Unsettling Recovery: Natural Disaster Response and the Politics of Contemporary Settler Colonialism
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UNSETTLING RECOVERY: NATURAL DISASTER RESPONSE AND THE POLITICS OF CONTEMPORARY SETTLER COLONIALISM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY STEVEN ANDREW KENSINGER IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DR. DAVID LIPSET, ADVISER JULY 2019 Steven Andrew Kensinger, 2019 © Acknowledgements The fieldwork on which this dissertation is based was funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Fieldwork Grant No. 8955 awarded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. I also want to thank Dr. Robert Berdahl and the Berdahl family for endowing the Daphne Berdahl Memorial Fellowship which provided funds for two preliminary fieldtrips to New Zealand in preparation for the longer fieldwork period. I also received funding while in the field from the University of Minnesota Graduate School through a Thesis Research Travel Grant. I want to thank my advisor, Dr. David Lipset, and the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Hoon Song, Dr. David Valentine, and Dr. Margaret Werry for their help and guidance in preparing the dissertation. In the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota, Dr. William Beeman, Dr. Karen Ho, and Dr. Karen-Sue Taussig offered personal and professional support. I am grateful to Dr. Kieran McNulty for offering me a much-needed funding opportunity in the final stages of dissertation writing. A special thanks to my colleagues Dr. Meryl Puetz-Lauer and Dr. Timothy Gitzen for their support and encouragement. Dr. Carol Lauer graciously offered to read and comment on several of the chapters. My fellow graduate students and writing-accountability partners Dr. Anna Hardin, (soon to be Dr.) Rutger Jansma, and Dr. Jason Massey, as well as my “writing buddies” Hilary Chart and Ethan Wilensky-Lanford. In Christchurch, Dr. Rawiri Te Maire Tau showed me the meaning of manaakitanga by welcoming me with open arms at the University of Canterbury and providing access to research sites and participants that would have been impossible without his assistance. Kirsty Ameriks and Virginia Irvine were critical allies in integrating me into the community of students and researchers at the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre. Tui Falwasser, Dr. Jessica Halliday, Nigel Harris, Trent Hiles, Joseph Hullen, Rob Kerr, Te Marino Lenihan, Glenn Livingstone, Sacha McMeeking, Don Miskell, Jo i Petrie, Huia Reriti, Aroha Reriti-Crofts, Arapata Reuben, Dr. Ryan Reynolds, Rich Sewell, Jenny Smith, Jamie Stevenson, Regan Stokes, Deon Swiggs, Dr. Eruerua Prendergast-Tarena, Corban Te Aika, Debbie Tikao, Diane Turner, Grace Uivel, Robyn Wallace, and Coralie Winn all shared their time and their thoughts on the meaning of recovery in Christchurch. The story I tell in these pages belongs to them. Jonathan Burn, Gemma Burrowes, Clinton Burt, Timothy Hitchcox, Ryoko Mukai, Sue Ritchie, Keefe Robinson, Robyn Robinson, Taylor Swan, and Rupert Wisternoff all helped to make Christchurch feel like home. To my parents—Judy and Richard Chenu, David and Linda Kensinger—thank you for your unwavering encouragement and financial support. Jim and Linda Artiano opened their home to me whenever I travelled to the field, allowing me to break up the long flights between Minnesota and Christchurch. Finally, to my partner Zachary Kempen, thank you for your patience while I completed this dissertation. ii For Nana, Grandma Filbert, and Mema. iii Abstract This dissertation is an ethnographic case study of the Christchurch Central City Rebuild. Following a series of severe earthquakes near Christchurch, New Zealand between September 2010 and February 2011, the central government declared a state of emergency and passed the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011 (CER Act). This act mandated the creation of a new governing body, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, to oversee the development and implementation of a recovery strategy and plan for the Central City to be developed in cooperation with the Christchurch City Council and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, the local Māori tribal authority. I analyze the structure of power established by the post-earthquake recovery legislation through the lens of Rebuild discourse, a discursive regime comprised of multiple political projects that each engaged in recovery in particular ways to enact their specific vision of what future Christchurch ought to be. I argue that the passage of the CER Act and the structure of power it created in post-earthquake Christchurch drew on the legacy of New Zealand’s settler-colonial history to enable the neoliberal settler state in its efforts to dispossess local Christchurch residents of access to their city while also maintaining the ongoing dispossession of the local indigenous group Ngāi Tahu in order to serve the interests of economic and political elites iv Table of Contents List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………….vi List of Organizational Acronyms, Names, and other Abbreviations…………………...viii A Note on Māori Language Use……………………………………………………….....ix Glossary of Māori Terms and Place Names……………………………………………....x Introduction: Unsettling the Settler State………………………………………………….1 Chapter 1: Recovering Christchurch……………………………………………………..44 Chapter 2: Rebranding Christchurch…………………………………………………….75 Chapter 3: Reclaiming Christchurch……………………………………………………100 Chapter 4: Repossessing Christchurch………………………………………………….135 Chapter 5: Revealing Christchurch……………………………………………………..166 Conclusion: Repairing Christchurch……………………………………………………191 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………196 v List of Figures Figure 1: Road closed ahead. Photo by the author, July 2013, pg. 9. Figure 2: Steel frame skeletons and dilapidated remains. Photo by the author, July 2013, pg. 10. Figure 3: Fenced off from the public. Photo by the author, July 2013, pg. 11. Figure 4: Steel supports. Photo by the author, March 2015, pg. 11. Figure 5: My house on Gloucester Street in Central Christchurch. Photo by the author, February 2015, pg. 12. Figure 6: Corner of New Regent Street and Gloucester Street. Photo by the author, 2015, pg. 19. Figure 7: "Coming Here": site of the future Convention Centre Precinct. Photo by the author, February 2015, pg. 20. Figure 8: Site of the future Performing Arts Precinct. Photo by the author, February 2015, pg. 21. Figure 9: Outdoor Reading Room. Photo by the author, February 2015, pg. 22. Figure 10: Eyes on the City, February 9, 2015. Photo courtesy of Gapfiller, pg. 23. Figure 11 The Port Hills as seen from the beach at New Brighton. Photo by the author, February 2015, pg. 50. Figure 12: Christchurch as seen from the Port Hills. Photo by the author, February 2015, pg. 51. Figure 13: Map of Christchurch's street grid prepared by Edward Jollie in 1850. Image courtesy of CERA, pg. 59. Figure 14: CERA's Blueprint for Central Christchurch. Source: Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, March 2014, pg. 76. Figure 15: Canterbury Museum, Photo by the author, July 2013, pg. 81. Figure 16: Christchurch Cathedral as it appeared before the earthquake. Photo by the Author, March 2007, pg. 81. Figure 17: Canterbury A&P Show, an annual celebration of the region's rural heritage. Photo by the author, 2015, pg. 82. Figure 18: Christchurch Central Anchor Projects and Precincts. Image Courtesy of CERA, pg. 85. Figure 19: Future Christchurch Visionarium, Cathedral Square. Photo by the author, February 2015, pg. 86. Figure 20: Future site of the Kua Hua Ake Te Ao Community Garden and Cafe before work was begun on clearing the sit. Photo by the author, July 2013, pg. 94. vi Figure 21: Creating community bonds by activating vacant space. Photo by the author, May 2015, pg. 94. Figure 22: In progress: Linwood Community Cafe and Garden. Photo by the author, June 2015, pg. 95. Figure 23: Te Whare Roimata kaumatua (elders) and tamariki (children) performing a karakia (blessing) over the garden area on opening day. Photo by the author, July 2015, pg. 95. Figure 24: Kua Hua Ake Te Ao Community Cafe and Garden opening day hui. Photo by the author, July 2015, pg. 96. Figure 25: Kua Hua Ake Te Ao Community Cafe and Garden as it appeared in February 2016, pg. 96. Figure 26: Te Wai Pounamou, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu headquarters. Photo by the author, March 2015, pg. 101. Figure 27: Tuahiwi marae, ancestral marae of Ngāi Tūāhuriri whanau. Photo by the author, June 2015, pg. 119. Figure 28: Hine Paaka Christchurch Bus Interchange. Photo courtesy of Otakaro Ltd., pg. 129. Figure 29: Gapfiller volunteer "working-bee" at The Commons in Central Christchurch. Photo by the author, May 2015, pg. 136. Figure 30: “DEMOCRACY NOPE.” Photo by the author, 2013, pg. 147. Figure 31: Recovery art at the Smash Palace. Photo by the author, September 2015. Pg. 148 Figure 32: Greening the Rubble's "Gardens of Tranquility." Photo by the author, February 2015, pg. 157. Figure 33: "EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT" Installation by Martin Creed, Te Puna Waiwhetu Christchurch Art Gallery 2015. Photo by the author, pg. 207. vii List of Organizational Acronyms, Names and other Abbreviations This is a list of commonly used institutional and organizational acronyms and names that appear throughout the dissertation. CCC: Christchurch City Council, local governing body for the Christchurch municipal area CCDU: Christchurch Central Development Unit, organization created by CERA responsible for overseeing anchor project delivery CCRP: Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, a recovery plan developed by CERA, TRoNT, and CCC that outlines the 17 anchor projects and precincts that served as the focus