Paul Whitinui is a Canadian-New Zealand academic of Māori of Ngā Puhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī and European descent.

His work is quoted by New Zealand members of parliament as providing new research in the role of Indigenous language revitalization and its importance in cultural heritage.

"[5] Whitinui is recognized as innovating new approaches to autoethnography through the use of bilingual Māori/English publishing and by introducing Māori concepts of whānau (family) to understand how individuals interact and live within community.

[6] Whitinui is specifically mentioned in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education for his work in developing "a model for a 'culturally explicit and informed' autoethnography with the capacity to nourish and replenish individuals and communities.

"[6] In Victoria, British Columbia, Whitinui is part of a group of educators who support the introduction of Indigenous languages into the general curriculum as a "step forward in the Truth and Reconciliation process.