Anatopism and Belonging in Aotearoa

In the context of the ongoing settler colonisation of Aotearoa, I present two opposed ways of relating to place pertaining, but not limited to settler colonialism; anatopism (being out of place) and belonging (being in good-relation to place). Thinking place from Aotearoa offers some unique insights considering its physical geography, rapidly changing ecosystems, and its ongoing capitalist settler colonisation. As a place, Aotearoa is structured by co-constitutive worlds—Te Ao Māori me Te Ao Pākehā (the Māori World and the European World)—that relate to place in vastly differing ways, thus shaping the contested nature of how place is conceptualised and understood in Aotearoa. Contributing to this placed discourse in Aotearoa are a rich diversity of thinkers writing from different spaces, showing that whilst there may be a renewed interest in place within academic discourse, some of the most placed place-based thinking does not occur within the university. Informed by these thinkers, my aim is to develop a conception of place that emerges from place and draws from whakapapa kōrero (Māori thought).