The Moral Life of Trees: Pastoral Farming and Production Forestry in Northern New Zealand

Abstract

For the first time in the history of production forestry in northern New Zealand, forests are being planted on good farmland. In this article we analyze conflicting narratives of sustainability in relation to this change, using concepts from Žižek (1993, 1997) and Hage (1998). We argue that forestry presents a threat to the identity of pastoral farmers as the backbone of the country, to their enjoyment of community, and to their sense of themselves as national managers and, further, that pastoral farmers can symbolize Pakeha (white New Zealanders). This threat is exacerbated because the recent growth in forestry includes considerable Maori involvement and coincides with Maori return to rural tribal lands. In addition, the multinational nature of forestry calls the bounded nation itself into question. Our evidence is drawn from ethnographic and other research in the late 1990s.