Dr Maria Bargh (Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa) is Tumuaki/Head of School, Te Kawa a Māui/School of Māori Studies and is a Senior Lecturer in the School. Maria studied at Victoria University of Wellington before completing her PhD in Political Science and International Relations at the Australian National University in 2002. She has worked for iwi organisations such as Ngāti Awa Research and Archives Trust and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Whakatāne before beginning work at Victoria in 2005.
Maria is co-editor of the MAI Journal: A New Zealand Journal of Indigenous Scholarship, a member of the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Council, the Editorial Board of the New Zealand Political Science Journal, the Counterfutures Advisory Board, Canadian Research Chairs, College of Reviewers and the All Universities Working Party on Civics, Citizenship and Political Literacy.
She has supervised PhD and MA theses on topics including how Pākehā work as allies with Māori, Māori land issues, Māori rights and identity. Maria is active in providing commentaries to the media and community groups about Māori politics and issues around Māori rights.
