Challenging issues: doctoral supervision in post-colonial sites

Abstract

The supervision of indigenous doctoral students in Aotearoa/New Zealand occurs in a post-colonial context marked by ongoing struggles over identity and belonging. In addition to stories concerning the pleasures taken in this relation, students and supervisors recount the challenges they experience. While some challenges are normal in any doctoral supervision, others are distinctively connected to the identities of the students as indigenous (Maori) and supervisors as settlers (non-Maori). Such challenges not only reveal unfinished tensions that structure settler-indigene (or coloniser-colonised) relations, but also raise questions concerning the implication of doctoral education in identity formation. This article draws on recent interviews with Maori doctoral students and their supervisors to identify several “challenging matters” and to explore their significance for supervision in post-colonial sites.