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Possessing the Awa: Te Awa Tupua, legal personhood and the continuities of settler/invader colonialism

Identification

Public canonical key
doi:10.1080/21622671.2026.2658040
Authors
Hemopereki Simon
Reported year
2026
Reported language
en · und
Source type
journal-article
First detected
2026-11-09T19:04:47.836735+00:00
Last metadata observation
2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00
Last HTTP verification
Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University of York

Documentary abstract — original language

This article offers a critical Indigenous analysis of the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017, celebrated as an innovative fusion of Māori cosmology and Western law through the legal personhood of the river. While positioned as a hallmark of bicultural partnership, the Act exemplifies bicultural containment – a state strategy that symbolically includes Māori worldviews while preserving the juridical supremacy of the settler state. Drawing on Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s theory of the white possessive, Unger and Henderson’s contextuality, and critiques of biculturalism as a ‘zombie’ concept, the paper shows how Te Awa Tupua functions as a ‘settler move to innocence’, reframing whakapapa, mana and kaitiakitanga within government regimes. Rather than advancing mana motuhake, the settlement embeds Māori relational ontologies into governance structures accountable to ″the Crown″. Legal personhood, while symbolically powerful, is constrained by co-governance mechanisms, racial capitalism and biopolitical control, ensuring sovereignty over ‘resources’ remains with the state. Situating Te Awa Tupua within the trajectory of Crown–Māori relations, the article argues that biculturalism has shifted from responding to Māori demands for justice to regulating them within narrow confines. Genuine decolonisation requires the return of land, water and decision-making authority grounded in tikanga and Indigenous governance, not symbolic recognition.

Identifiers

DOI
10.1080/21622671.2026.2658040
OPENALEX
W7165117410

Documentary context

Documentary family
Scholarship
Source-reported types
article · journal-article
Publishers
Informa UK Limited
Natural entities mentioned
River

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

Crossref · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary field provenance

Source-backed values and values with unresolved provenance are kept separately. Bibliographic provenance validates no legal claim.

Title
Documentary source reported
Publication
Documentary source reported
Authors
Documentary source reported
Document type
Documentary source reported
Jurisdiction
Not recorded
Court
Not recorded
Issuing authority
Not recorded
Publisher
Documentary source reported
DOI
Documentary source reported
ISBN
Not recorded
Official identifier
Not recorded
Source URL
Documentary source reported
Source-reported status
Not recorded
Amendment / repeal
Not recorded
Instrument versions and official source

Source unresolved

Documentary identity verification only: a link or date establishes neither full-text verification, legal effect nor current force.

Possible duplicate awaiting documentary verification.

Status from the preserved documentary extraction: Unestablished

Cite this reference

Hemopereki Simon. Possessing the Awa: Te Awa Tupua, legal personhood and the continuities of settler/invader colonialism. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2026.2658040

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APA, Chicago, ISO 690: bibliographic formats using available fields. OSCOLA / Bluebook: structured data only; full legal citation compliance is not claimed without verification of required elements.

APA
Hemopereki Simon. (2026). Possessing the Awa: Te Awa Tupua, legal personhood and the continuities of settler/invader colonialism. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2026.2658040
Chicago
Hemopereki Simon. Possessing the Awa: Te Awa Tupua, legal personhood and the continuities of settler/invader colonialism. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2026.2658040
ISO 690
Hemopereki Simon. Possessing the Awa: Te Awa Tupua, legal personhood and the continuities of settler/invader colonialism. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2026.2658040

UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. Possessing the Awa: Te Awa Tupua, legal personhood and the continuities of settler/invader colonialism. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-ceae2909d9c15cb6a38fef9fd6d93f37/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed

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Field provenance and record version

Version 10e5cab9fb2d87da · udtr-reference-1.1.2

Title
Crossref · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.836735+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00
Authors
Crossref · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.836735+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained.
Year
Crossref · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.836735+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00
Identifiers
Crossref · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.836735+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00
Multiple reported values; disagreement retained.
Source URL
Crossref · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.836735+00:00
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00
Source-reported author ORCID
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00

History tracks record metadata and does not certify the state of the law.

79c6c4ed9daf6801 · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00

bac5e56b937c2280 · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00

82ab54468ae1553a · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00

10e5cab9fb2d87da · 2026-11-09T19:15:47.046454+00:00

Frozen-version metadata

Research dossiers and documentary relations

University of York

Hemopereki Simon

Source roles

Bibliographic / original publication source · https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2026.2658040

Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W7165117410

An authority link alone does not verify a legal claim. Abstracts and full texts remain subject to their source terms.

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.

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