Fuel for the Decolonial Journey: An Elders' Reading List

In our collective, ongoing efforts to disrupt institutional racism and build a society rooted in genuine Tiriti justice, we must always look to the wisdom of those who have long stood on the front lines. Last year, while interviewing twenty movement leaders about the complexities of achieving Honourable Kāwanatanga, a profound treasure trove of literature fell into our laps. In passing, elders mentioned assorted texts they found influential that spoke to the kaupapa. We have collated this eclectic collection for anyone wanting to curl up with a critical book, paper, or report that sheds useful light on the dynamics of privilege, decolonisation, and systemic change. 

We cannot navigate a just path forward without grounding ourselves in absolute truths, and the movement leaders repeatedly pointed to the uncompromised sovereignty asserted in He Wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tīreni. Signed in 1835, this Declaration stands as a vital expression of independent hapū political authority. This foundational truth is deeply reinforced by the Waitangi Tribunal’s landmark Te Paparahi o Te Raki report, which fundamentally disrupted colonial myths by concluding that northern rangatira never ceded their sovereignty. 

To operationalise these truths practically today, the grassroots blueprint remains He Whakaaro Here Whakaumu mō Aotearoa (the Matike Mai Aotearoa report), which provides visionary, relational models for constitutional transformation based on distinct yet shared spheres of authority. This call for structural reimagining is fiercely supported by Margaret Mutu’s The State of Māori Rights, which delivers an incisive, data-backed evaluation of systemic racism and Crown betrayals. In tandem, legal scholar Claire Charters, in her 2026 text Sovereignty, directly confronts state legitimacy, arguing that an honourable path forward requires disrupting colonial legal norms to build a dual constitutional architecture deeply anchored in tikanga Māori. 

To dismantle monocultural structures, we must understand how they mask power and enforce assimilation through state mechanisms. Moana Jackson’s defining 1988 work, He Whaipānga Hou, exposes deep-seated institutional racism within the legal framework, demonstrating how Western structures fail indigenous communities and arguing for a parallel justice system rooted in tikanga. This aligns globally with Angela Y. Davis’ Are Prisons Obsolete?, which offers a vital companion critique of the prison-industrial complex, exposing how carceral systems function to contain economically marginalised populations rather than deliver genuine justice. 

Historically, these domestic struggles have also targeted public systems from within, such as the internal Department of Justice training programme Te Iho, which evaluated how to confront institutional bias and operationalise a genuine Tiriti partnership. Furthermore, Brian Bullivant’s sociological critique in The Pluralist Dilemma in Education warns that dominant social groups often use multicultural curricula to manage diversity and neutralise political threats rather than truly empower wilfully marginalised communities. To dismantle these biases completely, we must also target how knowledge itself is constructed; Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies acts as a global masterpiece here, exposing how Western research has historically operated as a tool of colonial extraction and offering a framework for indigenous communities to reclaim their own narratives and self-determination. 

Our local struggles sit within a broader global tapestry of anti-imperialist resistance and critical theory that reminds us that true liberation requires psychological freedom. Frantz Fanon’s foundational text, The Wretched of the Earth, provides a definitive analysis of the psychological trauma of colonisation, while Steve Biko’s I Write What I Like outlines the core tenets of the Black Consciousness Movement, urging communities to reject internalised inferiority. James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son and Giovanni’s Room masterfully dissect internalised racial fractures alongside the destructive nature of internalised shame and societal expectations. 

Elevating this global tapestry of intersectional critique is Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider, a brilliant manifesto reminding us that "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house" while demanding a collective recognition of overlapping oppressions. 

Expanding this critique to capitalist frameworks, Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant’s Health Communism offers a blistering analysis of how capitalism dictates health, instrumentalising illness and disability to categorise vulnerable populations as a surplus burden for financial extraction. This dynamic is grounded locally by Williams, and Jones, (2026) article, Colonial Ableism, which unpacks how colonial structures and ableist paradigms intersect to enforce the specific, compounding marginalisation experienced by tāngata whaikaha (Māori with disabilities) within contemporary systems. 

This reading list challenges us to rethink state legitimacy toward living, relational models of power-sharing. Scholars like Carwyn Jones and Sir Eddie Durie argue that governance is only honourable when it actively protects and defers to indigenous legal traditions within their own spheres, whether managing justice, designing regional freshwater programmes like Te Whaitua o Kāpiti, or establishing broader statutory frameworks. Annette Sykes delivers a scathing critique in her lecture on the corporate capture of the Māori brown table, targeting a co-opted tribal elite and advocating for a return to radical, community-led models of mana motuhake. 

These forward-looking visions are further enriched by Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku’s Mana Wahine Māori, which brings a critical perspective to grassroots organising by centring the creative, sovereign, and political authority of indigenous women. Concurrently, Dominic O'Sullivan explores how self-determination and democracy can coexist productively if we shift away from abstract notions of the Crown, while the Plurinational State of Bolivia's 2009 constitution illustrates how indigenous cosmovisions and the sacred status of Pachamama can be integrated into supreme law. Finally, Betsan Martin and Linda Te Aho add to this architecture in Ka Māpuna by outlining a freshwater governance template that transcends Western ownership paradigms to empower mana whenua authorities. 

Dismantling colonial structures and achieving genuine, substantive equality is an ongoing journey of reflective leadership, systemic disruption, and collective responsibility. Whether you are a seasoned researcher, a Tiriti worker, or someone starting to question the monocultural biases embedded within your own organisation, this reading list is an invitation to deepen your practice, read, reflect, and keep pushing for structural transformation.

Click here for the reading list