Life, Cohesion and Personhood of Bodies of Water

Abstract

Using the potent ideas we hold about what makes life, a unit, and a person this thesis explores how we can differently approach the natural world. By looking at how these crafted narratives cast others into our naturalcultural web of relationships. Using different Indigenous conceptualisations it aims to explore how we can allow the natural world to enhance our language-thinking, instead of using our language to restrict our thinking and the natural world. The clashing definitions of what makes an entity alive, part of a defined unit, and a person are looked at in turn. Finally, looking through the creek Tjipel and river Whanganui at the Aboriginal and Māori worldviews on bodies of water, it explores how these become enmeshed with the above concepts. This thesis is generous to different ways of thinking and highlights the aspects of the creek and river which come to the forefront when they are considered alive, a cohesive unit, and a person in turn. This analysis shows us that while both are considered living units and part of their local human community, legal personhood is not an aim for Tjipel, while it's a celebrated reality for Whanganui.