(Re)presenting Papa: Intersubjectivity within Māori eco-literatures

Increasingly, such lived realities of biodiversity loss, land degradation and climate change have become the topic of much global discourse and debate, with many demanding government and corporate accountability for the health of the land. In Aotearoa New Zealand, mainstream environmental and sustainability discourse largely considers the well-being of whenua (land) in relation to human need and the capacity to sustain people and economies. Though it is critical to understand the societal impacts of ecological concerns and land degradation, Māori perspectives further consider the subjective experience of Papatūānuku (deity associated with the Earth) as a living, breathing entity; a perspective that can be cited across Māori-authored texts and ecological narratives. In turn, the ways in which land use and related sustainability discourse are expressed within creative literary forms have the potential to shape how humans view our relationships with, and responsibilities to, the more-than-human; to challenge anthropocentrism, its assumed objectivity and the risk of perpetuating environmental violence within Aotearoa. This article argues for the importance of shared whakapapa (interconnection, ancestry) and the potential for intersubjectivity between humanity and the more-than-human within ecological narratives, focusing on how this is achieved within poetry, prose and short fictions authored by wāhine Māori (Māori women). In turn, this research demonstrates the capacity of pūrākau (storytelling, narrative) to interrogate and resist land degradation by presenting creatively imagined scenarios that can bring us closer to reality than is possible through the objectification of land.