Davies, K. K., K. T. Fisher, M. E. Dickson, S. F. Thrush, and R. Le Heron. 2015. Improving ecosystem service frameworks to address wicked problems. Ecology and Society 20(2): 37.http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07581-200237

This article investigates the complexities of negotiating subject positions in transnational and transcultural research by focusing on the gendering of race and racialization. As more people claim to be of mixed ‘racial’ descent and Western researchers grow more diverse, it is increasingly important that this diversity is reflected within geographical research; however, much of the existing research on subjectivity and its role in the research process has focused either on ‘white’ researchers in Global South contexts or on researchers working in their ‘home’ country or community. Less visible are accounts from those who challenge conceptions of ‘white’ Western researcher or whose racial identity can be conceived as hybrid. Moreover, there is a tendency to conceptualize race/racialization and their effects on subjectivity and positionality in relatively narrow terms. This article draws attention to the changing subjectivities of a racialized gendered body as it moves into different contexts. I examine how conceptualizations of race and discourses of racialization constitute researcher subjectivity, and how different understandings of ‘race’ mediate relationships between researcher and research participants (and others). To understand the spatial (re)configurations of (race) subjectivities and how this affects researcher positionality, I offer an autoethnography of a bi/multiracial Western woman of New Zealand Māori/Pākehā descent interpellated as ‘insufficient Other’ in her home context of Aotearoa New Zealand, then reconstituted as white and ‘sufficient Self’ in the Philippines by her research participants and Filipino ‘family’ and friends.

Legislation emerging from Treaty of Waitangi settlements provide Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, with new opportunities to destabilize and decolonize the colonial knowledge, processes and practices that contribute towards negative material and metaphysical impacts on theirrohe[traditional lands and waters]. In this article we focus our attention on the Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Act 2012 and the Deed of Settlement signed between the Crown (the New Zealand government) and Ngāti Maniapoto (the tribal group with ancestral authority over the Waipā River) as an example of how the law in Aotearoa New Zealand is increasingly stretched beyond settler-colonial confines to embrace legal and ontological pluralism. We illustrate how this Act serves as the foundation upon which Ngāti Maniapoto are seeking to restore, manage, and enhance the health of their river. Such legislation, we argue, provides a far higher degree of recognition of Māori rights and interests both as an outcome of the settlement process and by strengthening provisions under the Resource Management Act 1991 regarding the role of Māori in resource management. We conclude by suggesting that co-governance and co-management arrangements hold great potential for transforming river management by recognizing and accommodating ontological and epistemological pluralism, which moves Aotearoa New Zealand closer to achieving sustainable and just river futures for all.

Many of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are known to be very vulnerable to climate change impacts. This is particularly so where national economies are highly dependent on tourism-related revenue. Yet, little is known of the adaptive capacities of tourism providers in SIDS and how they respond to climate variability and change. This research uses a case study of Samoa, a Pacific island nation, that is highly dependent on beach tourism and already vulnerable to a variety of natural hazards. The research examines the adaptive capacity of tourism operators in Samoa and the ways in which Fa‘asamoa (the Samoan way of life) is a fundamental part of how tourism operators plan for and respond to climate variability and extremes. The findings indicate that key components of adaptive capacity for Samoan tourism operators include their past experiences of extreme events, access to resources, social networks, and worldviews. In many cases, Samoan cultural values and socio-cultural governance systems play a critical role in how adaptation takes place. In the Samoan context, this means that an indigenous Samoan tourism operator is rarely one individual, but a part of a wider social network, which influences how a business can or cannot adapt to climate variability and change and hazards.

Existing frameworks for interpreting and acting upon the health consequences of climate change fail to engage with the multiple and complex forms of loss and damage that Indigenous peoples experience to their health and wellbeing in a changing climate. Using a case study of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand, we call for a new research agenda that foregrounds Indigenous peoples’ collective, relational perspectives on health and wellbeing in order to better conceptualise the health implications of climate change. The agenda builds understanding and recognition of intangible loss and damages, bringing multiple knowledge systems and worldviews into conversation to drive adaptation that not only safeguards but also promotes the visions Indigenous peoples have for their health and wellbeing.