Timely Partnerships? Contrasting Geographies of Activism in New Zealand and Australia

Analyses of activism have inspired geographers for many years, but most of this work has focused on relatively short time-frames, events and struggles. This paper suggests that there is much to be gained from a greater engagement with issues of time and time–spaces. It outlines and applies the contrasting conceptions of chrono/chora and kairo/topos notions of time–space as potentially useful ways to interrogate geographies of activism. The paper focuses on two specific forms of activism—an Australian women's 'Heritage Project' and a New Zealand 'Fishbowl' evaluation of a community development programme—to show how politics is contingent on diverse temporal as well as spatial conditions. It reveals the complex navigations that are made as these politics are negotiated via both mutual learning processes and the forging of new activist-state relations. It is concluded that these 'timely partnerships' have involved moving beyond adversarial conceptions of 'state' and 'activist', but at the risk of reconstituting activism as 'social capital'.