The Nature‐Culture Boundary and Ocean Policy: Great Barrier Island, New Zealand^*

* The author wishes to thank the people of Great Barrier Island who shared their lives with her and to acknowledge financial support from Calvin College, as well as the hospitality of the geography faculty of Victoria University.

Abstract

This article analyzes New Zealand's rights‐based system of fisheries management from the perspective of local stakeholders on northern Great Barrier Island. The research identified differing perspectives through use of the concept of “boundary construction,” not only in terms of society and nature but also among societal institutions. Great Barrier Island participants exhibited significant differences, especially between staff of the local Department of Conservation and local Maori, both of whom were engaged in negotiating policy implementation at the local level. These differences expressed themselves in conceptions of both societal boundaries—the scale at which community was envisioned—and conceptions of the boundary between nature and culture. The findings confirm the need for the continued development of models of community‐based resource management as well as for the conceptual integration of society and nature in the realm of policy construction.

• boundaries
• fisheries
• hybridity
• nature/culture
• New Zealand

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janel M. Curry

Dr. Curry is a professor of geography at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546.