A Struggle with SOUL: Politics of Land, Housing, and Metaphysics in Ihumātao, Tāmaki Makaurau

Abstract

There are firm grounds for a tentative optimism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Against the narcissistic nihilism of the early twenty-first century, a courage to face the harsh realities of the country's colonial history can be seen playing a greater role in contemporary politics. Opportunities to resolve historical injustice are contingent on the hard work of committed political leaders to speak truth to power, in the process bringing to light previously marginalised histories. Since early 2015, a development of this nature - operating under the banner 'Save Our Unique Landscape' - has emerged from Ihumātao, Tamaki Makaurau. Despite having been cloaked to a certain degree from public consciousness in recent decades, Ihumātao is one of the earliest known sites of human arrival in Aotearoa and is home to the longest continuously occupied papakāinga in Auckland. From local and global perspectives, the landscape of the Ihumātao peninsula is of immense archaeological, geological, environmental, historical, cultural, and spiritual significance. This thesis centres the activity of Save Our Unique Landscape (SOUL); a campaign formed in opposition to the granting of building consents on sacred Māori land. The specific site in question was initially confiscated by the colonial government in 1863 during the Waikato War. It was later transferred to settler farmers in 1867 through a Crown Land Grant, and in 2014 was sold to private property developer Fletcher Residential on condition that the New Zealand Government designated it a Special Housing Area. The subsequent consent process was enacted through legislation that circumvented a number of existing protections and diminished the standing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Disregarding previous plans to include the land in the Ōtuataua Stonefields Public Reserve, Auckland Council recommended the land be rezoned for residential housing in May 2014. In addition to offering an account of the history of Ihumātao and the SOUL campaign, this thesis explains how a nationwide housing crisis has functioned as justification for the circumvention of established resource consent processes, critically examines the essential nature of the Fletcher conglomerate, considers to what extent the financialisation of Auckland Council poses a threat to local democracy, and speculates on the divergent metaphysics existing across Te Ao Māori and Te Ao Pākehā in Aotearoa New Zealand.