“Let Me Give You Some Advice”

Abstract

This essay is a personal reflection about an email I received from a Professor Emeritus at my university after my research received nationwide news media coverage. During my doctoral research, I located racist public statements made by William Ferguson Massey (1856–1925), former prime minister of New Zealand, whom my university (Massey University) is named after. The white Professor Emeritus, who I have never met, took it upon himself to email me, a Māori [Indigenous] junior faculty member, and chastise me for presenting my archival research to other faculty members. The Professor Emeritus's email epitomizes white power and white fragility in the academy that work to silence “Other” voices.