Skip to content

Barefaced lie

More than 100 years ago, a Māori woman packed up her life as a tour guide and entertainer in New Zealand and set off for England, where she would soon make history by enrolling at Oxford university.

In a tragic turn, Mākereti Papakura – believed to be the first woman from an Indigenous community to study at the university – died just weeks before completing her thesis, and in the decades since, her family has fought to have her degree recognised.

I’m wholly certain that women from Midlands England studied at Oxford before this lady. You know, indigenes as far as Oxford is concerned?

Anyway, on to the more important questions. What is that special little trick that moves one from indigene to Indigenous?

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

19 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ottokring
Ottokring
1 month ago

I know that there was an Indian lady in the 1890s at Oxford. Studied law, I think.

Does anyone still have her thesis ? Can it still be marked ?

Bloke in Wales
Bloke in Wales
1 month ago

I wonder how many white English men were awarded posthumous degrees from Oxford without completing a thesis?

Marius
Marius
1 month ago

White people are never indigenous, never mind Indigenous.

JuliaM
1 month ago

Clearly none of the writers of this article graduated in English

dearieme
dearieme
1 month ago

women from Midlands England”

If it’s indigenous you want it’s the Welsh you’d have to cite. Not a bunch of Krauts.

jgh
jgh
1 month ago

An indigene is an indigenous person. indigene is the noun, indigenous is the adjective.

Ottokring
Ottokring
1 month ago
Reply to  jgh

True, but Tim’s point is where does the capital I come from ?

Bit like Black.

FrankH
FrankH
1 month ago

The question that comes to my mind is: have other students who have died before completing their thesis been awarded a degree or are they asking for special treatment?

Norman
Norman
1 month ago
Reply to  FrankH

They’re asking for special treatment because they is black. And wimmin. Of course they are.

Agammamon
Agammamon
1 month ago
Reply to  Norman

They have been brainwashed to think ‘first’ is more important than ‘best’.

Baron Jackfield
Baron Jackfield
1 month ago
Reply to  FrankH

Would death be encompassed by the reasons for awarding an aegrotat degree?

excavator man
excavator man
1 month ago

It did in a case where I was Chairman of the Exam Board. Staff who were graduates of Russell Group Unis were on the whole against. I pointed out that not only was the person in question the top student in her class, but even on the basis of the assessments she had completed she would have graduated with good Hons. After several hours of discussion, I called them a bunch of miserable cvnts, pointed out that she wouldn’t disgrace us in a job she might have got, and took Chairman’s Action.

Usually, students weren’t the victims of injustices. I am trying to remember cases from my long career – perhaps 2 or 3, and even they weren’t obvious until in retrospect, and weren’t very serious on a possible scale.

M
M
1 month ago

What is that special little trick that moves one from indigene to Indigenous?”

Apparently in the US, it’s if you trace back your ancestry to ancestors that were on a particular piece of paper written down in a certain year.

It’s somewhat ironic in a country so apparently set on not having any lords.

PiPCommunityLeader
PiPCommunityLeader
1 month ago

Maori? How many people did she eat?

Norman
Norman
1 month ago

“Fuck off, I’m full.”

Devil’s Kitchen
Devil’s Kitchen
1 month ago

More to the point, is it not the case that the immigrant Māori wiped out the indigenous Moriori…?
So she’s not even an indigenous New Zealander…

Chris Miller
Chris Miller
1 month ago
Reply to  Tim Worstall

There were zero humans on NZ until ~1200AD – plenty of Moa though, until the Māori arrived. It’s intriguing to think that if a traveller from the court of Edward I could have reached NZ, he’d have found Moas. And Haast’s Eagles.

jgh
jgh
1 month ago

So…… Normans migrated from England to Ireland, then later more Normans migrated to Ireland et the earlier ones.

Can you help support The Blog? If you can spare a few pounds you can donate to our fundraising campaign below. All donations are greatly appreciated and go towards our server, security and software costs. 25,000 people per day read our sites and every penny goes towards our fight against for independent journalism. We don't take a wage and do what we do because we enjoy it and hope our readers enjoy it too.
19
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x