Pacific Islands scholarship will be topic of April 8 conference

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Katherine Higgins, (808) 956-2658
Center for Pacific Island Studies
Posted: Apr 2, 2014

"Waves of Change" conference in 2013.
"Waves of Change" conference in 2013.

The 2014 Center for Pacific Islands Studies Student Conference, “Expressing Oceania: Pacific Islands Scholarship on the Page, on the Stage, and Beyond,” will take place on Tuesday, April 8, at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Center for Korean Studies auditorium from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Students from the UH System, BYU-Hawaiʻi and Chaminade University will share and demonstrate ways that they creatively engage with Pacific Islands scholarship in panel sessions from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by performance sessions from 4:45 to 7 p.m.  Attending the luncheon and talk-story at 12:15 p.m. will be a special international dignitary: Dr. Colin Tukuitonga, Secretariat of the Pacific Community Director-General.

The morning will begin with graduate student presentations on the ways that digital media is transforming storytelling for Pacific Islanders in the islands and diaspora.  Poets take the stage in the second session to share ways that they confront colonialism and express their indigenous identities—Rapanui, Tahitian and Chamorro.

After lunch, students will discuss genealogy and connections to land through oral traditions including chants, song and an acted stage performance.

Light refreshments will be provided before the performances continue at 4:45 p.m., featuring Tongan-style dance called Tauʻolunga and a performative response to climate change in Kiribati. An “open-mic” begins at 5:45 p.m. for conference participants and guests to perform and share how they express Oceania.

“Expressing Oceania” is sponsored by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies and School of Pacific and Asian Studies.

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information and disability access, please contact Katherine Higgins at khiggins@hawaii.edu or (808) 956-2658.