Kuni Kaa Jenkins (born 1941) is an educationalist and author in New Zealand. She is a Professor in Education at Te Whare WÃÂnanga o AwanuiÃÂrangi. She has researched early MÃÂori written documents looking at relationships between MÃÂori and PÃÂkehÃÂ. She co-authored the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards winner Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds.
Kaa Jenkins was born in PÃ Ârangahau, a settlement in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand in 1941. She affiliates with the MÃÂori iwi NgÃÂti Porou.
She studied in Wellington at the Wellington Teachers' College training to be a teacher and afterwards taught in primary schools in the Hutt Valley. She was also a teacher in the 1980s in Christchurch at schools in Linwood and St. Martins and then in Auckland including being the Principal of Aka Aka County School and Oruawharo School and in 1983-88 Assistant Principal at Kingsford School, Mangere.
She went back to study in the late 80s and graduated in 1987 with a B.A. in MÃÂori Studies and Education from University of Auckland. She stayed on to do a Masters in Education graduating in 1990. Kaa Jenkins has a PhD from University of Auckland awarded in 2000 titled Haere tahi tÃÂua: an account of aitanga in Maori struggle for schooling. She is a professor of education at Te Whare WÃÂnanga o AwanuiÃÂrangi.
In 2011 as an extension of a Marsden grant Kaa Jenkins published a book He Kà Ârero: Words Between Us; First MÃÂoriâÂÂPÃÂkehàConversations on Paper (Huia Publishers) co-authored with Alison Jones. The research was about early MÃÂori writing and the two-way teaching and learning relationships between MÃÂori and PÃÂkehàfrom 1769 to 1826. The book is structured in 16 chapters where Kaa Jenkins and Jones wrote about 16 'different textual artefacts or groups of artifacts' they encountered at various archives and libraries. An example is a letter to the chief of Rangihoua pÃÂ, Ruatara, in 1814 by Samuel Marsden. In 2012 this book won Best Book in Higher Education Publishing at the CLNZ Educational Publishing Awards, Te Kà Ârero Pono - Non-fiction at the NgàKupu Ora MÃÂori Book Awards and an award at the Publishers Association New Zealand (PANZ) Book Design Awards. This research work was also an exhibition.
In 2012 Kaa Jenkins was appointed the head of social services organisation Ririki to replace the founding chairperson Hone Kaa.
Kaa Jenkins book Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds co-authored with Alison Jones and published by Bridget Williams Books won the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in the Illustrated Non-Fiction category. The book is about two young MÃÂori men who travelled in 1817 to England, Ngare Raumati chief Tuai and Tëtere. Reviewer Briar Wood describes how in this book Jones and Kaa Jenkins use primary sources such as letters and journals and a 'cautious interpretation of the significance of TuaiâÂÂs journey' to create a 'profoundly interconnected book'. The book was launched in 2017 at Kororareka Marae in the Bay of Islands. It is part of a series 'Te Takarangi: Celebrating MÃÂori' produced by the Royal Society Te ApÃÂrangi and NgàPae o te MÃÂramatanga. The Ockham prize money was put towards a trip of Ngare Raumati to London to take some of TuaiâÂÂs drawings loaned to an exhibition Oceania at the Royal Academy of the Arts.
The writing partnership between Kaa Jenkins and Jones has been a long one and extends to academic papers.
Kaa Jenkins has appeared at the Auckland Writers Festival.