{{Short description|New Zealand anthropologist (1930–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2015}} {{Infobox academic | name = Dame Joan Metge | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|DBE|size=100%}} | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Alice Joan Metge | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|2|21|df=y}} | birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand | death_date = {{death date and age|2025|9|17|1930|2|21|df=y}} | death_place = Auckland, New Zealand | death_cause = | region = | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = | title = | boards = <!--board or similar positions extraneous to main occupation--> | spouse = | children = | awards = <!--notable national level awards only--> | website = | education = | alma_mater = University of Auckland <br /> London School of Economics | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | influences = <!--must be referenced from a third party source--> | era = | discipline = Anthropology | sub_discipline = {{hlist|Social anthropology|Māori}} | workplaces = <!--full-time positions only, not student positions--> | doctoral_students = | notable_students = <!--only those with WP articles--> | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = <!--must be referenced from a third party source--> }}
'''Dame Alice Joan Metge''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|DBE|size=100%}} (21 February 1930 – 17 September 2025) was a New Zealand social anthropologist, educator, lecturer and writer.
==Life and career== Metge was born in the Auckland suburb of Mount Roskill on 21 February 1930, the daughter of Alice Mary Metge (née Rigg) and Cedric Leslie Metge.<ref name="HBTQ"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19300226.2.2.1 |title=Births |date=26 February 1930 |work= The New Zealand Herald |page=1 |access-date=20 June 2020}}</ref> She was educated at Matamata District High School and Epsom Girls' Grammar School.<ref name="HBTQ">{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |author-link1=Alister Taylor |author-link2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=264}}</ref> She went on to study at Auckland University College, graduating Master of Arts with first-class honours in 1952,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university17.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Me–Mo |access-date=7 February 2015}}</ref> and the London School of Economics where she earned her PhD in 1958.
As of 2004, she continued to advance peace initiatives via her work as a member of the Waitangi National Trust Board, a conference presenter, adviser, and as a mentor to mediators and conflict management practitioners. A scholar on Māori topics, she was recognised for promoting cross-cultural awareness and published a number of books and articles in her career. She likened the relationship among the people of New Zealand to "a rope [of] many strands which when woven or working together create a strong nation" (as paraphrased by Silvia Cartwright).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gov-gen.govt.nz/utilities/printspeech.asp?ID=243|title=Dame Silvia Cartwright's address at a Garden Party at Government House, Wellington, to commemorate the 164th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi|date=6 February 2004|publisher=The Governor-General of New Zealand|access-date=13 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012205801/http://www.gov-gen.govt.nz/utilities/printspeech.asp?ID=243|archive-date=12 October 2007}}</ref>
Metge died on 17 September 2025, at the age of 95.<ref name=royalsoc>{{Cite web |title=Dame Joan Metge |url=https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/150th-anniversary/150-women-in-150-words/1968-2017/joan-metge/ |access-date=2025-09-18 |website=Royal Society Te Apārangi}}</ref>
==Honours and awards== Metge was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to anthropology.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=50950 |date=13 June 1987 |page=31 |supp=4}}</ref> In 1990, she received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.<ref name="HBTQ"/> She was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand's Te Rangi Hiroa Medal for her research in the social sciences in 1997.<ref>[http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/awards/hiroa-medal/recipients/ Te Rangi Hiroa Medal - Recipients]. Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 20 January 2013.</ref> In 2001, the University of Auckland awarded Metge an honorary LittD degree.<ref>{{cite book |title=University of Auckland Calendar 2003 |url=http://www.calendar.auckland.ac.nz/archive/2003-calendar.pdf |access-date=7 February 2015 |page=633 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219072646/http://www.calendar.auckland.ac.nz/archive/2003-calendar.pdf |archive-date=19 December 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2006 she received the Asia-Pacific Mediation Forum Peace Prize in Suva, Fiji.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0607/S00009.htm|date=3 July 2006|title=2006 Asia-Pacific Mediation Forum Peace Prize|work=Scoop|access-date=13 January 2008}}</ref> In 2017, Metge was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.<ref name=royalsoc />
==Dame Joan Metge Medal== {{main|Metge Medal}} In recognition of Metge's contribution to social sciences, the Royal Society of New Zealand established the Dame Joan Metge Medal in 2006. The medal is awarded every two years to a New Zealand social scientist for excellence in teaching, research and/or other activities contributing to capacity building and beneficial relationships between research participants. Since 2017, the medal has been referred to as the Metge Medal.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/medals-and-awards/dame-joan-metge-medal/ |title=Metge Medal |year=2024 |publisher=Royal Society Te Apārangi |access-date=1 January 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Metge, Joan}} Category:1930 births Category:2025 deaths Category:New Zealand Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:New Zealand academics Category:New Zealand anthropologists Category:New Zealand women anthropologists Category:New Zealand women educators Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Academics from Auckland Category:People educated at Matamata College Category:People educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School Category:20th-century anthropologists Category:21st-century anthropologists