Community Development Journal Advance Access originally published online on September 5, 2006
Community Development Journal 2006 41(4):407-425; doi:10.1093/cdj/bsl024
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The historical context of community development in Aotearoa New Zealand
Address for correspondence: love.chile{at}aut.ac.nz
Community development in Aotearoa New Zealand can be conceptualized as three concurrent processes such as (1), statutory work undertaken by the State through central government departments and local authorities (consisting of a system of legislation, funding assistance to individuals, groups and organizations and the provision of social services), (2) social change processes undertaken primarily through the collective action of individuals, groups and organizations that give voice to marginalized groups and communities and (3) the forces of change within Tangata Whenua communities working for tino rangatiratanga, self determination. Three time-periods are identified to help structure the discussion that begins from 1840, the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the Queen of England and Maori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, signalling the birth of modern Aotearoa New Zealand. This paper argues that community development as policy and the practice (methodology) of social change through organizing, coordinating and initiating activities that enhance the wellbeing of individuals, groups and communities is more than ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’ and, therefore, cannot be conceptualized simply in terms of ‘resistance’. It is a holistic process of transformation encompassing socio-economic, political, cultural, environmental and spiritual dimensions.