Indigenous Studies Commons^™

Reading Realities Through Tā-Vā, Nuhisifa Seve-Williams

Pacific Studies

This essay is taken from my PhD dissertation and discusses how I was able to make sense of the theory tā-vā theoretically and apply it as an analytical tool in “reading” the stories of the Pacific students in my study, in particular of two Pacific students in my study.

Vol. 40 No. 1/2 (2017): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Front Matter for the Vol. 40, No 1/2-Apr/Aug 2017 edition of the Pacific Studies Journal.

Tāvani: Intertwining Tā And Vā In Tongan Reality And Philology, Tēvita O. KaʻIli

Pacific Studies

This analysis examines the foundational principles of the tā-vā theory of reality, a comprehensive philosophical framework that bridges ontological and epistemological understandings of existence within Tongan thought.

Samoan Tā-Vā (Time-Space) Concepts And Practices In Language, Society, And Architecture, Fepulea‘I Micah Van Der Ryn

Pacific Studies

This essay gives new insights into indigenous Samoan spatial, temporal, and social concepts as distinctive aspects of Samoan culture, expressed linguistically, socially, and architecturally in a changing contemporary Samoan context. Four Samoan concepts are examined: (1) mata (the eye and a point of convergence and emanation), (2) tā (strike and a point in time), (3) vā (the interval and relation between points in space or time and society), and (4) tuā‘oi (neighbor and boundary). The general tā-vā theory of reality (Māhina 2008a, 2008b; Ka‘ili 2008) informs the analysis augmented by the theory of point-field spatiality as discussed by Lehman and …

Geographies Of Textile Authenticity: Marking Tongan Temporal And Social Relationships In Diasporic Cultural Production, Ping-Ann Addo

Pacific Studies

This study examines the production of traditional ngatu (bark cloth) and synthetic ngatu pepa among Tongan women, focusing on how these textile practices mediate cultural identity across diasporic spaces.

How The Tā-Vā Theory Of Reality Constructs A Spatial Exposition Of Samoan Architecture, Albert L. Refiti

Pacific Studies

This essay deals with a spatial exposition of Hufanga ʻOkusitino Māhina theory of tā-vā in which I argue that traditional Pacific concepts are recharged and extended by Māhina to create a new branch in Pacific Thought. I show that there is a consistency in the tā-vā theory of reality if one were to diagram its main tenets and, by doing so, enables the exposition of parts that sketch-out an overall form of theory. I also argue that doing theory is important to Pacific Thought because it allows for traditions and customs to be coiled-up into concepts allowing them to be …

Introduction: Tā-Vā (Time-Space): The Birth Of An Indigenous Moana Theory, Maui-Tāvā-He-Ako, Tēvita O. Ka‘Ili, Hūfanga, ‘Ōkusitino Māhina, Kula-He-Fonua, Ping-Ann Addo

Pacific Studies

An introduction to the special issue of the Pacific Studies Journal themed, "TĀ-VĀ (TIME-SPACE): THEORY OF REALITY".

Time, Space, And Culture: A New Tā-Vā Theory Of Moana Anthropology, Hūfanga, ‘Ōkusitino Māhina

Pacific Studies

This paper is primarily concerned with the formulation of a tā-vā theory of Moana anthropology. It does so by investigating the narrower conflicting formal and substantial relationships between Moana cultures as a form of social activity and Moana anthropology as a type of disciplinary practice in the broader complex interplay of temporality and spatiality. As a way forward, the paper calls into question the Moana phenomenon, exploring the formality, substantiality, and functionality of things within and across nature, mind and society, in the wider context of the tā-vā theory of reality. On this philosophical basis, the formulation of a tā-vā …

Tā-Vā Kāinga, Time-Space Relationships Theory Of Reality And Tongan Students Journey To Academic Achievement In New Zealand Tertiary Education, Telesia Kalavite

Pacific Studies

Tongan students’ academic achievement results when the different contexts of kāinga tā-vā, time-space relationships intersect or interact disharmoniously or harmoniously within and between the Tongan and Western cultures, especially between the students and the bureaucracy (puleʻanga), their families (fāmili), church (siasi), and wider group (their fonua/kāinga). Furthermore, inflexibility or flexibility within the two cultural relationships in terms of tā (time) and vā (space) by all parties could release social tensions, which can, if left to their own devices, provide obstacles to critical learning, or by mediating them through sustained harmony, can consequently …

Takohi: Drawing In Tongan Thinking And Practice, Hūfanga, ‘Ōkusitino Māhina

Pacific Studies

This original essay critically examines takohi as drawing in Tongan thinking and practice, which is connected with the intersecting or connecting and separating kohi (lines) and va (spaces) across the three divisions of Tongan art, notably tufunga (material) and nimamea’a (fine) arts. The word kohi is the older form of tohi, both of which mean “line.” Kohi, like tohi, is an expression of ta (time). By virtue of the indivisibility of ta (time) and va (space) in reality, as in nature, mind, and society, takohi (drawing) is equal to ta-va (time-space), with ta (time) spatially-composed and va (space) as temporally-marked. …

Circles Of Self: Tā-Vā Expressed In Traditional Samoan Dance, Culture And Self, Dianna M. Georgina

Pacific Studies

This study examines the tā-vā (time-space) theory and its application to Samoan cultural expression, particularly through the lens of the traditional Samoan dance.

Tatau: Symmetry As Conflict Mediation Of Line– Space Intersection, Sēmisi F. Potauaine

Pacific Studies

From a Tongan context, tatau (symmetry) also means mirror image, image, copy, likeness, same, and equal, among other things. My theoretical inquiry into tatau revolves around the tā-vā (time-space) theory of reality, which basically recognizes the philosophical fact that all things in reality stand in eternal relations of exchange, giving rise to order or conflict. By extension, the theory also takes into account the historical fact that because of these never-ending exchange connections, order and conflict are of the same logical order in that order is a form of conflict.

Samoan Cultural Perceptions Of Tā-Vā, Unasa L. F. Va‘A

Pacific Studies

This study examines the historical development and cultural significance of tā (time) and vā (space) concepts across Polynesian societies, with particular emphasis on Samoan cultural frameworks.

Vol. 40 No. 1/2 (2017): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Concepts Of Tā-Vā (Time-Space) In The Art Practice Of Samoa-Aotearoa Artist Shigeyuki Kihara, Pamela Rosi

Pacific Studies

My paper considers concepts of tā-vā (time-space theory of reality) in the interdisciplinary art practice of Pacific Islander Shigeyuki Kihara, whose art is internationally acclaimed for its beauty, social criticism, and Moana identity linked to ties of community. With creative examples, I explore how Kihara’s constructions of tā-vā (a) reclaim Samoan histories and identities by subverting western fantasies of “dusky maidens” and a timeless South Seas Paradise; (b) challenge western binary norms of heterosexuality and gender from the traditional space (vā) she occupies as a fa‘afafine; and (c) embody Samoan deities to honor Moana spirituality and epistemologies. …

Tatau: Symmetry, Harmony, And Beauty In The Art Of Sēmisi Fetokai Potauaine, Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai

Pacific Studies

Tatau: Symmetry, Harmony, and Beauty in the Art of Sēmisi Fetokai Potauaine is generally informed by the tā-vā (time-space) theory of art and Tongan ethnography. This paper will look specifically at the body of works created by Potauaine for his exhibition Tatau: Fenāpasi ‘oe Fepaki / Tatau: Symmetry, Harmony, and Beauty held at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, from July to October 2010. This exhibition and its associated catalog of which I was cocurator and coeditor, respectively, included ten multimedia works ranging from tufunga tākupesi (graphic designing), tufunga tātongitongi (sculpture), and tufunga tākohikupesi (sculptural …

Rock May Find A Home At Last, Mike James

Indian Head Rock Project

Article on the Indian Head Rock published by the Ashland Daily Independent on March 15, 2017.

Lone Man And All My Relations, Doug Meigs

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Lone Man is the central creation figure of the Mandan, an indigenous people of present-day North Dakota. The story of Lone Man begins with the creation figure becoming self-aware on the open ocean. He creates the Earth and sets off to discover his people. Doug Meigs is writing the oral history of Robert O’Brien, a modern Mandan man living in Omaha, Nebraska, who grew up without any knowledge of tribal identity. Late in life, he would set off to learn that he was Mandan. O’Brien is still coming to terms with the meaning of that identity.

Drowning In Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems And Responding To Climate Change In The Maldives, Rachel Hannah Spiegel

Pitzer Senior Theses

The threat of global climate change increasingly influences the actions of human society. As world leaders have negotiated adaptation strategies over the past couple of decades, a certain discourse has emerged that privileges Western conceptions of environmental degradation. I argue that this framing of climate change inhibits the successful implementation of adaptation strategies. This thesis focuses on a case study of the Maldives, an island nation deemed one of the most vulnerable locations to the impacts of rising sea levels. I apply a postcolonial theoretical framework to examine how differing knowledge systems can both complement and contradict one another. By …

All Our Relations: Native Struggles For Land And Life, By Winona Laduke, Joseph A. P. Wilson

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Book review by Joseph A.P. Wilson.

LaDuke, W. (1999). All our relations: Native struggles for land and life. Cambridge, MA: South End Press; Minneapolis, MN: Honor the Earth.

The Socio-Political And Economic Causes Of Natural Disasters, Nicole Southard

CMC Senior Theses

To effectively prevent and mitigate the outbreak of natural disasters is a more pressing issue in the twenty-first century than ever before. The frequency and cost of natural disasters is rising globally, most especially in developing countries where the most severe effects of climate change are felt. However, while climate change is indeed a strong force impacting the severity of contemporary catastrophes, it is not directly responsible for the exorbitant cost of the damage and suffering incurred from natural disasters -- both financially and in terms of human life. Rather, the true root causes of natural disasters lie within the …

R. L. Stevenson’S Samoan Gothic: Representing Late Nineteenth-Century Plantations, Carla Manfredi

Pacific Studies

Sāmoa’s plantation landscape haunts Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1892 text, A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa. Stevenson represents the German-run plantations as sites of gothic terror, which are haunted by the ghosts of indentured laborers. In this essay, I examine Stevenson’s accounts of German plantation culture alongside corollary narratives from Sāmoa’s three commercial newspapers: the Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette (1877–81) the Samoa Times and South Sea Advertiser (1888–96), and the Samoa Weekly Herald (1892–1900). By juxtaposing some of Stevenson’s primary texts and local newspaper coverage, I not only identify the divergent discourses that shaped …

Book Review Forum: Glenn Wharton, The Painted King: Art, Activism, And Authenticity In Hawai‘I, Aaron Glass

Pacific Studies

Glenn Wharton. The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012. Pp. 216. ISBN 978-0-8248-3612-2. US$19.00 paperback.

Review: Aaron Glass, Bard Graduate Center

Book Review Forum: Glenn Wharton, The Painted King: Art, Activism, And Authenticity In Hawai‘I, Stacy L. Kamehiro, Maile Arvin

Pacific Studies

Glenn Wharton. The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012. Pp. 216. ISBN 978-0-8248-3612-2. US$19.00 paperback.

Review: Stacy L. Kamehiro, University of California, Santa Cruz Maile Arvin, University of California, Riverside

Book Review Forum Response: Glenn Wharton, The Painted King: Art, Activism, And Authenticity In Hawai‘I, Glenn Wharton

Pacific Studies

Response: Glenn Wharton

New York University

Book Review Forum: Glenn Wharton, The Painted King: Art, Activism, And Authenticity In Hawai‘I, Karen Stevenson

Pacific Studies

Glenn Wharton. The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012. Pp. 216. ISBN 978-0-8248-3612-2. US$19.00 paperback.

Review: Karen Stevenson, University of Canterbury

The Melanesian Spearhead Group And Pacific Regional Cooperation, Gordon Leua Nanau

Pacific Studies

The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is a subregional organization in Oceania where friendly diplomatic relations, free trade, and cultural and technical exchanges are encouraged. One of its founding principles is to promote the aspirations of Melanesians under colonial servitude to political autonomy. At the same time, it is a forum by member states to drive their national interests under the auspices of subregional resolutions. Recent developments and decisions by MSG leaders provided profound insights into the affairs of the organization and its member states. In 2010, the prime ministers of Fiji and Vanuatu were at loggerheads over whom to transfer …

Vol. 39 No. 3 (2016): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Front Matter for the Vol. 39, No 3-Dec 2016 edition of the Pacific Studies Journal.

Vol. 39 No. 3 (2016): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

From Social Networking To Activism: The Role Of Social Media In The Free West Papua Campaign, Jason Titifanue, Jope Tarai, Romitesh Kant, Glen Finau

Pacific Studies

West Papua has one of the most repressive media environments in the world with a long history of media censorship and banning of foreign journalists, and only recently has this policy been somewhat relaxed. The tight media restrictions have led to the increasing use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, by West Papuan activists who broadcast the atrocities and human rights violations committed in West Papua. Driven by developments in information and communications technologies, Pacific Islanders are increasingly “switching on” and leveraging social media as a political tool. Digital tools such as hashtags are being used to organize, …