Rangi Nicholson

Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Pāhauwera

Kaupapa kōrero:

He Whananga Aroha!

Tēnā koe, e te koroua, e Te Ouenuku, e Te Pane o Kāpiti, me tō wero i runga i te aroha mō te Atua, mō ngā uri whakatupu, mō te reo Māori hoki. Me pēwhea te reo Māori, te reo mōrearea, e whakarauoratia ai? E hoa mā, ko te mea nui, ko te aroha! Kia aroha i te Kaihanga o te rangi, o te whenua, o te reo Māori hoki. Kia aroha tētehi ki tētehi. Kia aroha hoki i te reo Māori nā te Atua i tuku iho. He aroha te Atua. Nō reira, e hoa mā, kia whakarauoratia ai e tātou te reo Māori nā te aroha. Ko te inoi, ka taea e tātou te whakahoki ki te wero a te koroua i runga i te aroha, te harikoa me te rangimārie

Rev Dr Rangi Nicholson was born in Levin in 1952. He began learning Māori language and culture at Victoria University of Wellington in 1971. He graduated with a degree in Māori and Linguistics. Rangi was a Māori language activist and member of Te Reo Māori Society. As a media publicist, he was involved in supporting the 1972 Māori language petition to Parliament and Maori Language Day. Later he was involved with the Māori broadcasting petition to Parliament in 1978 as well as Māori Language Week. Rangi is an educationalist and researcher who has spent over forty-five years working in Māori language revitalisation. His Master's degree focused on Māori language revitalisation. He has taught te reo Māori to beginner learners at five tertiary institutions. He has also taught Māori language revitalisation and worked with many iwi, church and government agencies on revitalisation issues. He was director of the Māori language programme at Te Wānanga o Raukawa for seven years. Rangi is also a contextual theologian and a clergy person in Te Hāhi Mihinare, the Māori Anglican Church. He was a student at St John's Theological College where he gained a Bachelor of Theology and a PhD while enrolled at the Melbourne College of Divinity and the University of Auckland respectively. His doctoral studies focus on a review of the Māori language and cultural policies of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. He has held several senior educational positions in the Māori Anglican Church. He wishes to acknowledge all those, including his late wife, Ellen, and his two children, Alex and Arohanui, who supported his Māori language revitalisation research, writing and teaching.