Paul Whitinui
Professor, Special Advisor to the Vice-President Indigenous (July 1st, 2024 - June 30th, 2026)
Exercise Science, Physical & Health Education
- Contact:
- Office: MCK 188 whitinui@uvic.ca 250-472-5870
- Credentials:
- EdD (Auckland), MLS (Hons) (Waikato), BLS (Waikato), BEd (Waikato), Dip. Tchg. (Waikato)
- Area(s) of expertise:
- Indigenous community health and development with a focus on the social and cultural determinants associated with resilience, sport, leisure, education, wellbeing and healing.
Dr. Paul Whitinui is an Indigenous Māori scholar from Aotearoa New Zealand and a grateful visitor here on the sacred lands of the Lekwungen and WSÁNEĆ peoples. He has a background in sport and leisure, Indigenous health and development, and teacher education. Paul’s current scholarly work is broadly linked by relationships between Indigenous education, health and wellbeing, and the theorizing of socially just practices that benefit the future hopes and aspirations of Indigenous peoples, and their communities.
Courses taught
- EPHE 143 Multidisciplinary Foundations of Physical Activity (Fall & Spring)
- EPHE 347 Sport in Society (Fall – every second year)
- EPHE 342 History of Physical Activity and Sport (Fall – every second year)
- EPHE 673 Doctoral Seminar (Spring)
Research interests
- Indigenous education
- Culturally inclusive and responsive pedagogy
- Indigenous cultural safety impact assessment
- Indigenous community health and development
- Indigenous sports and sociology
- Indigenous Treaty-based rights
- Indigenous ethics and research methods
- Critical ethnography
- Indigenous autoethnography
Selected publications
Whitinui, P. (2021). Decolonizing Sports Sociology is a “Verb not a Noun”: Indigenizing our way to reconciliation and inclusion in the 21st Century. Sociology of Sports Journal, 38(1), pp 3-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2020-0148
Whitinui, P., Rodriguez de France, C., & McIvor, O. (2018). Promising practices: Indigenous teacher education (20 chapters). Springer.
Whitinui, P. (2017). Te Whakahōnere ngā Wawata o te Whānau: Honouring the educational aspirations of Whānau Māori in two English-medium primary schools in the Otago-Southland regions. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 1-14, https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2017.38
Whitinui, P., McIvor, O., Robinson, B., Morcom, L., Cashman, K. & Arbon, V. (2015). The World Indigenous Research Alliance (WIRA): Mediating and mobilizing Indigenous peoples’ educational knowledge and aspirations. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 23(120), 1-25 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v23.2052
Whitinui, P. (2014). Indigenous autoethnography: Exploring, engaging, and experiencing “self” as a Native method of inquiry. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 43(4), 456-487. doi: 10.1177/0891241613508148
Whitinui, P., Glover, M., & Hikuroa, D. (Eds.). (2013). Ara Mai he Tētēkura - Visioning our futures: New and emerging pathways of Māori academic leadership. Otago University Press, Dunedin, NZ (13 chapters). University of Otago Press. (one of the top 150 non-fiction Māori books to celebrate the 150th year of the NZ Royal Society).
Whitinui, P. (Ed.). (2011). Kia tangi te titi - Permission to speak: Successful schooling for Māori students in the 21st century: Issues, challenges and alternatives (14 chapters). New Zealand Council of Educational Research. (one of the top 150 non-fiction Māori books to celebrate the 150th year of the NZ Royal Society).
Whitinui, P. (2008). The Indigenous factor: Exploring kapa haka as a culturally responsive learning environment in New Zealand mainstream secondary schools. VDM Publishing.