Center for Pacific Island Studies

people

Terence A Wesley-Smith

Associate Professor and Graduate Chair, Center for Pacific Islands Studies; PhD University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (1988)

Terence Wesley-Smith, a political scientist with degrees from Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Hawai‘i, has been with the Center for Pacific Islands Studies more than fifteen years. He writes and teaches about contemporary issues in the region, with a particular interest in development, the impact of globalization, and the political economy of mining in Papua New Guinea. As graduate chair he is responsible for curriculum development and handles much of the student advising. He usually teaches the MA program’s introductory seminar, Learning Oceania (PACS 601). Wesley-Smith is associate editor of The Contemporary Pacific, and from 1997–2003 directed the Ford Foundation–funded Moving Cultures project, which developed innovative ways of teaching and learning about the Asia-Pacific region. He is a member of the planning team of the Ford-funded Islands of Globalization project, which fosters collaborative relationships between educational institutions in the Pacific and Caribbean. In 2003, he was awarded the UH Board of Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching.

Selected publications

2004	The Ocean in Me. In Pacific Places, Pacific History, edited by Brij V Lal, 70–86. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
2004	The Politics of State Failure and Regional Intervention in the Pacific. Concept paper for “Regional Forum on Reinventing Government in the Pacific Islands,” Apia, Sāmoa, 4–6 October.
2003	Back to the Future: Decolonizing Pacific Studies, edited by Vilsoni Hereniko and Terence Wesley-Smith. Papers from the Twenty-fifth Annual Pacific Islands Studies Conference, “Pacific Studies 2000: Honoring the Past, Creating the Future.” Special issue of The Contemporary Pacific 15 (1).
2003	Net Gains? Pacific Studies in Cyberspace. The Contemporary Pacific 15:117–136.
2001	Coups, Conflicts, and Crises: The New Pacific Way? (with Gerard A Finin). Race and Class 42 (2): 1–16. Originally published as an East-West Center Working Paper, Pacific Islands Development Series 13. Honolulu: East-West Center (2000). Working paper available online at: http://www.eastwestcenter.org/stored/pdfs/PIDPwp013.pdf.
2000	Asia in the Pacific: Migrant Labor and Tourism in the Republic of Palau. Special issue of The Contemporary Pacific 12 (2).
2000	Historiography of the Pacific: The Case of The Cambridge History. Review essay. Race and Class 41 (4): 101–119.
1999	Changing Patterns of Power. In The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society, edited by Moshe Rapaport, 144–155. Honolulu: Bess Press.
1997	A New Era for Japan and the Pacific Islands: The Tokyo Summit (with Gerard A Finin). AsiaPacific Issues 32. Honolulu: East-West Center.
1995	Rethinking Pacific Islands Studies. Pacific Studies 18 (2): 115–137.