Paper short abstract:

In order to open up the question of the state effect we explore the activities of a small New Zealand cake maker, Denheath, as they work to make an export market for their gourmet custard squares.

Paper long abstract:

What is the "state effect" in Aotearoa New Zealand? How do people experience that effect, and how do they understand the relationship between the state and themselves? In the highly neo-liberalised context of Aotearoa New Zealand, where the (supposedly) free market reigns, how do people engage the state and how, in turn, does the state enrol them in its projects?

In order to open up the question of the state effect we explore the activities of a small New Zealand cake maker, Denheath, as they work to make an export market for their gourmet custard squares, attending to when and how they connect with institutions, agents and things that they understand as state-things. In this paper we explore how Denheath works to mobilise state investment and expertise to achieve their goals, illuminating the diverse actors involved in the state's economic projects, and revealing it's enabling as well as thwarting potentialities.

The work of attracting state support for their export strategy required Denheath to present itself as a particular kind of subject, one able to engage the multiplicity of the state in ways recognisable to it. This meant looking like an innovative entrepreneur, a subjectivity potentially at odds with the small town, family origin story wrapped around the custard square.