Extending Friendship: Indigenous Wisdom and Civic Kinship

This paper argues for the reframing of friendship as a multidimensional relationship that promotes collective as well as personal wellbeing. Ideals implied by such a reframing extend backwards and forwards in time and include the acknowledgement of kinship, including with Mother Earth. Such ideals—inspired by the wisdom and writings of Indigenous scholars and by learnings through participation in language and culture revitalization studies at an Indigenous university in Aotearoa—are perhaps best encapsulated in the terminology of civic kinship. Practices implied by such ideals include pursuing the well-being of the collective, rejecting paternalism, and promoting the honoring of treaties, as relational bridges between diverse “friendship worlds” that share common aspirations. The reframing of friendship argued for within this paper broadens and deepens the notion of civic friendship I have explored in earlier writings.