Pacific studies

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Pacific studies is the study of the Pacific region (Oceania) across academic disciplines such as anthropology, archeology, art, economics, geography, history, linguistics, literature, music, politics, or sociology.

Contents

In the fields of anthropology and linguistics, Oceania is often subdivided into Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, while also including Australasia. In archeology and prehistory, Oceania extends into the southern Pacific Rim of Asia, especially the islands now comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Study of the history, economics, and politics from the colonial period on is inextricably bound to that of the major colonial powers: Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, the United States, and later Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. The field is sometimes seen as including Hawaiian studies and Māori studies. [1] :116

For many Pacific Islanders, Pacific studies involves projects of cultural renaissance, the reclamation and reassertion of cultural identity, while for many others, Pacific studies tends to focus more on modernization and development, on how to understand the region in ways that will improve people's lives. [2] Wesley-Smith observed that a third rationale for Pacific Studies, particularly amongst outsiders to the Pacific, was driven by geopolitical considerations evident in Area Studies. [1]

History

The Australian National University established its Research School of Pacific Studies in 1946. [3] The University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1950 began offering the first graduate-level course in Pacific Studies in 1950. [1] :116 Both of these early establishments were driven by a desire of their funding countries for better understanding of the Pacific region, with ANU having a particular focus on Papua New Guinea. [1] :117–118 In 1976 the newly formed University of the South Pacific established the Institute of Pacific Studies under Professor Ron Crocombe. [4] Unlike its Australian and American counterparts, this was driven by a desire to deepen students' awareness of Pacific identity and the region. [5] :63 A foundation course in Pacific studies is still included in every USP undergraduate programme. [6] In New Zealand, the University of Auckland's Pacific Studies programme was established in the 1990s and driven by the needs and concerns of New Zealand Pacific islanders. [1] :116

Institutions

Journals and associations

The Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) was established in 1967 and focuses on comparative studies of Pacific topics. The European Society for Oceanists (ESFO) was established in 1992. The Australian Association for Pacific Studies (AAPS) was formed in 2004.

Journals include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Oceania</span>

The history of Oceania includes the history of Australia, Easter Island, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Western New Guinea, and other Pacific island nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oceania</span> Geographical region in the Pacific Ocean

Oceania is a geographical region comprising Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, at the centre of the water hemisphere, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of about 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) and a population of around 44.4 million as of 2022. When compared to the other continents, Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second-least populated after Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Islander</span> Person from the Pacific Islands

Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lapita culture</span> Neolithic archaeological culture in the Pacific

The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian people and their distinct material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. They are believed to have originated from the northern Philippines, either directly, via the Mariana Islands, or both. They were notable for their distinctive geometric designs on dentate-stamped pottery, which closely resemble the pottery recovered from the Nagsabaran archaeological site in northern Luzon. The Lapita intermarried with the Papuan populations to various degrees, and are the direct ancestors of the Austronesian peoples of Polynesia, eastern Micronesia, and Island Melanesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of the South Pacific</span> Oceanian university headquartered in Suva, Fiji

The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the governments of 12 Pacific island countries: the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The indigenous peoples of Oceania are Aboriginal Australians, Papuans, and Austronesians. These indigenous peoples have a historical continuity with pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories. With the notable exceptions of Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, New Caledonia, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands, indigenous peoples make up the majority of the populations of Oceania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brij Lal (historian)</span> Fijian historian (1952–2021)

Brij Vilash Lal, OF was an Indo-Fijian historian who wrote about the Pacific region and the Indian indenture system. A harsh critic of the Bainimarama government, which originated in the military coup of 2006 and retained power in the 2014 elections, he lived in exile in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Hawaiʻi Press</span> Academic publisher

The University of Hawaiʻi Press is a university press that is part of the University of Hawaiʻi.

Patrick Vinton Kirch is an American archaeologist and Professor Emeritus of Integrative Biology and the Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the former Curator of Oceanic Archaeology in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and director of that museum from 1999 to 2002. Currently, he is professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Hawai'i Manoa, and a member of the board of directors of the Bishop Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Green (archaeologist)</span> American-born New Zealand archaeologist (1932–2009)

Roger Curtis Green was an American-born, New Zealand-based archaeologist, professor emeritus at The University of Auckland, and member of the National Academy of Sciences and Royal Society of New Zealand. He was awarded the Hector and Marsden Medals and was an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contributions to the study of Pacific culture history.

Ben Rudolph Finney was an American anthropologist known for his expertise in the history and the social and cultural anthropology of surfing, Polynesian navigation, and canoe sailing, as well as in the cultural and social anthropology of human space colonization. As "surfing's premier historian and leading expert on Hawaiian surfing going back to the 17th century" and "the intellectual mentor, driving force, and international public face" of the Hokulea project, he played a key role in the Hawaiian Renaissance following his construction of the Hokulea precursor Nalehia in the 1960s and his co-founding of the Polynesian Voyaging Society in the 1970s.

Mānoa is a literary journal that includes American and international fiction, poetry, artwork, interviews, and essays, including memoirs. A notable feature of each issue is original translations of contemporary work from Asian and Pacific nations, selected for each issue by a special guest editor. Mānoa, meaning 'vast and deep' in the Hawaiian language, presents both traditional and contemporary writings from the entire Pacific Rim. Mānoa is published semiannually by the University of Hawaii Press and was established in 1989.

<i>The Contemporary Pacific</i> Academic journal

The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs is an academic journal covering a wide range of disciplines with the aim of providing comprehensive coverage of contemporary developments in the entire Pacific Islands region, including Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. It features refereed, readable articles that examine social, economic, political, ecological, and cultural topics, along with political reviews, book and media reviews, resource reviews, and a dialogue section with interviews and short essays. Each recent issue highlights the work of a Pacific Islander artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teresia Teaiwa</span> American poet

Teresia Teaiwa was a distinguished award winning I-Kiribati and African-American scholar, poet, activist and mentor. Teaiwa was well-regarded for her ground-breaking work in Pacific Studies. Her research interests in this area embraced her artistic and political nature, and included contemporary issues in Fiji, feminism and women's activism in the Pacific, contemporary Pacific culture and arts, and pedagogy in Pacific Studies. An "anti-nuclear activist, defender of West Papuan independence, and a critic of militarism", Teaiwa solidified many connections across the Pacific Ocean and was a hugely influential voice on Pacific affairs Her poetry remains widely published.

The Center for Pacific Islands Studies, in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Pacific and Asian Studies, is both an academic department and a research center on the Pacific Islands and issues of concern to Pacific Islanders. Its instructional program is regional, comparative, and interdisciplinary in nature.

J. Kēhaulani Kauanui is an American author, radio producer and professor. She is one of six co-founders of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA). A Kanaka Maoli woman, Kauanui was raised in California. She was awarded a Fulbright (1994-1995) at the University of Auckland in New Zealand where she was affiliated with the Māori Studies department. Her research areas focus on indigeneity and race, settler colonialism, decolonization, anarchism, and gender and sexuality.

Tarisi Vunidilo is a Fijian archaeologist and curator who specialises in indigenous museology and heritage management.

Katerina Teaiwa, is a Pacific scholar, artist and teacher of Banaban, I-Kiribati and African American heritage. Teaiwa is well known for her scholarly and artistic work that focuses on the history of British Phosphate Commissioners mining activity in the Pacific during the 1900s and the consequent displacement of Banabans. In 2022, she became the first Indigenous woman from the Pacific to win the Australian University Teacher of the Year award and be promoted to full professor at the Australia National University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maev O'Collins</span> Australian academic (1929–2021)

Ellen Maev O'Collins, MBE was an Australian social worker by training, who became Emeritus Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Papua New Guinea.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Wesley-Smith, Terence (1995). "Rethinking Pacific Island Studies". Pacific Studies. 18 (2): 115–136.
  2. Firth, Stewart (2003). "Future Directions in Pacific Studies". The Contemporary Pacific. 15: 139–148. doi: 10.1353/cp.2003.0007 . hdl: 10125/13696 .
  3. "Our story". ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  4. Kessler, Kim Andreas (2021). "Anthropology at the University of the South Pacific: From past dynamics to present perceptions". The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 32 (1): 33–53. doi:10.1111/taja.12388. ISSN   1757-6547. S2CID   233692534.
  5. Leckie, Jacqueline, ed. (2018). A University for the Pacific, 50 Years of USP. Suva: University of the South Pacific.
  6. "Pacific Studies". University of the South Pacific. Retrieved 14 March 2021. UU204 Pacific Worlds is one of four generic University courses included in all USP undergraduate programmes.