This article investigates fishing-related concepts and practices of the people of Miti'& amacr;ro, a remote island in the Cook Islands nation in the South Pacific. Trained as a marine biologist specialising in coastal fisheries research, I extended beyond the boundaries of my professional scientific "trade" to investigate and appreciate the elements that can shape an island's coastal fishery and how the ocean can shape its people. In this case study, which was part of a much larger scientific study, I lived on Miti'& amacr;ro for over 18 months as an embedded researcher observing daily life and conducting conversational interviews with 13 local fishing experts. This article draws on all my sources-my own experiences and observations, the interview data and the literature-to introduce the Miti'& amacr;ro community and some of the concepts and practices associated with local marine ecology. This includes subtle reflections that centre the Miti'& amacr;ro pedagogy, highlighting stories of fishing practices, beliefs and previously uncaptured observations since times past. As one of the most detailed accounts to date, this article introduces the ocean and its critical role in Miti'& amacr;ro culture, history and evolving lifestyle. Through a unique insider-outsider perspective, I provide an overview of local knowledge about how marine resources are managed and exploited in Miti'& amacr;ro, as a basic Indigenous account of marine ecology through a Miti'& amacr;ro worldview and philosophy
Yuki Kihara's exhibition Darwin in Paradise Camp premiered in Norwich, UK, at the Sainsbury Centre, combining Paradise Camp, first shown in the New Zealand pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022, with Darwin Drag (2025), along with other pieces that show the process behind Kihara's work. I suggest her work comes together to create a reeducation experience, despite its primary purpose being to recognise and honour Kihara's community. The exhibition is in the final room of several rooms that make up the season at the Sainsbury Centre titled Can the Seas Survive Us? Kihara's engagement with climate change, colonisation and gender in Samoa and Aotearoa New Zealand offers an opportunity, for those open to it, for reeducation (or unlearning), within a broader context of contemplating our responsibilities to one another and our aquatic environments. Alongside the fa'afafine and fa'afatama people featured in Kihara's work-meaning in the manner of a woman and in the manner of a man in Samoa-we are taught to rethink the epistemic foundations of art and science: specifically, the way European artists portrayed their Pacific subjects in expressionist early twentieth-century works (i.e., Gauguin) and what Darwin omitted from his findings, leaving out the many Pacific fish species that have the capacity to change sex/gender. Kihara thus takes on the "old white men" who have been so influential in shaping European ways of thinking and seeing. She "upcycles" their work and ideas through the re-representation of fa'afafine and fa'afatama communities in the Pacific, specifically Samoa. With humour and wit, Kihara includes us in her decolonial critique and reeducates us with the queer joy and care of the fa'afafine and fa'afatama community.
Meleisea Leasiolagi Professor Malama Meleisea is the esteemed recipient of the 2025 Nayacakalou Medal, given for outstanding contribution to Pacific research and named after the late Dr Rusiate Nayacakalou (1927-1972). Meleisea is an emeritus professor of Samoan studies at the National University of Samoa and has had an groundbreaking career as a historian with books such as The Making of Modern Samoa: Traditional Authority and Colonial Administration in the History of Western Samoa (University of the South Pacific, 1987) and Lagaga: AShort History of Western Samoa (University of the South Pacific, 1987). Meleisea is recognised as one of the foremost historians of Samoa and part of the first wave of Pacific historians to take up the mantle of telling their own Indigenous histories of the Pacific. As such, his impact on the of Pacific has been, and continues to be, This is a version of the talk that Meleisea gave at the medal ceremony on 25 September 2025 at Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland. It takes inspiration from Nayacakalou's work on customary rights and land tenure, analysing the continuing challenges of land tenure rights in Samoa and the wider Pacific.
Tok stori (telling and sharing stories) is widely practised by Melanesians in their daily interactions as they generate, re-create and exchange knowledge, experiences and meanings in various contexts. Recently there has been an increase in Melanesian research conducted by Melanesians, and critical dialogue and discourses have begun to emerge from Melanesian scholars advocating for a decolonised Melanesian research method when researching in and with Melanesian indigenous communities. Tok stori appears to be an appropriate Melanesian research methodology and method that fits within the context of Melanesian communities. This article draws on my fieldwork research experience with community members of Sa'a, an indigenous village in South Malaita, Solomon Islands, and focuses on my research approach, in which tok stori was applied as both a research methodology and method. From my perspective as a Melanesian, I reflect on the importance of my positionalities and examine the significance of using tok stori as aprocess to establish positive relationships and connections with indigenous community members. I then outline the process of applying tok stori as a research method, including how I negotiated meanings and values and engaged in reciprocal gifting through tok stori. Finally, I reflect on using tok stori as a navigational tool to address research challenges and as a collaborative and relational research process within Melanesian indigenous communities. This article argues that research using tok stori in and with indigenous communities is much more than simply asking interview questions; it should be relevant, contextual, engaging, transformative, relational and collaborative, and aimed at fostering lasting relationships and connections.
The link between Hawaiian music and the idea of aloha '& amacr;ina, or love of the land, at the time of the second Hawaiian Renaissance (1964-1980) may have been most explicitly drawn in the life of George Helm (1950-1977). While Helm is often portrayed as a tragic figure due to his untimely death at the age of 26, I want to present his life and political commitments as an example of Kanaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiian, victory over seemingly overwhelming odds. Helm was a co-founder of a small grassroots organisation, Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana, or PKO, which pit itself successfully against the U.S. military, the most powerful military force in the world. While his personal life may have ended tragically young under mysterious circumstances, his advocacy of aloha '& amacr;ina was ultimately victorious, even if attenuated. As George Helm consistently argued through speech and song, it has always been the case that territorial rights are fundamental to the K & amacr;naka Maoli movement for self-determination. Aloha '& amacr;ina is more than a slogan-it is a way of being in the world, a relationship between the human and the more-than-human. In his short life, Helm lived the ideal of aloha '& amacr;ina, which he sang about, advocated for in public speeches and argued for in legislative chambers, setting an example for K & amacr;naka Maoli that continues to echo and resonate today.
This article presents a summary of decipherment propositions for different rongorongo signs which have appeared in the relevant literature in recent years. Rongorongo, the native writing system of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), is shown to be a vibrant and active research area with over 100 scholarly articles published in the first quarter of the twentieth-first century. The article presents detailed arguments for the decipherment of 15 new signs, in an illustration of diverse methods that can be used to establish a decipherment proposition. The emphasis is placed on the combination of various arguments in order to arrive at convincing propositions, or cross-referencing, which is seen as eventually leading to cross-readings in a strict Knorozovian sense. A total of 80 different decipherment propositions are summarised in accompanying Appendices. The propositions are grouped according to low, medium or high confidence. Ten decipherments are classified as high-confidence propositions. The argumentation behind these ten propositions seems particularly robust and, as such, they are recommended as a point of departure for further decipherment work.
The orientation of the principal (long) axis of the Mo'okini Heiau at Kohala, Hawai'i Island, points across the 'Alenuih & amacr;h & amacr; Channel to the fortress on Ka'uiki Head at H & amacr;na, Maui. Similarly, components of P & omacr;p & omacr;iwi Heiau at Kaup & omacr; and P & imacr;hana Heiau at Wailuku, Maui, point at the Hual & amacr;lai Summit at Kona, Hawai'i Island. The alignments are much better than 1.0 degrees for two of the heiau and to 2.5 degrees for the third. P & imacr;hana Heiau is the only one with a reliable radiocarbon date. However, in analogy with it and other dated sites all these heiau were probably reconstructed/reoriented during the late seventeenth to early eighteenth century, a time of intense conflict between Hawai'i Island kings and their Maui rivals. Religious rites at these three heiau were likely used to direct divine power against the rival of the ruler realigning the temples.
Mana: Protest in Print is both an exhibition and a celebration of Pacific stories: the Pacific quotidian, Pacific resistance, Pacific ways of being and knowing. This Curatorium piece is a conversation between the curators and champions of Mana: Protest in Print, Andrea Low, Wanda Ieremia-Allan and Paula Legel, guided by questions and reflections from Pacific studies doctoral studentAllyssa Verner-Pula. Using taonga (prized resources), archival materials and digital interactives, T & amacr;maki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum's Mana: Protest in Print opened in 2025. The exhibition presents the story of the Mana newspaper, a publication from the late 1970s created specifically for Pacific and M & amacr;ori audiences throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. The newspaper was groundbreaking, with an ethos of platforming all aspects of life for Pacific and M & amacr;ori communities across the motu (country). In this talanoa (conversation), Low, Ieremia-Allan and Legel detail the many reasons why the story of Mana is important to tell now. This conversation weaves together curatorial frameworks and approaches with lived experiences and Pacific knowledges, to construct the background to which Mana: Protest in Print came to fruition. Mana has an ever-unravelling whakapapa (genealogy), existing as a result of-and reminder of-the need for Pacific story sovereignty, Pacific representations and Pacific connection. Photos of the exhibition by Emily Parr add a rich visual dimension and bring to life the exhibition under discussion.
Niue knowledge is powerful, valuable and vast. More and more tau tagataNiue (people ancestrally connected to Niue) are making space in academia and putting Niue at the centre of their research practice. It is vital to engage in generative and critical discussions about what Niue knowledge is and how tau tagata Niue practice, perceive and experience Niue knowledge. Reclaiming and celebrating Niue-centred knowledge in spaces for community and academics requires more scholarly attention. Scholarship must rise to meet Niue knowledge where and how it exists. As tau tagata Niue living and working across Niue and Aotearoa New Zealand, we use this paper to record our respective understandings and experiences of learning, teaching and sharing Niue knowledge and our collaborative work in organising two Niue knowledge gatherings. We reflect on the Matala e Toume symposium that took place in T & amacr;maki Makaurau Auckland, December 2022, and the Matala e Toume conference in Niue, November 2024. We detail how these two gatherings of Niue people, research and practice connected elder and younger generations and enabled creative and critical discussions of Niue knowledge.
On 19 October 1974, Niueans voted in a referendum to adopt self-government in free association with New Zealand (SGFA). While the Niue Constitution Act of 1974 has provided a foundation for the enduring relationship between Niue and New Zealand, 50 years on, it is time to reassess the arrangement in terms of whether it still meets Niue's needs. What does this partnership look like today, and what will it look like in the future? With 34,944 people of Niuean descent living in New Zealand as of 2023-more than 20 times Niue's population of 1,681- questions are raised about whether SGFA remains suitable or should be updated to reflect local and global changes, amid rising global tensions and shifting geopolitical alliances. Given the timeliness of discussion around Realm nations ofNew Zealand, as shown here in this special issue, there is a need to critically examine and review the agreement to ensure it remains relevant and effective for Niue. To understand how Niue arrived at this arrangement, this article explores the reasons why Niue chose the option of SGFA with New Zealand, analysing Niue leader Robert Rex's speech to the United Nations on 27 November 1973. Rex identified four key reasons for Niue's decision: access to New Zealand, development under New Zealand, New Zealand's perceived goodwill, and the perception that Niue already had a form of independence. On the basis of this speech, this article also explores the continuing impact of the arrangement for Niue and its people if it is maintained into the future.
Political decolonisation within New Zealand's Pacific empire resulted in unique and ambiguous "post"-colonial notions of statehood for much of New Zealand's Realm. This paper considers one such outcome: self-governance and free association (SGFA) in the Cook Islands. It argues that the inability to call on definitive relational bounds-such as former colony and former administrator-has resulted in the formation of an oversimplified caricature. This caricature is dichotomous and is what I have framed as New Zealand as benevolent benefactor and Cook Islands as beholden beneficiary. If New Zealand is taken at its word as a Pacific nation that is sympathetic and culturally attuned to a shared Pacific vision, then the assumption is that it acts as an altruistic member of the Pacific regional order. SGFA becomes evidence of New Zealand's beneficence, affording the Cook Islands a favourable process of decolonisation at the expense of the New Zealand government. Thus, the argument goes, the Cook Islands benefits more from its association with New Zealand than New Zealand does from its association with the Cook Islands. When this characterisation becomes normalised within political and public consciousness, the way that Cook Islands as a country and Cook Island people as a population are understood is done so through a fragmented and oversimplified stereotype. This paper argues that the benevolent benefactor and beholden beneficiary caricature is not only porous but pernicious; not only has New Zealand gained immeasurable harvest from its associate in the South Pacific, the Cook Islands has not always received the assumed benefits from its continued association.
In February 2025, the New Zealand Ministry of ForeignAffairs issued a strongly worded media release in response to the Cook Islands government and its imminent negotiations with China for a comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP). The media-fuelled furore that followed cast a spotlight on the constitutional arrangements between New Zealand and the Cook Islands. In this article, I consider the nature of this relationship with a specific focus on New Zealand's ongoing disavowal of its own imperialism in the Pacific by reflecting on two key contexts. First, I discuss recent collaborative projects about the Realm of New Zealand-New Zealand's empire-within the discourse on nationhood, citizenship and Indigenous-Indigenous solidarity. Secondly, I reflect on my experience of teaching university students at the first-and second-year levels about New Zealand's empire and the emotional, political and critical discussions I have facilitated as an educator in the classroom. At a time when younger generations are so keenly feeling the need to better understand their place in New Zealand, being able to talk about the constitutional contours of its history and future seems more urgent than ever before.
"New Zealand proper" is home to the majority of the population of the so-called Realm of New Zealand countries along with significant populations from the independent nations of S & amacr;moa and Tonga. All these groups are facing language maintenance challenges, similar to so many Indigenous language groups in the world today. However, there is stark contrast in the maintenance status between the languages of the Realm and those of the independent nations. Bluntly, the Realm languages are severely endangered in comparison with Samoan and Tongan. This paper describes how the Realm of New Zealand has enacted and continues to enact linguicide on the languages of the Realm while at the same time deliberately invisibilising the existence of the Realm. It proposes that Indigenous peoples of the Realm should reorient their language revitalisation focus away from the "home" and the individual to the level of the community, and pursue trans-Indigenous collaboration with tangata whenua (the M & amacr;ori people of Aotearoa or New Zealand proper) along with other tangata moana (Indigenous peoples of the Pacific) who are manuhiri (guests) in Aotearoa.
Most New Zealanders do not know about the imperial histories and relationships that tie together Aotearoa New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. Nor do they understand that they are organised in an imperial unit, called the Realm of New Zealand (the Realm). This paper argues that an honest analysis of the imperial and colonial history of New Zealand is incomplete without engaging with the Realm of New Zealand. Thus far, Indigenous and Pacific studies have not examined the ways that Realm has reconfigured, and continues to reconfigure, the geographies and relationships of M & amacr;ori (from both Aotearoa and the Cook Islands), tagata Tokelau (indigenous people of Tokelau) and tau tagata Niue (indigenous people of Niue). The political commitments of both disciplines, and their focuses, can help us to historicise the contemporary realities of the indigenous peoples of the Realm by understanding both the place ofAotearoa New Zealand in Pacific imperial histories and the complexities of living (and changing) indigeneities that span vast lands and waters, particularly on indigenous lands of others. These disciplines, though not understood or practised in uniform ways across institutions inAotearoa New Zealand, can help to reinvigorate discussion about the ongoing empire of New Zealand in the Pacific.
The invisibility of the Realm of New Zealand in the historical and contemporary discourses about New Zealand mean there is limited understanding about what the Realm is. This special issue is a timely interrogation of this invisibility and the impacts it has had on Pacific peoples in the Realm, written by Pacific scholars who have ancestral connections to New Zealand's imperial past. It asks, How do we grapple with the Realm of New Zealand as an invisible part of New Zealand's contemporary reality and historical past as a colonial empire? This introduction addresses the contemporary importance of understanding the Realm of New Zealand, in legal and actual terms, laying a foundation for the complex discussions in this special issue.
Among Aotearoa New Zealand's Pacific diaspora, contemporary discussions of culture and identity are highly complex and multifaceted. Through postcolonial theoretical standpoints and creative outputs, many Pacific artists have sought to explore and express these complex discussions in order to further understand themselves in a postcolonial setting. Having mixed-heritage ancestry can compound this complexity, adding multiple contexts to already multiplicitous discussions. This article contextualises components from the author's body of work Uso 4 Life, an art installation conceived from formative memories and experiences pertinent to the development of the artist's identity as a mixed-heritage Samoan. It also explores how installation practices can be used as a basis for such investigation
This article showcases the creative work and haerenga/sal faiva (journey/creative journey) of two writer-scholar-artist creative-practice doctoral candidates-Marama Salsano and Mere Taito-who recently completed international arts residencies in Canada and Melbourne, respectively. Specifically, Marama Salsano contemplates Indigenous generosity and resistance through poetry and reflections about the creation of her LandBack fabric banner at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada, and Mere Taito presents digitally authored visual poems that were inspired by the in-person, residential gathering of her Creative New Zealand/Creative Australia digital arts fellowship in Melbourne. Ultimately, the authors of this paper draw strength from their Pacific roots and ever-widening Indigenous spaces, which allow their creative doctoral research to flourish.
The origins and timing of human settlement of East Polynesia are important questions for both academics and contemporary communities of that area. Linguistic innovations exclusively shared by East Polynesian languages with Northern Polynesian Outlier languages indicate that the East Polynesians originated late in prehistory from the Northern Polynesian Outliers, a proposal known as the Northern Outlier-East Polynesian (NO-EPn) hypothesis. In the December 2023 issue of this journal, a linguistic argument was made by Albert Davletshin that East Polynesia was settled from West Polynesia through the Southern Cook Islands. Key to Davletshin's argument was a proposal for the existence of a theorised language spoken in the vicinity of Mangaia, from where certain Polynesian canoe plants were then transported to East Polynesian islands. Davletshin's article argued against our December 2020 article in this journal, which had presented linguistic and botanical data relative to an East Polynesian origin of red-flowered hibiscus known as kaute (and cognates), and deriving its name from innovations proposed to have occurred in the Marquesas Islands. Our 2020 article was in alignment with the hypothesis of a Northern Outlier origin of East Polynesian languages. This response to Davletshin's 2023 article documents examples of sporadic irregular sound change, the existence of which had been called into question
