Covering a vast expanse of the globe, the Pacific Ocean and Islands is an area of interconnected regional societies and identities. In PACIFIC 200, we build students’ core knowledge by introducing key debates and interdisciplinary methods, drawing on different media and texts produced within and outside the Pacific. In approaching the region as the global Pacific, we learn about local issues and challenges within a global context.
In the first part of the course, we test the depth and breadth of the currents of Pacific thought through the writings of key Pacific thinkers. Student-led research groups choose a Pacific thinker on which to focus, and develop their own projects around the thinker’s work. The top pages are featured here.
In the second part of the course we have integrated approaches to studying the Pacific with current issues and debates. Here, case studies highlight the localized and global aspects of current debates. For example, in our study of Disney’s Moana and Pacific scholar Vilsoni Hereniko’s Moana, we examine representation of the Pacific by the corporate culture industry and indigenous artistic productions, with consideration of wider debates about cultural appropriation. The case of Mauna Kea and the Thirty Meter Telescope highlights visions of development and land use across the Pacific, including the treatment of sacred sites and the way Pacific islands have been used to advance scientific projects. Closing the course and grounded in the poetry of Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, we build our understanding of climate change, its specific and pressing impacts on Pacific societies, and activism by organizations like Pacific 350.
This course is convened by Senior Lecturer Dr. Lisa Uperesa, and past tutors Brittany Tapusoa and KDee Ma’ia’i have helped to edit some of these pages.
PACIFIC THINKERS: Creating & Sharing Knowledge 