This book is inspired by the University of the South Pacific, the leading institution of higher education in the Pacific Islands region. Founded in 1968, USP has expanded the intellectual horizons of generations of students from its 12 member countries—Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu—and been responsible for the formation of a regional elite of educated Pacific Islanders who can be found in key positions in government and commerce across the region. At the same time, this book celebrates the collaboration of USP with The Australian National University in research, doctoral training, teaching and joint activities. Twelve of our 19 contributors gained their doctorates at ANU, most of them before or after being students and/or teaching staff at USP, and the remaining five embody the cross-fertilisation in teaching, research and consultancy of the two institutions. The contributions to this collection, with a few exceptions, are republications of key articles on the Pacific Islands by scholars with extensive experience and knowledge of the region.

Few people today know that in the nineteenth century, Hawai‘i was not only an internationally recognized independent nation but played a crucial role in the entire Pacific region and left an important legacy throughout Oceania. As the first non-Western state to gain full recognition as a coequal of the Western powers, yet at the same time grounded in indigenous tradition and identity, the Hawaiian Kingdom occupied a unique position in the late nineteenth-century world order. From this position, Hawai‘i’s leaders were able to promote the building of independent states based on their country’s model throughout the Pacific, envisioning the region to become politically unified. Such a pan-Oceanian polity would be able to withstand foreign colonialism and become, in the words of one of the idea’s pioneers, “a Power in the World.” After being developed over three decades among both native and non-native intellectuals close to the Hawaiian court, King Kalākaua’s government started implementing this vision in 1887 by concluding a treaty of confederation with Sāmoa, a first step toward a larger Hawaiian-led pan-Oceanian federation. Political unrest and Western imperialist interference in both Hawai‘i and Sāmoa prevented the project from advancing further at the time, and a long interlude of colonialism and occupation has obscured its legacy for over a century. Nonetheless it remains an inspiring historical precedent for movements toward greater political and economic integration in the Pacific Islands region today. Lorenz Gonschor examines two intertwined historical processes: The development of a Hawai‘i-based pan-Oceanian policy and underlying ideology, which in turn provided the rationale for the second process, the spread of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s constitutional model to other Pacific archipelagos. He argues that the legacy of this visionary policy is today re-emerging in the form of two interconnected movements—namely a growing movement in Hawai‘i to reclaim its legacy as Oceania’s historically leading nation-state on one hand, and an increasingly assertive Oceanian regionalism emanating mainly from Fiji and other postcolonial states in the Southwestern Pacific on the other. As a historical reference for both, nineteenth-century Hawaiian policy serves as an inspiration and guideline for envisioning de-colonial futures for the Pacific region.

Oceania: neocolonialism, nukes and bones is a critical appraisal of the destructive consequences of colonialism and later neocolonialism and how they have reshaped and undermined the very essence of Pacific humanity. It provides a rather uncomfortable but justifiably powerful moral message that the perils of Oceania need drawing attention to for the future survival of Pacific peoples and cultures who, isolated from the main centres of global power, are often relegated to the margins of development and progress. Andre Vltchek spent five years living and traveling throughout Oceania. During his journey he interviewed politicians, social-workers, journalists, teachers, doctors and the local inhabitants. He became friends with the great Pacific writer Epeli Hau'ofa who declared him an 'honorary citizen of Oceania, ' and he intricately documented the appalling effects Western government policies, corporate strategies and military operations were having on the islands and the peoples of the Pacific."

Hundreds of thousands of works of art and artefacts from many parts of the Pacific are dispersed across European museums. They range from seemingly quotidian things such as fish-hooks and baskets to great sculptures of divinities, architectural forms and canoes. These collections constitute a remarkable resource for understanding history and society across Oceania, cross-cultural encounters since the voyages of Captain Cook, and the colonial transformations that have taken place since. They are also collections of profound importance for Islanders today, who have varied responses to their disp.

Countering the dominant paradigms of recent Pacific Islands' historiography, which tend to limit understanding of the sea's importance, this volume emphasizes the flux in the maritime environment and how it instilled an expectation and openness toward outside influences and the rapidity with which cultural change could occur in relations between various Islander groups." "Students and scholars of Pacific history and environmental and cultural studies will welcome this re-evaluation of the sea's influence in Oceanic history."--BOOK JACKET.

The mission of higher education in the 21st century must address the reconciliation of student learning and experiences through the lens of indigenous education and frameworks. Higher learning institutions throughout the oceanic countries have established frameworks for addressing indigeneity through the infusion of an indigenous perspectives curriculum. The incorporation of island indigenous frameworks into their respective curriculums, colleges, and universities in the oceanic countries has seen positive impact results on student learning, leading to the creation of authentic experiences in higher education landscapes. Learning and Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education in Oceania discusses ways of promoting active student learning and unique experiences through indigenous scholarship and studies among contemporary college students. It seeks to provide an understanding of the essential link between practices for incorporating island indigenous curriculum, strategies for effective student learning, and course designs which are aligned with frameworks that address indigeneity, and that place college teachers in the role of leaders for lifelong learning through indigenous scholarship and studies in Oceania. It is ideal for professors, practitioners, researchers, scholars, academicians, students, administrators, curriculum developers, and classroom designers.