The Contemporary Pacific: An Interdisciplinary Journal

With editorial offices at the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, The Contemporary Pacific covers a wide range of disciplines with the aim of providing comprehensive coverage of contemporary developments in the entire Pacific Islands region and the global Pacific diaspora. It features refereed, readable articles that examine social, economic, political, ecological, literary, and cultural topics, along with political reviews, book and media reviews, resource reviews, and a dialogue section with interviews and short essays. Each issue highlights the work of one or more Pacific Islander artists.

This website serves as a portal to past issues, highlights the work of the current issue's featured artist(s), interviews with authors who have published in TCP, submission guidelines, and more!

TCP News

We are excited to announce Professor Katerina Teaiwa as the first Indigenous female editor of The Contemporary Pacific: An Interdisciplinary Journal. An alumna of and former faculty member at the Center for Pacific Islands Studies (CPIS) at the University of Hawaiʻi–Mānoa, Teaiwa is an interdisciplinary scholar, artist, and award-winning teacher of Banaban, I-Kiribati, and African American heritage born and raised in Fiji. She is a professor of Pacific studies in the School of Culture, History and Language at the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific and a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Professor Teaiwa’s research is deeply interdisciplinary and Pacific centered; she engages histories of British, Australian, and New Zealand phosphate mining in the central Pacific by interweaving dance, archival and historical research, mixed-media arts, and storytelling. She has contributed several significant pieces to TCP, including book reviews, dialogue pieces, and peer-reviewed articles. In addition to her scholarly excellence, Teaiwa brings an abundance of experience to her editorship, having served as arts editor since 2019 and, previously, as a correspondent (2007–2019) and board member (2003–2007). As outgoing arts editor, she has connected readers to works by Monica Dolores Baza (35:1&2), Yuki Kihara (34:2), Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu (34:1), Jasmine Togo-Brisby (33:2), Latai Taumoepeau (33:1), Lisa Hilli (32:2); and Joy Lehuanani Enomoto (32:1). As editor, Teaiwa will continue the vital work of maintaining editorial processes and regular publication, bridging between teaching pedagogy and scholarly outputs, expanding readership and visibility in our current digital era, as well as ensuring the long-term sustainability and interdisciplinarity of the journal. As we enter new seas, we are grateful to have Professor Teaiwa guiding our TCP canoe into the future.

– TCP Staff, 10 May 2024

Current Issue Contents 35(1&2)

ARTICLES

Toward Cognitive Justice: Reconstructions of Climate Finance Governance in Fiji, Kirsty Anantharajah and Sereima Volivoli Naisilisili

Marshallese Women and Oral Traditions: Navigating a Future for Pacific History, Monica C LaBriola

“It Will Be Like a Town Here, Things Are Really Coming Up!”: Inequality in Village-Based Cruise Ship Tourism in the Trobriand Islands, Michelle MacCarthy

DIALOGUE

Blue-Washing the Colonization and Militarization of “Our Ocean,” Craig Santos Perez

Our Islands, Our Refuge: Response to Craig Santos Perez’s “Blue-Washing the Colonization and Militarization of ‘Our Ocean,’” Theresa (Isa) Arriola

Moana Nui Rising: A Response to “Blue-Washing the Colonization and Militarization of ‘Our Ocean,’” Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu

OCEANIA IN REVIEW

Oceania in Review Editor’s Note, Lorenz Gonschor

The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2022, Nic Maclellan

Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2022, Volker Boege, Mathias Chauchat, Rui Graça Feijó, Joseph Daniel Foukona, Budi Hernawan, James Stiefvater, and Jope Tarai

Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022, Kisha Borja-Quichocho-Calvo, Guigone Camus, Zaldy Dandan, Kenneth Gofigan Kuper, Gonzaga Puas, and Herman Semes Jr

Polynesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022, Brian T Alofaituli, T Melanie Puka Bean, Peter Clegg, Mililani Ganivet, Margaret Mutu, Christina Newport, Lisepa Paeniu, ‘Umi Perkins, and Forrest Wade Young

BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS

Moving Islands: Contemporary Performance and the Global Pacific, by Diana Looser
Reviewed by Kalissa Alexeyeff

Indigenous Pacific Islander Eco-Literatures, edited by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, Leora Kava, and Craig Santos Perez
Reviewed by Mylast E Bilimon

In the Shadow of the Palms: More-Than-Human Becomings in West Papua, by Sophie Chao
Reviewed by Jamon Halkavsz

The Indigénat and France’s Empire in New Caledonia: Origins, Practices and Legacies, by Isabelle Merle and Adrian Muckle
Reviewed by David Chappell

Cartooning History: Lai’s Fiji and the Misadventures of the Scrawny Black Cat [exhibition]
Reviewed by Ariela Zibiah

Leveling Wind: Remembering Fiji, by Brij V Lal
Reviewed by Tarisi Vunidilo

Radiation Sounds: Marshallese Music and Nuclear Silences, by Jessica A Schwartz
Reviewed by Aanchal Saraf

Navigating CHamoru Poetry: Indigeneity, Aesthetics, and Decolonization, by Craig Santos Perez
Reviewed by Monique C Storie

Placental Politics: CHamoru Women, White Womanhood, and Indigeneity under U.S. Colonialism in Guam, by Christine Taitano DeLisle
Reviewed by Ha'åni Lucia Falo San Nicolas

CHamoru Legends: A Gathering of Stories / Lihenden CHamoru: Rinikohen Hemplo Siha, by Teresita Lourdes Perez
Reviewed by Arielle Taitano Lowe

Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future: Kanaka Maoli and Critical Settler Cartographies in Hawai‘i, by Candace Fujikane
Reviewed by Drew Kapp

Desire, Obligation, and Familial Love: Mothers, Daughters, and Communication Technology in the Tongan Diaspora, by Makiko Nishitani
Reviewed by David Lipset