The Settler Baggage of Abstraction

In this article, I describe one of the basal motifs of the Pākehā world in terms of its difference from the patternings of te Ao Māori. The motif is both a patterning traced by a mode of life and an epistemological diagram of the structures of thought that are co-constituted in that pattern. I read...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Knowledge cultures 2022, Vol.10 (3), p.12-34
Main Author: Barber, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abstraction
Analysis
Capitalism
Colonialism
Commodities
Conduct of life
Consciousness
Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Culture and social structure
Customs / Folklore
Epistemology
Identity formation
Knowledge, Theory of
Maoris
Metabolism
Psychological aspects
Simondon, Gilbert (1921-1989)
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In this article, I describe one of the basal motifs of the Pākehā world in terms of its difference from the patternings of te Ao Māori. The motif is both a patterning traced by a mode of life and an epistemological diagram of the structures of thought that are co-constituted in that pattern. I read the Pākehā world from the perspective of its difference from Te Ao Māori, using Karl Marx, Alfred Sohn-Rethel and Gilbert Simondon as native informants of the European mode of life and questioning them about their difference from the perspective of a world primarily patterned on whakapapa. I argue that monetary exchange expresses the fundamental configuration of Pākehā life and thought, and I detail the hostility and incompatibility of this organisation of existence to that of te Ao Māori.
ISSN:2327-5731
2375-6527
DOI:10.22381/kc10320222