This paper speaks to Hook’s thesis that a National Māori University needs to be established. However, it sets about this task by designating Hook’s intended central concerns to the outer reaches of his article’s limits, and moving towards the core those more ephemeral issues, which, despite their haziness, still demand attention. Hook builds an argument premised on assertions to do with the functional need for a National Māori University, and only hints at the nature of the knowledge to be experienced at such an institution – yet as the commentator I found that the various elements of that peripheral issue coalesced to demand my attention. In this peer commentary I consider how issues to do with the very nature of knowledge – if indeed we want to call it that – become absolutely vital (and hence central) to any discussion about a National Māori University.