Elizabeth Kerekere
Elizabeth Kerekere | |
|---|---|
Kerekere in 2020 | |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Green party list | |
| In office 17 October 2020 – 14 October 2023 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1965 or 1966 (age 59–60) Gisborne, New Zealand |
| Political party | Independent (2023) Green (until 2023) |
| Spouse | Alofa Aiono |
| Awards | Takatapui Award – 2018 New Zealand LGBTI Awards |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Victoria University of Wellington |
| Thesis | Part of the whānau: the emergence of takatāpui identity – He whāriki takatāpui (2017) |
| Doctoral advisor | Rawinia Higgins Ocean Mercier |
Elizabeth Anne Kerekere (born 1965 or 1966) is a New Zealand politician and LGBTQ activist and scholar. She was elected a member of parliament for the Green Party in 2020, but resigned from the Greens on 5 May 2023, following allegations of bullying within the party. Kerekere remained in parliament as an independent until the 2023 election.
Kerekere identifies as takatāpui and produced the first major research on takatāpui identity with her doctoral thesis in 2017. She is also an artist and graduated from Eastern Institute of Technology with a bachelor in Māori visual arts (Te Toi o Ngā Rangi). In 2000, in her role of Te Kairuruku, Ngā Kaupapa Māori at Dowse Art Museum she curated an exhibition called Kaumatua Anō te Ātaahua: Honouring the Gifts of our Elders.