Filling hollowed out spaces with localised meanings, practices and hope: Progressive neoliberal spaces in Te Rarawa

He Iwi Kotahi Tatou Trust: Post‐development practices in Moerewa, Northland

“…Gibson‐Graham's intervention has encouraged a new wave of geographers to engage with development differently, especially in the Australasian context (Cameron & Gibson 2005, McKinnon et al . 2008; Underhill‐Sem & Lewis 2008; McGregor 2009; Lewis et al . 2009; Fisher 2009).…”

“…However, it is at the same time a Māori community, which positions its experiences as indigenous struggles against colonialism and strengthens parallels with the global south (see Bargh and Otter 2009). Much of the inspiration for our engagement is drawn from work with Te Rarawa, an iwi to the north of Moerewa that has mobilised contemporary political advantages to secure themselves as a dominant local development agency (Lewis et al . 2009).…”

“…2009). In their telling of the story, Lewis and colleagues emphasise the post‐development dimensions of the home‐grown ethos and approach that enabled formal representative organisation Te Runanga o Te Rarawa (TRoTR) to negotiate creatively and successfully with the dominant development discourse of the state (Underhill‐Sem & Lewis 2008; Lewis et al . 2009).…”

“…Second, this agency can be grounded in a collective identity rather than individual self‐interest. In the Te Rarawa case, community subjectivity was central to subverting neoliberalism's underlying governmentality (Lewis et al . 2009).…”

“…Like nearby TRoTR (Lewis et al . 2009), HIKTT used a breadth of social service delivery contracts to underpin its indigenous development programme.…”