Zane Ma Rhea

Zane Ma Rhea (1959- ) was born in Sydney, Australia. In her early life she was interested in philosophy, law, social justice, Buddhism, and travel. After an early education in Australian Aboriginal politics, she trained as a specialist social worker for profoundly deaf people and worked in both Australia and England. Needing to find a creative balance to this work, she travelled to Andalucía, Spain, becoming a watercolourist and then ran a vegetarian restaurant. Returning to Australia, she undertook postgraduate study focusing on the role of education in the cultivation of Wisdom. This continues to be an enduring feature of her work. Her first edited collection with Bob Teasdale gathered together ideas from scholars around the world about how to bring local knowledge and wisdom into the modern higher education system. Her first sole authored book, ‘Leading and Managing Indigenous Education in the Postcolonial World’ asks questions of higher education systems in the highly globalized world about how universities are recognizing the sui generis rights of Indigenous Peoples. A somewhat unconventional academic, she teaches teachers how to teach – a challenge in this uncertain world – and explores ancient knowledges with her students, bringing old ideas back into the modern world for the benefit of future generations.