Indigenous Urban Geographies of Empowerment: Māori Urban Geographies of Whakamanatanga

Abstract

This research focuses on the relationship between Indigenous urbanisms and Indigenous urban geographies of empowerment. It is argued that emerging literature is demonstrating the potentialities and possibilities of Indigenous urban geographies that are moving beyond marginalization and resistance. In an attempt to develop a theoretical understanding of these geographies, a definition of Indigenous urban geographies of empowerment is proposed. As an example, ways Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand are expressing these geographies are examined based on qualitative research and data collected from interviews and field observations. The Māori case studies put forward demonstrate the potential for these emerging geographies to develop wherever Indigeneity and cities engage and interpenetrate one another. A core argument presented is that the materiality of the city (e.g., land, territory, space, place, built environments) are at the core of Indigenous decolonizing struggles.