Manuhiri: the politics of place in Aotearoa New Zealand

Manuhiri (guest, visitor) is an autoethnography which interrogates the essence of what is political in the place I call home. The focus of the study is the region of Te Matau-a-Māui (Hawke’s Bay) where I live and work, with particular emphasis on the rural community where I grew up and the experiences of everyday life here. The main questions I seek to address in the thesis are how might Te Tiriti o Waitangi make visible the politics of place in Aotearoa New Zealand, which can in turn facilitate a reinvention of conventional understandings of the political. This project does not seek to offer succinct or concrete findings or solutions, instead it is a glimpse into the rich experience, dynamics and all-encompassing nature of politics in Aotearoa New Zealand. It contributes necessary action with respect to the work of decolonising the social sciences, research methodologies, and the study of politics. It offers insights for Tiriti-centred relationships in Aotearoa New Zealand, specifically for Pākehā (New Zealand European) and tauiwi (non-Māori) who seek to be tangata Tiriti (non-Māori partners to Te Tiriti), and for settler-colonial contexts beyond these shores.