Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland

Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland The official page of Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, a global leader in research and

Pacific Studies is the University of Auckland's centre for research, teaching, and engagement with the Pacific Islands, Pacific people, and Pacific communities. Housed in the magnificent Fale Pasifika complex, Pacific Studies teaches from the undergraduate level, through to Phd. Courses are offered in interdisciplinary Pacific Studies, as well as in Tongan, Samoan and Cook Island Māori languages.

Pacific Studies is staffed by leading researchers in anthropology, linguistics, politics, history, art and culture, and health.

You are invited to Rodney Stehr’s Confirmation seminar 3 June 10am. This will be a chance to hear more about Rodney’s Ph...
25/05/2026

You are invited to Rodney Stehr’s Confirmation seminar 3 June 10am. This will be a chance to hear more about Rodney’s PhD project, ‘Tracing the evolution and future modalities of Pacific Research Methodologies (PRM) in public health in Aotearoa’.

Rodney Stehr (Fijian/European) is a doctoral student in Pacific Studies and grew up in diaspora in Canada on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem First Nation). In Canada, he was previously employed as the senior parliamentary affairs advisor to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Consular Affairs). He holds a Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science from Simon Fraser University.

Edited to include the poster with both online and in-person details :)

We're excited to announce our Pacific Studies PhD student Clarke Stowers is giving his confirmation presentation next Fr...
14/05/2026

We're excited to announce our Pacific Studies PhD student Clarke Stowers is giving his confirmation presentation next Friday at 9am! We hope you can join us in person or on zoom to hear about the work Clarke has been doing - lock it in for 1 week from today!

It’s graduation week and today we got to celebrate our stunning Master’s students who crossed the stage! Congratulations...
07/05/2026

It’s graduation week and today we got to celebrate our stunning Master’s students who crossed the stage! Congratulations to Purotu, Vaitoa, Margaret, Mystery and Evalesi - we hope you enjoy your well deserved celebrations and hope people are reaching out to read your dissertations/thesis 👀 🥳

We look forward to seeing what comes next for you!

Kia Ora, Tālofa Lava and warm Pacific greetings. My name is Taiarn Tavui and I am a Masters student at Te Wānanga o Waip...
25/03/2026

Kia Ora, Tālofa Lava and warm Pacific greetings. My name is Taiarn Tavui and I am a Masters student at Te Wānanga o Waipapa, Pacific Studies. I am especially interested in Pacific-led research by, for, and with Pacific communities (namely Pacific youth and women), with a keen interest in deepening my reflections and understanding of cultural identity loss and reconnection among young Samoan women. Thus, I am doing research on exploring how young Samoan women navigate identity loss in the Auckland diaspora for my Masters thesis dissertation (as a part of PACIFIC 793).

Cultural identity disconnection is a pervasive and common experience grieved by Samoan and wider Pacific peoples, especially those who reside within and across the diaspora. Cultural identity disconnection stemming from a lack of cultural knowledge links strongly to deficit mental health/wellbeing for young Pacific peoples (Minster, 2018; Leenen-Young, 2021; Manuela & Sibley, 2013). This research aims to empower, value, and centre the voices and experiences of young Samoan women regarding their cultural identity, to reflect thematically on how these demonstrate notions of ongoing colonialism, and to investigate potential pathways to cultural (re)connection.

I am looking to talanoa with young Samoan women between the ages of 18-24, and were raised in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Talanoa will be an hour long and a space to discuss your knowledge and experiences of cultural identity, identity loss, and potential pathways to reconnection.

If you meet the criteria for eligibility and are willing to volunteer your knowledge and time, please scan the QR code above and fill out the EOI form, or contact the researcher directly - [email protected]

Congratulations to Associate Professor Gordon Nanau for the publication of the book he is an editor and author of, ‘OCEA...
04/03/2026

Congratulations to Associate Professor Gordon Nanau for the publication of the book he is an editor and author of, ‘OCEANIC DIPLOMACY: Reasserting Indigenous pathways through the contemporary Pacific’.

As the acknowledgments say, “This book was inspired by the observation that diplomacy, as taught in Pacific universities and foreign policy academies, is generally based on western concepts and institutions and continues to ignore the principles
and practices of diplomacy which operated for hundreds of years
between Pacific polities before colonisation. Not only does this ignore a rich and deep history of Oceanic diplomacy; it also seemed to us that it was ignoring the continuing relevance and potential value of these traditional diplomatic ideas and practices for contemporary interstate diplomacy in the Pacific regional diplomatic arena.”

This book will soon be available to purchase a hard copy of, but it is available online to read for free.

Our MA student Fang is ready to recruit for her dissertation project! Fang has a survey which is hoping Pacific peoples ...
02/03/2026

Our MA student Fang is ready to recruit for her dissertation project! Fang has a survey which is hoping Pacific peoples over the age of 18 who have used digital genealogy platforms will be willing to complete. We know our Pacific families love learning our origin stories and that digital genealogy platforms have been a useful tool to (re)connect. For more information please see the flyer above.

This year, we are partnering with Fofonga to continue spotlighting Pacific women academics’ and scholars’ work for Inter...
24/02/2026

This year, we are partnering with Fofonga to continue spotlighting Pacific women academics’ and scholars’ work for International Women’s Day.

This year’s theme is ‘Give to Gain’, and .mcleanorsborn will reflect on how, for Pacific women, this theme should be about giving back to ourselves when we continue to face inequities in regards to our health and wellbeing, pay and division of labour, with 2025 seeing Pacific women in Aotearoa essentially working for free from 9 October. Whilst this seminar will be an opportunity to highlight the work that still needs to be done, it will also be a chance to reflect and celebrate.

We hope to see you there!

We are very excited to announce that our doctoral candidate Veronika Kanem has passed her oral defense and will soon be ...
24/02/2026

We are very excited to announce that our doctoral candidate Veronika Kanem has passed her oral defense and will soon be Dr Kanem!!

Veronika’s supervisory team included Prof. Yvonne Underhill-Sem and Dr. Mark Busse.

Veronika’s PhD resulted in the highly successful Noken/Men exhibition so we look forward to seeing what comes next from Veronika’s thesis, but in the mean time we hope our PAC Studies community will take the time to congratulate her on this massive achievement.

Semester 1 begins on the 2nd March and there is plenty of time to enrol in our Pacific Studies courses. We have a pletho...
17/02/2026

Semester 1 begins on the 2nd March and there is plenty of time to enrol in our Pacific Studies courses. We have a plethora on offer and we hope to see you in some of them!

We’re excited to share that next week we have 3 of our Doctoral Students presenting their PhD proposals in an extended s...
13/02/2026

We’re excited to share that next week we have 3 of our Doctoral Students presenting their PhD proposals in an extended seminar format! We’d love for you to come through either online or in person to support them and hear the work they have been working on.

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