Transforming geographies: Performing Indigenous‐Māori ontologies and ethics of more‐than‐human care in an era of ecological emergency

Abstract

AbstractThis paper explores how spatial governance models oriented to the well‐being of the more‐than‐human might better enable Indigenous peoples' capacity to live‐well‐with and care for our more‐than‐human whanaunga (kin). The discussion positions Indigenous more‐than‐human ontologies as a cultural framework that supplants human‐centrism with a focus on holistic ecological well‐being. The paper considers how a culture of holistic ecological well‐being might be spatially emplaced through well‐being‐led planning tools that ground these ontologies in neighbourhoods, cities and wider afield. Currently settler‐colonial spatial governance and planning structures hold dominion in Aotearoa New Zealand, inscribing cultural territories fundamentally other to Indigenous norms. Yet the country's Te Tiriti o Waitangi contracts for tino rangatiratanga (Māori sovereignty), and to meet the Tiriti it is imperative that current spatial governance approaches swiftly converge with Indigenous ethical practices for mauri ora holistic well‐being. There is much at stake. The Petrocene—our current era of ecological breakdown, accelerated by a rapacious petrocapitalism—is a time of mass death of our more‐than‐human whanaunga (kin).