'An Uncommon Land' longlisted in NZ's most prestigious book awards

envirohistorynz
18 hours ago
2 min read

'Unafraid to tackle the pressing moments of our past, present and future'

It is not every day I stand next to a former Prime Minister, let alone one as world renowned as Jacinda Ardern, but there I am - at least virtually - in the line-up for the Ockham New Zealand Book Award’s General Non-fiction Award. Alongside twelve other books by such literary luminaries and fearless writers as Tina Makeriti, Steve Braunias and Rebecca MacFie.

The media release describes the longlist’s authors as ‘authors are unafraid to tackle the pressing moments of our past, present and future’ … which seems so apt. ‘An Uncommon Land’ is all about the connection between past, present and future - and facing the future with vision and courage. As the back cover blurb notes:

‘An Uncommon Land’ is a story of enclosure, dispossession, colonisation and – ultimately – hope for a better future. Through the lens of her ancestors’ stories, Catherine Knight throws light on the genesis and evolution of the commons, its erosion through enclosure and the ascendency of private property in parallel with the rise of capitalism – a history that has indelibly shaped New Zealand society and its landscape...

At this pivotal juncture in our history, we face unprecedented challenges caused by our exploitative actions towards nature and each other. But we have a choice: to continue along the path of untrammelled exploitation and exponential growth, or to reassess the way we engage with the natural world and the rest of society. From a past of enclosure, resource exploitation and denaturing, we could choose a path of re-commoning and regeneration, taking inspiration from our collective history.

As we head into a year that already has all the tell-tale signs of a world unravelling, it is reassuring to know that there is a growing recognition of the need to re-evaluate our future, and of those voices calling for this. That work needs to start now, with urgency, and because our political leaders have abrogated their responsibility to ensure the future welfare of New Zealanders in the face of the escalating polycrisis, it is clear that it needs to be led by civil society.