Countering colonialingualism and promoting Indigenous language revitalization in higher education

This chapter focuses on the possibilities of decolonization and de-colonialingualism within Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter, Aotearoa), a British settler colony that, as a result of that colonization, is also now an English-language-dominant, and often monolingual and monoglossic language context. We do so via an analysis of the recent recognition and promotion of te reo Māori (the Indigenous Māori language) in Aotearoa’s higher education system. The chapter first contextualizes the wide-ranging negative impacts of colonization on te reo Māori over the course of Aotearoa’s history, including its long-standing exclusion from education, a widespread feature of such colonial contexts worldwide. We then chart recent developments in Aotearoa’s HE system, particularly among its major universities, to recognize and reintegrate—at least to some degree—te reo Māori in its policies and teaching and learning practices. We turn finally to an examination of our own university, Waipapa Taumata Rau/University of Auckland, exploring its te reo Māori policies and practices as an example of the possibilities and (still significant) limitations attendant upon the recognition and incorporation of an Indigenous language in higher education in settler colonial contexts like Aotearoa.