Professor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku was born in Rotorua, and is of Te Arawa, Tūhoe, and Waikato. Her mother was of Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Rangiteaorere, and Ngāti Mahuta of Waikato; while her father was of Ngāti Whakaue of Te Arawa, and Tamakaimoana of Tūhoe. Her whāngai (adoptive) family were of Ngāti Whakaue. She also has Norwegian Saami and French-German ancestry.
Her surname at birth was Loffley, and she grew up using the surname of her whāngai family, Gordon. Her name Te Awekotuku was given to her by her mother's family when she graduated with an MA in 1974.
She attended primary school at Rotorua Primary School and at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Convent in Hataitai, Wellington; then the secondary schools Rotorua Girls' High School and Western Heights High School. Her undergraduate degree in English was from Auckland University, where she was a member of Nga Tamatoa in the 1970s. Her MA with Honours in English (1974) was focused on Janet Frame, and her PhD in psychology (1981) from Waikato University and the University of Hawai'i investigated the socio-cultural effects of tourism on the Te Arawa people. Her doctorate was conferred at Tamatekapua, at Te Papa-i-Ouru marae. She also completed a postgraduate fellowship at Oxford University.
She published short stories from 1987 onwards, including the collection 'Tahuri: Stories' in 1989, and published a monograph on Māori research ethics in 1991. Her book 'Mau Moko: The World of Māori Tattoo' won awards including Le Prix littéraire étudiant 2011, L'Université de la Polynésie français. Students' Award, best text for 2011, University of French Polynesia; the Inaugural Māori Book of the Decade Award, 2009; and Montana Book Award: Lifestyle and Contemporary Culture Category Winner, 2008.
She was curator of ethnology at the Waikato Museum, 1985-87, lecturer in art history at Auckland University 1987-96, and professor of Maori studies at Victoria University from 1996. In 2017 she was Professor of Research at the School of Māori and Pacific Development, at the University of Waikato.
Her research specialities have included ethics and methodologies in indigenous research; Māori and indigenous notions of gender and sexuality; body modification; Māori and Pacific Art; Māori, Pacific, and indigenous death studies; and heritage issues such as repatriation, curatorship, exhibition, and intellectual/cultural property.
Her academic and professional leadership roles have included: Chair, Te Waka Toi Māori Arts Board of Creative New Zealand, Aug. 2006-June 2009; Member of the Council of Creative New Zealand, August 2000 - July 2006; NZ Government Delegate to the 12th and 13th Sessions of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, WIPO, United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, February & October 2008; Head of Delegation, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Pacific Festival of Arts, Pagopago, American Samoa, July-August 2008; NZ Government Delegate to the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations High-Level Symposium on Interfaith Dialogue, May 2007.
She was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori culture in 2010.
Her partner is the academic and writer Linda Waimarie Nikora, of Te Aitianga a Hauiti and Tūhoe
