Māmari Stephens (born 1970) is a law academic best known for her work creating ''He Papakupu Reo Ture: A Dictionary of Māori Legal Terms'', a
Māori-English a bi-lingual dictionary of legal terms. She identifies as being of
Te Rarawa
Te Rarawa is a Māori iwi of Northland, New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New ...
and
Ngāti Pākehā descent.
Stephens has a background in
classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
and law at
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...
, where she is currently a Reader in Law. After graduating, she worked at
Russell McVeagh in
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
for 3.5 years.
In 2019 she was ordained as a priest in the
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand, is a Anglican province, province of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. Since 1992 ...
and is a part-time Māori Chaplain at Victoria University. She is on the Board of Trustees of the Wellington City Mission.
Legal Māori Project
Led by Stephens and Mary Boyce of
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...
, this FRST-funded project
created the first ever
Māori-English bi-lingual dictionary of legal terms, ''He Papakupu Reo Ture: A Dictionary of Maori Legal Terms.'' The project involved digitising historical texts, and many of the texts old enough to be out of copyright were released by the
New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. The other outputs of the Legal Māori Project, including the dictionary, corpus and corpus browser, are all available a
www.legalmaori.netas a part of the Māori Law Resource Hub, Te Pokapū Reo Ture.
Personal life
Stephens is married to Maynard Gilgen. They have three children and live in Wellington. She attends St Michael's Church,
Kelburn, where she is responsible for youth ministry.
Her family ''
whakapapa
Genealogy is a fundamental principle in Māori culture, termed specifically in this context as ''whakapapa'' (, , lit. 'layering'). Reciting one's '' whakapapa'' proclaims one's identity among the Māori, places oneself in a wider context, and ...
'' links her to Wainui
marae
A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves reli ...
in
Ahipara.
Selected publications
*''Social Security and Welfare Law in Aotearoa New Zealand'' (Thomsen and Reuters, 2019)
*''He Papakupu Reo Ture: A Dictionary of Maori Legal Terms'' (section winner of the ''Nga Kupu Ora Aotearoa Maori Book Awards.''
)
*''A Return to the
Tohunga Suppression Act 1907'', Victoria University Wellington Law Review, 32, 437
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Mamari
1970 births
Living people
Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington
Māori language revivalists
Te Rarawa people
New Zealand women academics
New Zealand Māori academics
New Zealand Māori women academics
Māori-language writers
New Zealand Māori religious leaders