An Uncommon Land: From an ancestral past of enclosure towards a regenerative future

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. Like other European settlers, the lives and future prosperity of the author's ancestors had their foundations in war, land appropriation and environmental destruction - but in their histories lie glimmerings of the potentiality of commons: tantalising hints of an alternative path to a re-commoned, regenerative future. 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.