Mine, Yours or Ours?

Abstract

This piece draws upon experiences from our private and professional lives to identify nascent models of the commons in Aotearoa. Through examining practices of shared motherhood and the sharing of cultural knowledge within the university sphere, we reveal the unequal divisions of labour that often occur in practices that seek to contribute to a social good and a common goal. As academia has increasingly embraced the idea of the commons, we propose a more critical engagement with some of the assumptions that affect how commoning projects are currently enacted, including the hidden inequities they contain and the mutual benefits possible. We also examine the tensions between benefiting from and contributing to sharing arrangements, considering the complexities of situations when less sharing is desired or when more sharing is required.