Pacific specialists gather at ANU

TUESDAY 15 APRIL 2008

The Australian National University will host a large gathering of Pacific specialists later this week at an international conference about fostering connections between Pacific Studies research, education and outreach activities.

Oceanic Connections is the second conference of the Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Studies, a national organisation that was founded at ANU in 2004.

The conference is bringing together members of Pacific communities, scholars and teachers, librarians, museum experts and performers from all over Australia as well as from Denmark, Fiji, Hawai’i, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. There will be more than 80 papers and a number of roundtable discussions presented on themes such as the changing trade scene in the South Pacific, the Fiji coup, and constitutional changes in Tonga. Keynote speakers include Dame Carol Kidu, Member of Parliament from PNG, and Ralph Regenvanu, Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Council.

AAAPS Vice-President Margaret Jolly from ANU said that the conference would consider ways of boosting the place of Pacific Studies in Australia, and focus on ways to link the effort in the region.

“This conference is being held in the context of a profound national need,” Professor Jolly said. “Pacific scholars are disturbed by the dissonance between increased engagement in the Pacific by Australia, and the lack of general knowledge about the countries which are so vitally involved in our aid and development programs.

“We need to engage more with the cultures, histories and languages of our neighbours in the Pacific. We’re trying to establish cross-cultural sensitivity but also foundational knowledge for Australian and overseas students from which they can better develop analytic and practical insights. This coincides with a new era in Australia’s relation to the region exemplified by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s visit to PNG in March and the appointment of Duncan Kerr as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs.”

The conference coincides with the inauguration of Australia’s first dedicated undergraduate program in transdisciplinary Pacific Studies at ANU, convened by Dr Katerina Teaiwa, which began this year.

WHAT: Oceanic Connections conference
WHEN: 9am Friday 18 April to 4.30pm Sunday 20 April 2008
WHERE: Coombs Lecture Theatre and Coombs Extension Building, Fellows Road, ANU

For a full list of program information and speakers’ details:
http://rspas.anu.edu.au/tpc/oceanicconnections/

Conference organiser contact: George Darroch 0415 928 388; Stewart Firth 0410 826 821
ANU Media Office: Simon Couper 02 6125 4171, 0416 249 241