Professor Paul Tapsell

Brendan Hokowhitu BA, PGDip (Bus), MA (Auckland), DPhil (Oxford)
Professor (Appointed 2009)
(Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Raukawa)

Contact details

Room: Richardson South Tower, Rm 2S4
Phone: 64 3 479 8677
Fax: 64 3 479 8525
Email: paul.tapsell@otago.ac.nz

Research

Professor Tapsell's research interests include Māori identity in 21st century New Zealand, cultural heritage & museums, taonga trajectories in and beyond tribal contexts, Māori values within governance policy frameworks, Indigenous entrepreneurial leadership, marae and mana whenua, genealogical mapping of tribal landscapes and Te Arawa historical and genealogical knowledge. Research projects that Professor Tapsell has been and is currently involved in include:

Marsden Recipient (Principal Investigator): Transformations of entrepreneurial Maori tribal leadership (2011-2014).
FRST (Principal Investigator): Te Wehi nui a Mamao: Marae & Maori Language Enhancement (2008-2010).
Marsden Recipient (Assistant Investigator): Bringing together Indigenous Knowledge and Museum Practice (2001-2004).

Teaching

Current/Past Supervision

Current

Jade Baker – PhD – Museums and taonga (Museum Ethnography)
Whakarongotai Hokowhitu – PhD – Māori Studies – Tribal Maori Leadership
Hirini Tane – MA – Indigenous Development – Maori tribal leadership
Hone Te Rire – MA – Māori Studies – Maori tribal leadership
Carel Thompson-Teepa – MA – Māori Studies - Maori entrepreneurial business
Patricia Otimi – MIndS – Maori tribal governance

Major Research Outputs

Books

Tapsell, P. 2011. The Art of Taonga: Where is it today? Wellington: Art History, Victoria University of Wellington.

Tapsell, P. & Pfeiffer, K. 2010. Te Ara – Maori Pathways of Leadership. Auckland: Libro International.

Tapsell, P. 2006. Ko Tawa: Maori Ancestors of New Zealand – Gilbert Mair Collection. Auckland: David Bateman.

Tapsell, P. 2000. Pukaki: a comet returns. Auckland: Reed Publishing.

Book Chapters

Tapsell, P. 2011. 'Aroha mai: Whose museum?' In J. Marstine (ed). The Routledge Companion to Museum Ethics: Redifining Ethics for the Twenty-First-Century Museum. London: Routledge. pp. 85-111.

Tapsell, P. 2008. 'Service after Death: The Art of Maori Leadership in Marae Contexts.' In E. Griffey (ed). Power of Portraiture. Auckland: David Ling Publishing, pp. 18-31.

Tapsell, P. 2006. 'The Genesis of the Taumata-a-Iwi, Tamaki Paenga Hira.' In View to the Future. Auckland: Auckland Museum, pp. 8-17.

Tapsell, P. 2006. 'Taonga, Marae, Whenua – negotiating custodianship: A Maori tribal response to the Museum of New Zealand.' In A E Coombes (ed). Rethinking settler colonialism. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 86-99.

Tapsell, P. 2005. 'Out of sight, out of mind: Maori Ancestral Remains at the Auckland Museum.' Looking Reality in the Eye: Museums and Social Responsibility. Glenbow: University of Calgary Press.

Tapsell, P. 2004. 'From the sideline: Tikanga, Treaty Values and Te Papa.' In M. Belgrave, M. Kawharu & D. Williams (eds). Waitangi Revisited: Perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, pp. 266-282.

Tapsell, P. 2003. 'Beyond the Frame: An Afterword.' In Peers & Brown (eds). Museums and Source Communities: A Routledge Reader. London: Routledge, pp. 242-251.

Tapsell, P. 2002. 'Papamoa Pa.' In M. Kawharu (ed). Whenua: Managing Resources in Aotearoa New Zealand. Auckland: Reed Publishing, pp. 272-286.

Tapsell, P. 2002. 'Partnerships in Museums: A Tribal Response to Repatriation.' In C.Fforde, J.Herbert & P.Turnbull (eds) The Dead and their Possessions: Repatriation in Principle, Policy and Practice. London: Routledge, pp. 284-292.

Conference Proceedings

Tapsell, P. 2009. 'Footprints in the sand: Banks's Maori collection, Cook's first voyage 1768–71.' Discovering Cook's Collections. Canberra. National Museum of Australia Press, pp. 92-111.

Tapsell, P. 2002. 'Marae Identity in Urban Aotearoa New Zealand.' In “Moral Communities”. Special Issue of Pacific Studies. J. Moddell (Ed.), 25(1/2), Hawaii: Brigham Young University, pp.141-171.

Tapsell, P. 2001: ‘Taonga, Marae, Whenua – negotiating custodianship: A Maori tribal response to the Museum of New Zealand’.National Museums “Negotiating Histories” Conference Proceedings. Canberra: National Museum of Australia, pp.112-121.

Tapsell, P. 1999. 'Repatriation or Partnership? A Tribal Response to Repatriation.' Fifth Annual Conference of Museums Australia. Newsletter of the Australian Registrars Committee (30).

Journal Articles

Tapsell, P. & Woods, C. 2010. 'Social entrepreneurship and innovation: Self-organisation in an indigenous context.' Entrepreneurship & Regional Development: An International Journal, 22(6), pp. 535-556.

Tapsell, P. & Woods. C.R. 2009. 'A Spiral of Innovation Framework for Social Entrepreneurship: Social Innovation at the Generational Divide.' An Indigenous Context, Complexity Science and Social Entrepreneurship: Adding Social Value Through Systems Thinking, pp. 471-486.

Tapsell, P. & Woods, C.R. 2008. 'Potikitanga: indigenous entrepreneurship in a Maori context.' Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 2(3), pp. 192-203.

Tapsell, P. & Woods. C.R. 2008. 'A Spiral of Innovation Framework for Social Entrepreneurship: Social Innovation at the Generational Divide in an Indigenous Context.' Emergence: Complexity & Organisation (E:CO), 10(3), pp. 25-34.

Tapsell, P. 2002. 'Partnerships in Museums: A Tribal Response to Repatriation.' The Dead and their Possessions: Repatriation in Principle, Policy and Practice, pp.284-292.

Tapsell, P. 2002. 'Marae Identity in Urban Aotearoa New Zealand.' Pacific Studies, 25(1/2), pp. 141-171.

Tapsell, P. 1997. 'The Flight of Pareraututu.' Journal of the Polynesian Society, 106(4), pp. 323-374.

Major Exhibitions

Kawharu, M., Pfeiffer, P. & Tapsell, P. 2010-2013. Te Ara – Maori Pathways of Leadership (Universities of Auckland and Otago)
- A Photographic Exhibition exploring Māori tribal leadership in the past, present and toward the future. (Venues: Poland (2010-2011: Olsztyn, Krakov, Warsaw); United Kingdom (2011-2012: Oxford, Durham, Middleborough) and Germany (2012-2013: Hamburg))

Tapsell, P. 2005-2008. Ko Tawa (Tamaki Paenga Hira / Auckland Museum)
- A multi-media exhibition project that toured museum-held taonga from the Gilbert Mair Collection back to their source communities as well as visiting urban centres of Aotearoa/New Zealand. (Venues: Auckland, Porirua, Whangarei, Sydney, Opotiki, Whakatane, Rotorua, Tauranga).

Tapsell, P. 1992-2010: Te Ohaaki o Houmaitawhiti – The Legacy of Houmaitawhiti (Rotorua Museum)
- The premier Māori exhibition in Rotorua Museum for almost two decades. It told the epic story of the local Te Arawa people in first person through the narratives of their most prized taonga, including Pareraututu, Murirangaranga, Te Kahutoi o Tohi and Horoirangi.

Tapsell, P. 1991. Te Korimako Tangi Ata – The New Dawn (Rotorua Museum).
- A Rotorua exhibition of major taonga, historical paintings, photographs, sculpture and prose, recounting the journey of Māori from ancient Hawaiki times through their many crises up to today’s urban realities of the late 20th century.