Decolonising Dignity for Inclusive Democracy

Abstract

The idea of dignity is often taken to be a foundation for principles of justice and democracy. In the West it has numerous formulations and conceptualisations. Within the capabilities approach to justice theorists have expanded the concept of dignity to encompass animals and ecological communities. In this article I rework the idea of dignity to include the Māori philosophical concepts of mauri, tapu and mana - something I argue is necessary if the capabilities approach is to decolonise in the Aotearoa context. Furthermore, the article links the nation's recognition of three extensive geographical regions - Te Awa Tupua, Te Urewera and Mt Taranaki - as legal persons to Mātauranga Māori and nonhuman dignity. In doing so, I identify the potential that this understanding of dignity and these legal moves have to decolonise democracy within the settler state.

Multispecies justice: theories, challenges, and a research agenda for environmental politics

“…Problematically, through the course of colonisation, these philosophies have been traduced by Western thinkers and decimated by the relentless extractivist drive of capitalism (Stewart-Harawira 2005, Moreton-Robinson 2015, Winter 2019). Yet beginning with the eruption of Indigenous environmental activism onto the global stage in the 1970s (Stewart-Harawira 2005), and with increased urgency in the 21st century (McGregor et al 2020), from Indigenous demands for the recognition of rights and the cessation of destructive forms of development on traditional lands and waters have emerged some of the most powerful voices against the devastating impacts of capitalism.…”

“…Drawing from an ontoepistemology -whakapapa -that stresses (inter)connections (Roberts 2010), the spiritual, the living and ancestors, plant, animal, waters and lands are understood through their shared genealogical origins and reciprocal relationships. Here the positioning of human beings as the junior in a relationship of reciprocity delineates the responsibilities of guardianship -to respect, protect and nurture the wellbeing and spirit of their environment (Kawharu 2010, Winter 2019. As the nonhuman 'provides for' human wellbeing, so must humans respect that giving through sustainable patterns of use and protection of nonhuman realms.…”

“…While remaining alert to the dangers of appropriation, Indigenous approaches afford critical intellectual resources for challenging dominant understandings of human/non-human relations and offering alternative schemas. For example, drawing from Māori philosophy, Watene (2016) and Winter (2019) suggest that the concepts of mauri (life force), tapu (potential to be) and mana (respectworthiness) underscore justice for human and non-human. Mauri is a force that is constantly seeking connection between beings -human, animal, vegetable, and mineral (Durie 1998, Stewart-Harawira 2005 -and justice requires respect for the intrinsic goodness and right-to-be of all things.…”

Between environmental and ecological democracy: theory and practice at the democracy-environment nexus

“…While public participation in environmental governance is often viewed as a central feature of environmental democracy, theories of ecological democracy also call for the representation of non-human interests in decision-making, given that they cannot participate directly in political debate or discourse on the same footing as humans. One possibility is for environmental organisations, Indigenous peoples or conservation scientists to act as representatives or custodians of non-human interests (Winter, 2019). However, difficult questions remain about who should count as a legitimate representative of those interests, and how representatives can reliably gauge what those interests actually are (Eckersley, 2011).…”

“…Rights are sometimes viewed as irredeemably anthropocentric but democratising environmental politics could also involve the extension of rights to non-humans. One area of tentative progress involves the granting of rights of personhood to some non-human entities, such as rivers or ecosystems in New Zealand and India (Safi, 2017;Winter, 2019), or to Mother Earth in Ecuador's constitution (Espinosa, 2019). However, work needs to be done to further understand how the rights of nature will work in practice or diffuse further internationally.…”