Dr Arama Rata

Ngāruahine Taranaki Ngāti Maniapoto
University of Waikato

Arama is of Ngāti Maniapoto, Taranaki, and Ngāruahine descent.  She completed her PhD in Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington in 2012, which focused on Māori cultural engagement, identity, and psychological well-being in State secondary schools.  

Arama then lectured at Te Kawa a Māui (the School of Māori Studies), where she received a Research Establishment Grant to study Māori collective remembering of the New Zealand Wars. 

Dr Rata is currently involved with research relating to Māori health experiences, Māori in rural communities, as well as iwi consultancy.

Related Projects

21-24RP02

Research Programme

Project commenced:
Project completed
Pae Ahurei
Pae Ora
Pātai Puāwai
Pātai Whānau

Research to Interrupt Racism and (In)equity (RIRI)

This research programme dives beneath the surface to expose how efforts to address racism in Aotearoa can be symbolic, sidelining Māori worldviews and limiting true transformation.

Led through a kaupapa Māori lens, this programme challenges narrow, imported definitions of racism and equity, and confronts how dominant systems create and maintain Māori ‘vulnerability’. It aims to reframe equity on Māori terms—grounded in rangatiratanga, Indigenous knowledge, and the realities of colonisation.

Full project

Project commenced:

Kia Whakapiri Mai: Bridging the home and away divide to enhance engagement

This NPM Platform Project is building an understanding on how to build stronger, more connected iwi, through enhancing engagement with Māori governance entities.

In Phase 1 of the research, we are exploring the approaches used by Māori governance entities to ask: how do Māori governance entities engage members regardless of where they’re living?

In Phase 2, we then narrow the focus to one tribal governance entity, providing a demographic profile of the iwi based on both census and iwi register data to determine: what are the characteristics of registered and unregistered iwi affiliates?