Pada tahun 1972, Te Awekotuku ditolak izin berkunjung ke Amerika Serikat dengan alasan bahwa dia adalah seorang homoseksual. Publisitas seputar insiden tersebut merupakan katalisator dalam pembentukan kelompok pembebasan gay di Selandia Baru.[7] Hal ini mungkin terkait dengan wawancara TV yang dia berikan pada tahun 1971, di mana dia menggambarkan dirinya sebagai 'wanita sapphic'.[8]
Penelitian tentang tā moko
Te Awekotuku telah meneliti dan menulis secara ekstensif tentang praktik tradisional dan kontemporer tā moko (tato) di Selandia Baru. Bukunya pada tahun 2007 (diterbitkan ulang pada tahun 2011) Mau Moko: the world of Maori tattoo, yang ditulis bersama Linda Waimarie Nikora, adalah produk dari proyek penelitian selama lima tahun yang dilakukan oleh Māori and Psychology Research Unit di Universitas Waikato, yang didanai oleh hibah Marsden Fund.[9][10]
Pada tahun 2009 Te Awekotuku dan Linda Waimarie Nikora menerima hibah Marsden Fund sebesar $950.000 sebagai peneliti utama di Māori and Psychology Research Unit di Universitas Waikato untuk proyek penelitian 'Apakura: the Maori way of death'. Dana sebesar $250.000 diterima dari Nga Pae o te Maramatanga National Institute of Research Excellence untuk mengeksplorasi praktik masa lalu dan masa kini mengenai tangihanga.[13]
He tikanga whakaaro: Research ethics in the Maori community: A discussion paper Ministry of Māori Affairs
Tentang seni dan seniman
We will become ill if we stop weaving. From Mana Whina Maori Selected writings on Maori Women's art, culture and politics. Republished in ATE Journal of Māori Art, 2020, vol 2 pp. 90–103.
E ngaa uri whakatupu - weaving legacies : Dame Rangimarie Hetet and Diggeress Te Kanawa, Hamilton: Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, 2015. ISBN9780473326036
'Traditions endure : Five Maori Painters at Auckland Art Gallery', Art New Zealand, Winter 2014, no. 150, pp. 58–61.
'A glorious tradition', Art New Zealand, Winter 2003, no.103.
Unveiling our hidden treasures : the Seventh Pacific Festival of Arts 1996;', Art New Zealand, Summer 1996/1997, no. 81, pp. 42–45,84.
'Forgiving, but never forgetting : Shared Visions at the Auckland City Art Gallery', Art New Zealand, Winter 1996, no. 79, pp. 74–77.
'He Take Ano: Another Take - Conversations with Lisa Reihana', Art New Zealand, Spring 1993, no. 68, pp. 84–87
'Kura Te Waru Rewiri', Art New Zealand, Spring 1993, no. 68, pp. 91–93
Mana wahine Maori: Selected writings on Maori women's art, culture and politics, Auckland: New Women's Press, 1991. ISBN0908652631
'Art and the spirit', New Zealand Geographic, Jan/Mar 1990, no. 5, pp. 93–97.
'Mats of the Pacific', Art New Zealand, Spring 1989, no. 52, pp..88-90
'Te whakahoutanga o Te Winika (The restoration of Te Winika)', New Zealand Listener, 28 November 1987, p. 67.
'Ngahuia Te Awekotuku in conversation with Elizabeth Eastmond and Priscilla Pitts’, Antic, no. 1, 1986.
Tentang tā moko
'Tā Moko: Māori Tattoo', in Goldie, (1997) exhibition catalogue, Auckland: Auckland City Art Gallery and David Bateman, pp. 108–114.
'More than Skin Deep', in Barkan, E. and Bush, R. (eds.), Claiming the Stone: Naming the Bones: Cultural Property and the Negotiation of National and Ethnic Identity (2002) Los Angeles: Getty Press, pp. 243–254.
Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, with Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua and Rolinda Karapu, Mau moko : the world of Māori tattoo, Auckland: Penguin Books, 2011. ISBN9780143566854
Tentang kematian dalam budaya Maori
Tess Moeke-Maxwell, Linda Waimarie Nikora, and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, 'Manaakitanga: Ethical research with Māori who are dying', in M. Agee, T. McIntosh, P. Culbertson, & C. Makasiale (eds.), Pacific Identities and Well-Being - Cross Cultural Perspectives, London: Routledge, 2003, pp. 188–203.
Tess Moeke-Maxwell, Linda Waimarie Nikora, and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, 'End-of-life care and Māori whānau resilience', MAI Journal, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 140–152.