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This thesis investigates the evolving natural resource management and governance (NRMG) for the Kaipara Moana, in northern Aotearoa. I employ postcolonial theory (PCT) to consider Indigenous peoples’ acts of colonial resistance and tribal resurgence within this specific place and time. I utilise a postcolonial framework comprised of Bhabha’s concepts of ambivalence, mimicry, hybridity and third space as well as Spivak’s concept of strategic essentialism to explore the agency of two Ngāti whātua hapū – Te Uri o Hau and Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara – in initiating and participating in NRMG. These concepts enable the research to explore beyond the binary Indigenous versus non-Indigenous thinking to consider the nuances that occur within hybrid realities. I deconstruct colonial discourse, examining the relations between power, knowledge and agency, to resist and challenge imperialism. By utilising PCT and taking a ‘catchment’ scale approach this research characterises the various discourses at play as a legacy of colonialism and the postcolonial complexities associated with NRMG within, and associated with, this locale. My key research question asks: To what extent does Integrated Catchment Management address mana whenua rights to assert rangatiratanga over their environmental resources and taonga? The research finds that integrated catchment management (ICM) offers potential opportunities for Māori to re-negotiate their role in NRMG, and that iwi-led ICM offers potential for cultural revitalisation and empowerment. However in the case of Kaipara Moana this potential is undermined by a lack of appropriate overarching bicultural governance. The research reveals the ambivalence of the colonial state in the Kaipara and the fragility of its assumed positional superiority within NRM. It is suggested that non-statutory arrangements fail to ensure the commitment necessary for successful outcomes, instead providing a façade for colonial governments to merely appear responsive. New Zealand’s Resource Management Act (1991) is shown to be ineffective in supporting ICM, because cultural imperatives are given less weight than economic imperatives. Small triumphs in Indigenous attempts to reconcile themselves with other local actors in multicultural realities, against a backdrop of ongoing Treaty settlements, and to provide for their own social wellbeing and empowerment, are proven to be real and significant. However, ICM, in and of itself, is unlikely to provide for self-determination to the fullest extent. This research is timely, as current policy reforms such as the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPSFM) (2014) and Treaty of Waitangi settlements are placing greater emphasis on Māori rights and interests in NRMG. The NPSFM also recommends collaborative ICM-based implementation of fresh water management to meet the national level requirements. It is concerning though, that the NPSFM lacks any explicit implementation mechanism to ensure Māori rights and interests are met, meaning there is a similar risk that the NPSFM could also be ineffective. In this context it is highly relevant to be gauging a reallife ICM case and even more so, one that is iwi-led and to which the Treaty partnership is a fundamental principle. Key words: Indigenous rights and interests; Rangatiratanga; Natural resource management; Governance; Integrated catchment management; Ngāti Whātua, Treaty of Waitangi/te Tiriti; Treaty partnership; Multiple stakeholder platforms; bicultural kaupapa; mātauranga Māori Title: For the purposes of this research the Māori title “He waka hourua, he waka eke noa” is interpreted as ‘a waka with two hulls bound by a common kaupapa’. The notion being that while Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples may be willing to get into the same waka and integrate where necessary, for example sharing a vision, objectives and desired outcomes, they also maintain separate hulls to preserve and advance the knowledges, institutions and practices of each culture.

The primary focus of this thesis is to explore the reasons for Ngati Porou participation in the wars in New Zealand during the 1860s. Early writers sunnised that the alliances between tribes like Ngati Porou, Te Arawa and the lower Whanganui iwi and the settler governnent were due primarily to a sense of loyalty to the crown. Repetition by later historians has reinforced this notion in New Zealand folklore and historiography. While recent retrospective histories reveal a growing awareness that the motivation behind the alliances was more complex, no analysis of tribal motives worthy of the confidence of Maori has yet been recorded. This thesis initially sets out to detennine whether the historical orthodoxy is founded at least for Ngati Porou. It presents evidence showing that significant aspects of the Ngati Porou story have been misunderstood and misrepresented by writers who have been unable to source or who have felt it unnecessary to properly canvass Ngati Porou views and records. To date, tribal historians have on the whole refrained from presenting a tribal perspective, not because the infonllation does not exist, but from a desire to keep such knowledge in the tIibal arena where it is most relevant. Continued irritation, however, caused by historical publications that fall short when trying to comprehend the nature of Maori participation, has resulted in a freeing up of infonnation by those who jealously guard their family 's manuscripts, and others who retain the oral testimonies within the tribe, so that a re examination is made possible. This thesis also generally seeks to link Ngati Porou 's involvement in war with leadership pattems that emerged within the tribe during the period 1865 - 1872, though this dimension of Ngati Porou history is not canvassed exhaustively here. In times of crisis existing leadership patterns were challenged and as often as not new leaders emerged to lead the tribe. Perhaps the finest military leader produced by Ngati Porou during the Hauhau encounters was Major Rapata Wahawaha. His role in shaping Ngati Porou's modern identity is a major theme running throughout this thesis. It is argued that his leadership and philosophy characterised the contribution by Ngari Porou to theatres of war that followed the 1860s. It is proposed that such a contribution was both strategic and calculated to achieve gains for Ngati Porou. Moreover, the wider question is raised: why, since the 1860s, has Ngati Porou been so ready to join the battlefront and to stand alongside the Crown? The thesis contends that far from being motivated solely by loyalty to the Crown, Ngati Porou entered into an alliance with the Crown in order to protect and to advance tribal interests.

Food sovereignty, the right of people to define and control their own food and agriculture systems (Patel, 2009), was a significant part of pre-colonial Māori economies as Māori practised mahinga kai where they lived off the land and were guardians of their resources. Today, after a long period during which Māori were stripped of many of their abilities to exercise sovereignty over their food worlds and food lives, Māori are working to rebuild their food sovereignty in a diverse economies framework (Bargh, 2011, 2012; Amoamo Ruwhiu & Carter, 2018; Bargh, Douglas & Te One, 2014; Fitzherbert, 2015). There is currentl‎y a limited amount of research examining Māori food sovereignty in these terms. In response to this research gap, this thesis examines how the relationships between iwi commercial food ventures and iwi food sovereignty are negotiated and developed using Whakatōhea Iwi as a case study. This research aims to map Whakatōhea’s food economy over time, document Whakatōhea’s loss of food sovereignty, investigate the relationship between the Whakatōhea mussel farm and Whakatōhea food sovereignty, and explore food sovereign futures for Whakatōhea. It develops four main arguments: 1. Over time Whakatōhea’s food economy has transitioned from a resource-rich diverse economy to an economy dominated by capitalist markets. 2. Whakatōhea has experienced a loss of food sovereignty since colonisation. 3. The complicated relationship between Whakatōhea’s mussel farm economy and Whakatōhea food sovereignty is continually being negotiated, but promises opportunities to build a new food sovereignty for whānau and hapū. 4. Several diverse economic initiatives can foster food sovereignty back into Whakatōhea’s food economy. This research makes several empirical, methodological, theoretical, and political contributions to foster new knowledge around Māori economies and Māori sovereignty.