Center for Pacific Island Studies

Vilsoni Hereniko

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Professor and Editor of The Contemporary Pacific, Center for Pacific Islands Studies; PhD University of the South Pacific (1990)

e-mail: vili@hawaii.edu

Vilsoni Hereniko is an award-winning playwright, filmmaker, author, and teacher. Born on the island of Rotuma, he has a master’s degree in education from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England and a PhD in literature and language from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. In 1991 Hereniko joined the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, where he teaches courses in Pacific literature, film, and theater. He has written a dozen plays, three books, and numerous articles; edited several anthologies; as well as written and directed a documentary, a short film, and a feature film. His plays and films have been performed or exhibited in Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, France, and Great Britain. His feature film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (2004) and was also invited to screen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. Personal Web site

Selected publications

Books of Original Scholarship - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1995	Woven Gods: Female Clowns and Power in Rotuma. Pacific Islands Monograph Series 12. Honolulu: Center for Pacific Islands Studies and University of Hawai‘i Press.
1985	South Pacific Islanders (with Patricia Hereniko). London: Wayland Publishers.
1977	Art in the New Pacific. Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society. French translation by Eric Le Moal published as Art du Pacifique, Institute of Pacific Studies, Suva (1981).

Edited Volumes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1999	Inside Out: Literature, Cultural Politics, and Identity in the New Pacific (with Rob Wilson). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
1997	Wasafiri: Pacific Writing (with Briar Wood). London: University of London.
1994	Mana (with Suzanna Layton). Vol 9 (3). Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society.
1993	Mānoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing. Vol 10 (1).
1992	Mana. Vol 9 (2). Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society.
1990	Realities (with Cliff Benson and others). Suva: Fiji Ministry of Education. (A comprehension book for senior secondary students in the South Pacific.)
[1986]	Mana (with Patricia Hereniko). Vol 9 (1). Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society.

Media and Performance - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Right: Vilsoni Hereniko's feature film screens in Portland, Oregon (2005). Left: Vilsoni Hereniko with cinematographer Paul Atkins on the set of The Land Has Eyes in Rotuma (2000).

2005	The Land Has Eyes was an official selection at the Singapore International Film Festival, the Film Forum in Freiburg (Germany), the Commonwealth Film Festival (Manchester, England), and many others.
2004	Writer, director and co-producer of feature film, The Land Has Eyes. This film was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Moscow International Film Festival, Brisbane International Film Festival, Hawai‘i International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and many others.
1998	Writer and director of short film, Just Dancing. This film had its world premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival in Korea in 1998. Since then, it has been an official selection at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival, the Los Angeles Asia-Pacific Film Festival, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It was also part of the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia-Pacific Cinema) tour for 1999 and was screened at the Four Star Theater in San Francisco and the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Just Dancing was screened as part of the SPACLALS (South Pacific Association of Commonwealth Literatures and Language Studies) International Conference held at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji, 1999.
1992	A Conversation with Albert Wendt. An interview for Spectrum Hawai‘i, Hawaii Public Television.
1997	Tour of play, Fine Dancing, to Guam, sponsored by the Guam Humanities Council.
1997	Writer and director of new play, Fine Dancing. Ten performances on the beach of Magic Island, Honolulu, in August 1997.

Produced Plays - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1984–
2003

Fine Dancing; Love 3 Times; Last Virgin in Paradise; The Monster; Sera's Choice; Sina and Tinilau; A Child for Iva; Don't Cry, Mama; The Shadow; Good Morning, Class!; A Class of 88; Sambo Meets the Goddess Devi on a Moonless Night; Islands at Sea. Locations of productions for the above include Suva, Port Moresby, Honolulu, Hilo, Auckland, Eugene, and London.

Plays - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2001	Sina and Tinilau. In Beyond Ceremony, edited by Ian Gaskell, 175–189. Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society.
1993	Last Virgin in Paradise (with Teresia Teaiwa). Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society.
1992	Sambo Meets the Goddess Devi on a Moonless Night. Mana 1 (2): 75–77.
1989	The Monster and Other Plays. Suva: Mana Publications. The Monster was reprinted in Beyond Ceremony, 93–111 (2001).
1987	Two Plays: A Child for Iva; Sera's Choice. Suva: Mana Publications.
1981	A Child for Iva: A Three-Act Play. Auckland: Heinemann.
1977	Don't Cry, Mama. Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society. Reprinted in Chinese Journal of Oceanic Literature 2 (1981). Excerpts of this play are reprinted in Creative Writing From Fiji, edited by Stanley A Atherton and Satendra P Nandan. Suva: Fiji Writers’ Association (1985).

Children's Books/Stories - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1997	Sina and Tinilau. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, Fiji Writers’ Association, Australian Cultures Fund.
1991	Lifetimes (Rotuman translation, with Betty Inia). Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies.
1991	The Wicked Cat. Suva: Institute of Education, University of the South Pacific.
1980	Split Island. School Journal. Part 3 (1): 19–21. Wellington: School Publications Branch.

Journal Articles/Chapters in Books - - - - - - - -

2001	David and Goliath: A Response to Subramani’s “The Oceanic Imaginary.” The Contemporary Pacific 13:163–168.
2000	Indigenous Knowledge and Academic Imperialism. In Pacific History and Historiography, edited by Rob Borofsky, 78–91. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
2000	Mapping the Territory: Emerging Writers in the Pacific. Conversations 1 (2): 26–34.
1999	Four Writers and One Critic. In Inside Out: Literature, Cultural Politics, and Identity in the New Pacific, edited by Vilsoni Hereniko and Rob Wilson, 55–64. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
1999	Representations of Pacific Islanders in Film and Video. Documentary Box 14:18–20 (Yamagata, Japan).
1994	Clowning as Political Commentary: Polynesia, Then and Now. The Contemporary Pacific 6:1–28. Reprinted in Art and Performance in Oceania, edited by Barry Craig, Bernie Kernot, and Christopher Anderson, 15–28. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press (1999).
1994	Representations of Cultural Identities. In Tides of History: The Pacific Islands in the Twentieth Century, 406–434. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. Revised and reprinted in Inside Out, 406–434.
1993	On Satirizing the Modern: Literary Lessons for the Pacific. Cultural Currents (East-West Center) 2 (July): 3, 11.
1993	Pacific Island Literature. Manoa 5 (1): 47–49.
1992	Clowning and Culture in Rotuman Weddings. In Clowning as Critical Practice: Performance Humor in the South Pacific, edited by William Mitchell, 167–191. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
1992	Education for Self-Determination: Some Examples from Indigenous Pacific Literature. In Land, Culture and Development in the Aquatic Continent, edited by D G Malcolm Jr and Jeanne Skog, 249–252. Honolulu: Kapalua Pacific Center.
1992	The Monster (including interview with playwright). Pacific Studies 15 (4): 177–197.
1990	The Clown's Story. In After Narrative: The Pursuit of Reality and Fiction, edited by Subramani, 223–229. Suva: University of the South Pacific.
1987	Drama Methods in the Teaching of English to Fifth and Sixth Forms in Fiji. Directions 10 (2): 71–81. Suva: Institute of Education, University of the South Pacific.
1987	Rotuman Storytelling. In Tukuni Mada Mai: Towards Children's Literature for the South Pacific, 49–58. Suva: Institute of Education, University of the South Pacific.
1986	Drama Methods in the Classroom. Teaching News. Suva Association of Teachers of English.
1977	Dance as a Reflection of Rotuman Culture. In Rotuma: Split Island, by Anselmo Fatiaki and others, 120–142. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, in association with the South Pacific Social Sciences Association and the USP Fiji Extension Centre, 120–142. Reprinted in Rotuma: Hanua Pumue: Precious Land, by Anselmo Fatiaki and others, 120–142. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies (1991).

Encyclopedia Entries - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1998	Music and Theater: The Pacific Islands (with Adrienne Kaeppler and others). In The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, edited by Adrienne Kaeppler and Jacob W Love, 9:229–240. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
1996	Rotuman Art. The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner, 27:234–235. London: Macmillan.

Foreword/Introductions - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1997	Editor’s Note. In Think of a Garden and Other Plays, by John Kneubuhl, vii–viii. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
1996	Foreword. In A Bibliography of Rotuma, compiled by Antoine D R N'Yeurt and others, vii. Suva: Pacific Information Centre and Marine Studies Programme of the University of the South Pacific.
1995	Foreword. In Indigenous Literature of Oceania: A Survey of Criticism and Interpretation, by Nicholas J Goetzfridt, ix–x. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
1993	Prose Poem. In Visions of the Pacific, edited by David Arnell and Lisette Wolk, 153. Rarotonga: Ministry of Cultural Development and Cook Islands Government.
1986	Introduction. In Pacific Artists, edited by Patricia Hereniko, vii–viii. Suva: University of the South Pacific.

Interviews of Other Writers - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2002	From the Sideline: An Interview with Brij V Lal, Historian and Constitutional Commissioner. The Contemporary Pacific 14:168–184.
2001	An Interview with Subramani. The Contemporary Pacific 13:184–198.
1998	An Interview with Patricia Grace. The Contemporary Pacific 10:154–163. Reprinted in Inside Out, 75–83 (1999).
1995	An Interview with Alan Duff. The Contemporary Pacific 7:328–344. Reprinted in Inside Out, 119–133 (1999).
1993	Following in Her Footsteps: An Interview with Albert Wendt. Mānoa 5 (1): 51–59.
1993	An Interview with Albert Wendt. The Contemporary Pacific 5:112–131. Reprinted in Inside Out, 85–103 (1999).
1993	Comic Theater of Sāmoa: An Interview with John A Kneubuhl. Mānoa 5 (1): 99–104.

Short Stories and Poems - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1992	When East Meets West (short story). In Te Rau Maire: Poems and Stories of the Pacific, edited by Marjorie Tuainekore Crocombe, Ron Crocombe, Kauraka Kauraka, and Makiuti Tongia, 69–73. Rarotonga: Ministry of Cultural Development.
1986	The Encounter (short story). Mana 9 (1): 37–40.
1983	The Royal Visit (short story). Sinnet 3 (1): 10–14.
1980	The Storm (poem). Sinnet 1 (1): 22.
1978	The Unfinished Fence (short story). Mana 2 (2): 37–40. Reprinted several times by the Fiji Ministry of Education in Roots, 1977 for use in schools. Reprinted in Nuanua: Pacific Writing in English since 1980, selected with an introduction by Albert Wendt, 70–72. Auckland: University of Auckland Press; Honolulu, University of Hawai‘i Press (1995).
1977	The Convert (short story). Third Mana Annual of South Pacific Creative Writing, 36. Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society. Reprinted by Fiji Ministry of Education in Roots, 1977 for use in schools. Reprinted in Chinese Journal of Oceanic Literature 4 (1982).
1977	The Mat Weavers (poem). Third Mana Annual of South Pacific Creative Writing, 72. Suva: South Pacific Creative Arts Society.

Articles by Japanese Scholars - - - - - - - - - - - -

1996	Yasukawa, Akira. Vilsoni Hereniko: The Playwright of the South Pacific. The Bungaku Roshu of Kansai University 45 (1): 29–44 (in Japanese).
1996	Nakamura, Kazue. Teikoku o Kainarase. Waseda Bungaku 242 (July): 909–993 (in Japanese).

Biography Entries - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2000	The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia, edited by Brij V Lal and Kate Fortune, 532. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
1995	Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literature in English, edited by Eugene Benson and L W Conolly, 654–655. London: Routledge.
1991	Writers from the South Pacific: A Bio-Bibliographic Critical Encyclopedia, by Norman Simms, 149–150. Washington DC: Three Continents Press.