Coastal blue space and wellbeing research: looking beyond western tides

ABSTRACT

In this paper we focus on coastal blue spaces and the ways in which they have been advocated as beneficial for health and wellbeing in the context of leisure practices. We offer a reassessment of some of the claims made in this growing body of literature, highlighting the diverse cultural practices at the coast across different geographical contexts, particularly for those communities that have experienced exclusion due to ethnicity, culture, and income. We then discuss conceptions of coastal blue space and wellbeing within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, a bi-cultural nation in which indigenous knowledges connected to both wellbeing and leisure in the outdoor world are impacting dominant (white, colonial) discourses, policies and practices. We illustrate that a Māori world view embraces different practices and assumptions about what water means and how relationships with water are made including through leisure practices. Aotearoa New Zealand provides a revealing cultural context for re-assessing and indeed challenging Eurocentric assumptions about blue spaces as sites of wellbeing. More widely we suggest that it is timely to anchor blue space and wellbeing research to different ‘worlds’; that looking in to reach out and expanding research agendas is a useful and important enterprise.

KEYWORDS:

• Wellbeing
• bluespace
• coastal leisure
• New Zealand
• exclusion
• indigenous

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Most recently, just as this article was being finished, Foley, Kearns, Kistemann, and Wheeler (2019) published their exciting collection Blue Space, Health and Wellbeing: Hydrophilia Unbounded.

2. Aotearoa is the Maori word for New Zealand. From here on we describe the country as Aotearoa New Zealand.

3. Kiwi is the name of a native bird that has become the national icon and emblem of New Zealand. However the term is widely used as a nickname for New Zealanders.

4. While beyond the remit of this paper it is important to recognise that perspectives on wellbeing derived through traditional Māori ontologies have had a significant impact on national health policy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand (Durie, 1998). For example, Durie (1998) advanced a Māori view of health as being an interconnected whare tapa whā, or four walled house, encompassing Taha Wairua (spiritual), Taha Hinengaro (mental), Taha Tinana (physical), and Taha Whānau (extended family). Essential for human health is this spiritual dimension that encompasses the ‘links between the human situation and the environment’ (Durie, 1998, p. 70).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Belinda Wheaton

Belinda Wheaton is Associate Professor at Te Huataki Waiora, University of Waikato.

Jordan Waiti

Jordan Waiti is Lecturer at Te Huataki Waiora, University of Waikato.

Marg Cosgriff

Marg Cosgriff is a Senior Lecturer at Te Huataki Waiora, University of Waikato.

Lisette Burrows

Lisette Burrows is a Professor in Community Health at Te Huataki Waiora, University of Waikato.