why some things just shouldn’t be translated
- Written by: Carl Mika, Professor of Māori and Indigenous Studies, University of Canterbury
ShutterstockIn 2017, the Whanganui River was made a person in the eyes of the law. The Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act acknowledged, in its own way, that the human world includes other, more-than-human entities.
It was perceived at the time as quite a radical step for the law, and it is undoubtedly legally significant. But this...