Ngapare Kaihina Hopa (1935âÂÂ30 April 2024) was a MÃÂori academic of Waikato Tainui descent.
Hopa attended Gordonton School in Gordonton. Later she moved to Auckland to attend Queen Victoria School and Epsom Girlsâ Grammar.
Hopa later became the first MÃÂori woman to complete a D.Phil degree from the University of Oxford.
Hopa participated as a researcher at the University of Waikato in completing the research that informed the Waikato Raupatu claim.
Hopa headed the MÃÂori Studies department at the University of Auckland.
Beginning in 1989, while she was a senior research fellow at Waikato, Hopa became a member of the Waitangi Tribunal. She retired from the tribunal in 1993.
Hopa died on 30 April 2024 at the age of 88.
In the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours, Hopa was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to MÃÂori.
In 2011 Hopa was recognised for her contribution to MÃÂori arts by Creative New Zealand, receiving its Te Waka Toi awards.
Hopa's collaboration with Jennifer Curnow and Jane McRae, Rere Atu, Taku Manu! Discovering History Language & Politics in the Maori-Language Newspapers was included as part of the Te Takarangi Significant Maori non-fiction publications in 2017. The list is a collaboration between Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga and The Royal Society of New Zealand to celebrate Maori thinkers, writers, and authors since the foundation of the Royal Society. In 2017, Hopa was also selected as one of the Royal Society Te ApÃÂrangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating women's contributions to knowledge in New Zealand.