and the law". Māori Law Review. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ^ Gibb, John (1 October 2019). "University's prestigious poutoko taiea initiative recognises leading scholars". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ "New Year Honours: the full list of 2022". New Zealand Herald. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
- ^ Jacobs, Maxine (18 September 2022). "Māori legal scholar takes out top research award". Stuff. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- ^ "Professor Jacinta Ruru - Māori Legal Scholar". 1 August 2024.