Jacinta Arianna Ruru (born 1974) is a New Zealand academic and the first

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

professor of law. She was born in Australia and is of Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui and

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi (tribe) based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back to people who arrived in New Zealand on th ...

descent. Her mother and both maternal grand parents were English and Australian. Ruru is currently a professor at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

Academic career

Ruru completed a Master's at the University of Otago in 2001, with a thesis on the Treaty of Waitangi and national parks in New Zealand. After a 2012

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

-funded

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

in Canada, Ruru returned to New Zealand and the

, rising to full professor in 2016. Ruru's research centres on indigenous peoples' (primarily

in New Zealand and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

in Canada) legal relations with land and water. She is the co-director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) the New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE).

Recognition

In addition to winning the Prime Minister's supreme award for tertiary teaching, Ruru has also been made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

. In 2017, Ruru was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "

150 women in 150 words Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand. In the same year she was invited to give the 10th Shirley Smith Memorial Address. Her speech was "First laws: tikanga Māori in / and the law". In October 2019, Ruru was appointed one of seven inaugural sesquicentennial distinguished chairs, or , at Otago University. In the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

, Ruru was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have re ...

, for services to Māori and the law, and later that year received the University of Otago's Distinguished Research Medal.

Selected works

* Ruru, Jacinta. (2004). "A politically fuelled tsunami: the foreshore/seabed controversy in Aotearoa Me Te Wai Pounamu/New Zealand." ''

The Journal of the Polynesian Society The Polynesian Society is a non-profit organisation based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, dedicated to the scholarly study of the history, ethnography, and mythology of Oceania. History The society was co-founded in 1892 by Percy ...

'' 113, no. 1: 57–72. * Miler, Robert J., and Jacinta Ruru. (2008). "An Indigenous Lens into Comparative Law: The Doctrine of Discovery in the United States and New Zealand." '' West Virginia Law Review'' 111: 849. * Ruru, Jacinta. (2009). ''The legal voice of Māori in freshwater governance: a literature review''.

Landcare Research Landcare may refer to: *Australian Landcare Council, a now superseded Australian government body *Landcare in Australia, umbrella approach promoting land protection in Australia * Landcare Research, New Zealand *The Landcare movement in Australia ...

, New Zealand. * Abbott, Mick, and Jacinta Ruru, eds. (2010). ''Beyond the scene: Landscape and identity in Aotearoa New Zealand''. Otago University Press. * Ruru, Jacinta. (2004). "Indigenous peoples' ownership and management of mountains: The Aotearoa/New Zealand experience." ''Indigenous Law Journal'' 3: 111–137. *Ruru, Jacinta, and Linda Waimarie Nikora, eds. (2021). ''Ngā Kete Mātauranga: Māori scholars at the research interface.'' Otago University Press. ISBN 978-1-98-859255-8

References

External links

*
E-tangata interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruru, Jacinta Living people New Zealand women academics Ngāti Raukawa people Ngāti Ranginui people Ngāti Maniapoto people University of Victoria alumni University of Otago faculty Victoria University of Wellington alumni University of Otago alumni 21st-century New Zealand lawyers 1974 births New Zealand Māori academics New Zealand Māori women academics Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand