Oceania

  • Massive and broad expanse of area- does not exist under one central people or theme

  • Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia- groupings of Island Identity

Emalani Case: Hawaii (Waimea) (Wellington, New Zealand)

  • filled in the position of professor at Victoria University in New Zealand

  • connection to Hula→ brought up through stories and the passing of stories

  • How students can study the Pacific Islands

  • Our student are not at universities to simply extract knowledge and we are not just there to give it. Education itself

  • had students who Identified as Kanaka Maoli but did not feel rooted to the region or consider themselves as Pacific Islanders

  • Aloha Aina- is a means of beign situated in relation-genealogical and otherwise

Julian Aguon: Guam

  • Lawyer for the Blue Ocean Law group- aims to provide legal representation for indigenous peoples across the specific

  • aims to give these people and the ocean a voice of their own

  • wants to combat deep sea mining

Nuclear Power and Oceania

  • history of nuclear weapon testing in Oceania

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner: The Marshall Islands (Majuro)


America Samoa v. Samoa

  • America Samoa- more east, will be tied to the US (connection to football)

  • Samoa- more west, closer to New Zealand (connection to the rugby)

  • Western Samoa was the first island to gain its independence


Reflections on the Friday Reading

  • devastating effects on health, populations, mobility, and health care


Australia Migration Policies

  • strict rules on those entering the lands and its waters

  • scrutinized and controversial for how they processed people

  • scrutinized due to the nature of elements of race in their policies and who was allowed in and who wasn’t→ “white Australia” “Australia for the Australians” (bruh >:/ )


“Hawai’i is not the Multicultural Paradise Some Say it is”

  • her administrator in 6th grade couldn’t believe she was in an advanced program

  • her family discouraged her from wearing traditional skirts due to how they are viewed in Hawai’i outside of Micronesia due to the present racism ⬇

Looking at “Micronesians respond to racist tweets”


The effects of Climate Change on Pacific Islands and the People

  • while the effects of climate change affect these environments in the pacific and people need migration pathways, overall they want to stay

  • there are no migration pathways for them to take should their lifestyle be uprooted by climate change

Marshallese Migration: the role of climate change in the cause of migration

Themes and Concerns

  • Vast expanses of the Pacific ocean serve as both a defining and uniting feature and as a barrier

  • Other than Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea, most nations are small island groups

  • The population is relatively small (42.5 million) but they’re highly urbanized

  • Large cultural groupings: Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia

  • Global climate change, primarily warming, has brought rising sea levels and variable rainfall

  • The Pacific islands and Papua New Guinea have rural younger, and rapidly growing populations, while Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii have older, slower growing populations.