Publications

Hukutaia Domain. The history of a local treasure
with Lorna Aikman, Ōpōtiki 2022
Book, 80p.

The area of land that we now call Hukutaia Domain, has seen many changes. It has been transformed by both natural forces and people, particularly by Māori and then Pākehā occupation. The setting aside of the land as a reserve in 1918 /19, to protect Taketakerau, an ancient puriri, was of special significance in the history of Ōpōtiki.

 

Countering the Paradigm of ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’: Exploring Concepts of the Commons and Collective Action Institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand

Research paper, Treaty Research Series, Waitangi Research Unit, Stout Center for New Zealand Studies, Victoria University 2019

Abstract: This article argues that a broader understanding of people’s relationships to place is needed to develop ways of environmental management that are both ecologically and socially sustainable. It proposes that ideas of the commons and collective action institutions provide valuable perspectives to assist this quest. In doing so, it firstly introduces the concept of the commons, and common property particularly. Secondly, a discussion of the relevance of research into the commons and collective action institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand is provided, especially in light of the increasing number of co-governance and co-management arrangements being established following settlements between Māori and the Crown under Treaty of Waitangi-based reconciliation processes. Thirdly, the article presents findings of an ethnographic study into narratives of ownership, cross-cultural governance and commoning practices at Ōhiwa Harbour in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Shared Landscapes: Ownership and governance of Ōhiwa Harbour (Aotearoa New Zealand)

PhD thesis, Victoria University of Wellington 2016

Abstract: In Aotearoa New Zealand conflicting narratives on the ownership of common property resources continue to challenge social and cultural relations. This ethnography of Ōhiwa Harbour in the Eastern Bay of Plenty investigates everyday Māori-Pākehā relations in owning and governing natural common goods, at local government and community level. This study also explores the commons as an alternative governance model and demonstrates its practicability. Moreover, the sense of shared ownership in the landscape that tāngata whenua and Pākehā separately express provides rich opportunities to move beyond the formal Crown-Māori reconciliation process and develop a shared, socially and ecologically sustainable landscape.

Mana whenua and the ownership of nature

Book chapter in: Peter Adds (Ed.), Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich (Ed.), Richard S. Hill (Ed.), Graeme Whimp (Ed.) Reconciliation, Representation and Indigeneity. ‘Biculturalism’ in Aotearoa New Zealand. Winter-Verlag, Heidelberg, 2016

 
 
In this chapter, I firstly introduce the idea of co-governance/co-management of natural resources. I then provide some relevant background to controversies over the ‘ownership’ over parts of the natural environment which have challenged New Zealand’s path to biculturalism in recent years. Finally, I discuss my research on the property relations at Ōhiwa Harbour, a large tidal estuary in the Bay of Plenty, a region in New Zealand’s North Island with a comparatively high Māori population. 
 
 
 

 

Journal articles

Einheit in Dualität? Crown-Māori Beziehungen in Aotearoa New Zealand [Unity in duality? Crown-Māori relations in Aotearoa New Zealand]. Wissenschaft und Frieden, Vol. 31, no.4/2013, pp. 29-31, Cologne (Germany)

Inside the Black Box: insights and questions from the FutureMakers project. Institute of Policy Studies, with Derek Gill, Bob Frame and Stephanie Pride Paper 09/03, 2009, Wellington

Other publications

A Human Rights-based Approach to Refugee Resettlement. Think Piece. 19p., ChangeMakers Refugee Forum, 2008, Wellington