Accessing nature: the battle of the Hurunui River by Amanda C. Thomas A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography, Victoria University of Wellington 2014 Abstract People understand their relationship, and that of broader society, with nature in a diverse range of ways. Yet the expression of such diversity is often constrained in decision making processes, and in western contexts, neoliberalised understandings of nature are often privileged. Feminist political ecology provides a nuanced approach to exploring how meanings of nature are made and remade, and how some meanings come to be dominant. An emergent body of political ecology has begun to draw on radical democratic theory to shed light on how this privilege is created and perpetuated in political processes in ways that channel certain outcomes. In extending this engagement between theories, this research explores how different understandings of nature compete in formal and informal political spaces through the case study of a new water management regime. For more than a decade, debate has raged about whether or not to dam the Hurunui River for irrigation. Such debate about the future of freshwater bodies has characterised politics in the Canterbury region through which the Hurunui flows. Canterbury has seen rapid agricultural intensification that has been enabled by the enclosure of freshwater. However, enclosure has been contested, and this contestation came to a head when, in early 2010, the national government intervened and dramatically reregulated freshwater in the region; elections for the regional council were suspended, access to judicial reconsideration of decisions about the environment were severely narrowed, and processes underway to protect freshwater bodies were interrupted. Promising better environmental democracy, central government, and the appointed officials replacing the elected councillors, endorsed a new freshwater management initiative based on devolved collaboration and consensus building. In response to conflict over the Hurunui River, the Abstract | i catchment was the first area in which this initiative was tested, a process that became the case study for this project. Through a feminist poststructural approach, I conducted and analysed 42 semi-structured interviews with those involved with Hurunui politics, and was a participant observer at 12 meetings of the new collaborative committee for the catchment. I argue that there were multiple processes that worked to channel particular understandings of nature, and facilitate the enclosure of freshwater for economic advantage. This channelling occurred in three key ways. Firstly, reregulation in Canterbury removed many democratic rights, limiting opportunities for participation in water politics. Secondly, the devolved collaborative and consensus based water committee was constrained by targets and discourses that determined that more water needed to be enclosed to serve a neoliberal growth agenda. Thirdly, community was privileged as a scale of democracy. As a result, narrow constructions of community belonging and performance remained unexplored, and these constructions inhibited public debate and limited possibilities to articulate and explore difference. I argue that such everyday experiences of power and constrained agency constitute an important dynamic of nature politics. There were, however, hopeful aspects of the new regime. An emphasis on dialogue led to transformative social learning, particularly about Ngāi Tahu, the Māori iwi (tribe) with traditional authority over the region, and the ways the iwi negotiated and enacted a relational ethics with the river. This study argues that considerations of power must be at the forefront of democratic design and uneven power relations need to be engaged with in such a way that multiple understandings of nature and society can be articulated and seen to be legitimate. Such an approach provides possibilities for political space in which to reimagine environmental futures and contest the dominance of neoliberal natures. ii | Abstract Acknowledgements This thesis was very much a collective effort, and there are many people to thank for sharing their knowledge, and for their encouragement and generosity. First of all, thank you to the research participants for your time, energy, patience and contribution to this work. I received scholarships from Fish and Game in 2011, and the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women Charitable Trust in 2012. I am extremely grateful to both organisations for this funding. Neither group, in their capacity as scholarship providers, influenced the shape and scope of this research in any way. I’ve been part of a few groups that have been instrumental in extending my thinking, and connecting me with fantastic people. In 2013, I attended the 4th Antipode Institute for Geographies of Justice in Durban. It was an incredible opportunity to make international connections and learn from others, and I was very lucky, and grateful, to be selected to take part. The New Zealand Geographical Society Postgraduate Network and Victoria University’s Spatial Theory and Social Praxis Research Group were invaluable to my PhD experience, as was We Are the University (WATU). Being part of WATU helped me to think through issues of access to tertiary education, as well as processes of neoliberalisation and securitisation at Victoria University and within the Aotearoa New Zealand tertiary sector more generally, and was enormously challenging and inspiring. Thank you also to the tutors and students of Geography/Environmental Studies 114 over the past four years – you have all played a part in developing my passion for learning. Acknowledgements | iii I am so grateful to all of the staff in the Geography department at Victoria who have supported me and encouraged me onwards. I’ve been very lucky to have such enthusiastic and compassionate people around me. Special thanks to Marcela Palomino-Schalscha (for some particularly good pep talks), Sara Kindon, Bethany Haalboom, Mairéad de Róiste, and Nicki Wrighton for your encouragement and empathy. You’re such an intelligent and generous bunch of women! The administrative staff in the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences do an amazing job of supporting students – thank you Cheryl Johansen, Kate King and Alan Ball. To Deb Maxwell - thank you for your friendship and guidance, and for sharing your computer genius. Thanks also to Morgan Hanks for reading a chapter and being meticulous about grammar (all mistakes are mine though!), and Andrew Rae for helping me to make maps. My deepest, deepest thanks to my friends who have been incredibly patient and generous. In particular, Emily Hume, Megan Willetts, Alexandra Frank, Rowen Steenkamp, and Catherine Bisley have kept me sane (most of the time) and feeling loved (all of the time). Thank you to Anne-Marie Snider for your beautiful cover art, for reading a chapter, and for being a supportive, perceptive and hilarious friend. I am especially grateful to Susie Keenan. For the past 18 months, Susie has nurtured me through this project – thank you for feeding me, for closing my curtains when I’m not home before dark and for understanding self-deprecating humour. The depth of your care and kindness for other people is a rare and precious thing. I have had the privilege of sharing an office with the extremely talented Gradon Diprose. He has oscillated between quiet workmate, counsellor, chocolate biscuit provider, friend, mentor and collaborator. It’s truly been a blessing to learn next to him. Thank you for being my academic husband Grady. I’m very grateful to my wonderful supervisors, Sophie Bond and Andrew McGregor, who have both continued to work with me while their lives have taken them away from Wellington. Andrew, thank you for your deeply perceptive, generative and invaluable feedback. Sophie, I have been so incredibly lucky to have you as my primary supervisor. You knew exactly what to say to keep me going and were a patient and engaged ear when I needed to share some outrage. You’ve been incredibly generous with your time and iv | Acknowledgements knowledge and have encouraged me way beyond what I ever thought I could do – thank you so much! I’ve been blessed with an incredibly supportive family. I’m very grateful to Gail Ferguson, Chris Dawson and Jeannie and Chris Sales for caring for me. Thank you to my brothers, Angus and Jack, who constantly challenge me and push me to explore beyond what I think I might know. My Granny T, Marjorie Thomas, looked after me during my fieldwork – this thesis created the opportunity for me to sit and listen to my Gran, and learn about what an amazing woman she is. Thank you for supporting me Gran. My Dad, Dugald Thomas, was the first person to suggest that I do a PhD. I was 18 and laughed at him. I don’t know if you were perceptive, or just wishful Dad, but I’ve been so lucky to have you in my corner encouraging me along. And Carol Ferguson, my Mum, has been incredibly inspiring to me. She is an exceptionally ambitious woman and I am so proud to have such a hard-working, generous, and loving parent and friend. Thanks Mum. And finally, my partner and best pal Daniel Sales. Sales has been unfailingly supportive through the extreme highs and lows of this project – I’m so, so thankful to him for getting me through. I can’t imagine a more hilarious, loving and inspiring person to be with. Somehow