What is cooking with kererū/kūkupa management in New Zealand? A historical review using tools from Actor Network Theory

Abstract

This thesis reviews the history of the management of an endangered New Zealand native bird species. It builds on earlier narratives, especially the social construction-based thesis of Renganathan (2004), periodising the history of management into three key phases, or moments of “translation” in the terminology of Actor-Network Theory (ANT): Maori colonisation around 1300 AD; European colonisation circa 1800 AD, and the post-colonial present. In line with Renganathan’s earlier analysis it is argued that management of Kererū remains contested depending upon differing cultural views and differing locations, populations and habitat health. However, this thesis also deploys key concepts associated with Callon’s “A Sociology of Translation” (1986) to both show the mechanisms and processes that have led to the dominance of particular perspectives at given points in history and to set out three future management scenarios that reflect what could happen if particular actors or actants were to exert pressure or influence on the existing management network. Furthermore, and whereas previously ANT has tended to be applied to technological and engineering domains, the thesis adds to the growing body of natural resource management literature which uses the principles of the theory to shed new light on environmental problems.