Dr Jemaima Tiatia-Seath (the co-Head of the School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies) explores life as a Pasifika academic. This interview is a highlight from Auckland University’s Raising the Bar 2021.
Dr Tiatia-Seath says academia can be a lonely place at the top for a brown female leader navigating power at “the intersection of hypervisibility, invisibility, colourism and gender.”
Touching on real-life examples, Tiatia-Seath speaks candidly about institutional racism, sexism and feminism, as seen through her eyes. She relates how important it is to have a thick skin, and what resilience means when you’re in complex and sometimes hostile environments.