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Growing interest in Pacific issues has meant a surge in Pacific research across the globe. Sadly, some research on Pacific people has been done without Pacific knowledge, wisdom and culture. As Pacific researchers, we understand the importance of outputs that interweave our ancestral and cultural wisdom, whilst centring and privileging our people's narratives. Through the birth of our Moanaroa Pacific Research group, we explore the importance of a research collective which decolonises and re indigenises research as we know it.

This article examines attempts to professionalize the teaching workforce in the Pacific Islands (PI) in response to the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal 4c -- "Increase the Supply of Qualified Teachers in Developing Countries." The experience of PI educators provides insight into the clash between global standard agendas, driven by targets and indicators, and distinct local realities or vernaculars. Questionnaire data from 82 teacher and principal participants in seven Pacific Island nations and six interviews with education bureaucrats and teacher union officials in Fiji suggest that the goal of enhancing teacher professionalism through credentialism can lead to paradoxical deprofessionalization and Indicator 4.c.1, limit the possibilities of teacher professionalization because of the narrowness of the indicator and the enactment of this in specific systems. The Pacific Islands is an under-researched context that highlights the problems with policy borrowing, particularly regarding the idea that developing countries can measure their way to professionalism. Indeed, more voice needs to be given to local practitioners to better understand their needs and aspirations and how the vernaculars of culture and place can enhance (not diminish) teacher professionalism.

Researchers of child learning and development continue to hone understandings of cultural and social impacts on cognition, development, and education. Concurrently, Indigenous educators call for decolonizing schooling at all levels. Land-based education (LBE), as an instructional approach, responds to calls to decolonize education. The authors use LBE to understand the cultural and social nuances and complexities of Indigenous learning in preschool and primary school age Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander children. Through ethnographic case studies in Hawai'i and Samoa, we expand conceptions of culture in learning to attune to the diversity and specificity of Indigenous contexts, argue that LBE must be place-based, and recognize land is an active and necessary coparticipant in the learning process.

This article proposes a Samoan Indigenous philosophical position to reconceptualise the dialogic spaces of "talanoa"; particularly how "talanoa" is applied methodologically to research practice. "Talanoa" within New Zealand Pacific research scholarship is problematised, raising particular tensions of the universal and humanistic ideologies that are entrenched within institutional ethics and research protocols. The dialogic relational space, which is embedded throughout "talanoa" methodology, is called into question, evoking alternative ways of knowing and being within the "talanoa" research assemblage (including the material-world). Samoan epistemology reveals that nature is constituted within personhood (Vaai & Nabobo-Baba, 2017) and that nature is co-agentic with human in an ecology of knowing. We call for a shift in thinking material-ethics that opens "talanoa" to a materialist process ontology, where knowledge generation emerges through human and non-human encounters.

It has long been established that education is both a colonial and imperial tool that enables colonizing nations to establish themselves in foreign territories. This paper explores New Zealand's historical and contemporary role in the Pacific and how the country has leveraged higher education to both strengthen and continue its ongoing colonial and imperial projects. Utilizing current understandings of critical internationalization this paper will examine the lengths that New Zealand has gone to in order to protect its international standing as a gateway to the Pacific.

Quality education is an often-heard term that has no single meaning. In this paper, we use the metaphor of mat weaving to structure an exploration of various elements that inform quality education. To form the mat, a warp of literature-derived threads is woven with the weft of practitioners' ideas of quality education. These local perspectives were gifted through "tok stori," a Melanesian oral form, through a session held at the OCIES 2022 Conference at the Fiji National University. The session brought together frontline educators from diverse Pacific settings to explore the dynamics of quality across contexts "from the ground up," a seldom investigated direction. The woven discussion includes explorations of tensions between colonial pasts and the present, and points to hopeful expectations about the not-yet-here. The resultant mat balances prevalent notions of quality that flow from distant places into Pacific settings with locally derived positional understandings, and in so doing offers contextual flesh and currency to some of the key concepts valued by regional initiatives.

The move to focus on Pacific indigenous research methodologies and methods is a complex yet ongoing experience for researchers of Pacific heritage. The relational positionalities of Pacific researchers allow a move away from a dual or binary perspective of one's research responsibilities to a more fluid understanding of what it means to do research by, for, with Pacific communities. This paper highlights the diverse experiences of three Pacific researchers taking into consideration heritage connections, socio-cultural backgrounds and research contexts. We utilise talanoa as a method of engagement, reflexivity, and sharing of our experiences with Tongan, Samoan and Fijian communities. We argue that talanoa as a Pacific research method enables the diverse layers of experiences that take into particular consideration our connections to land, people and knowledges in the diaspora.

It is a rare event when senior scholars and actors in a field come together; more so when that takes place in the company of new and emerging scholars. Even rarer are such occasions in the Oceania region, where distance can mediate against key players coming together in time and space. When the stars align, the opportunity must be seized. This article portrays aspects of an event when, due to otherwise unfortunate circumstances, three senior Pacific educators, scholars, and leaders offered glimpses of their experiential learning and leadership by presenting a storied discussion of leadership. The account given here discusses ideas derived from that storying. It is an examination of the form used to enact the educators' pedagogical purpose; keynote-as-storied-discussion. This innovative way of delivering a keynote leverages the intersectional value of the tone-setting intent of a keynote, the emotional and experiential layering of storying, the pedagogical potential of woven narrative strands, and the discursive exchange of ideas.

The paper focuses on the impact of globalization on postcolonial Samoa's social, culture, and education. Due to the many global social, cultural, economical and educational changes, Samoa in the postcolonial era is currently in the process of recontextualising and restructuring Samoan cultural values to coincide with its social, cultural, economical and educational global changes. This recontextualising and restructuring is part of comprehending Samoa's hybrid social, cultural and education system in the current climate of transformation permeating Pacific nations. The colonial influence has continued to linger in postcolonised Samoa. These influences are reinvigorated by globalization which contributes to the social, cultural, and educational problems of Samoans. It then directs discussion on the transformation of Samoan cultural and social values to western ways of living, which also leads to problems in the lives of former colonized individuals. The argument put forward by this paper is that there has to be a constructive post-colonial Samoa education system embracing global changes, and people to be well versed in the essence of these changes.

Indigenous education within urban contexts is diverse within Oceania. Pacific peoples' movements in the diaspora, including their educational journeys and responsibilities, are ongoing and fluid. This paper employs talanoa va, an indigenous Pacific approach to understanding the negotiations of educational processes and practices in urban education contexts across the diaspora of Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and Aotearoa-New Zealand. We utilize talanoa as a method of gathering narrative data based on transoceanic education experiences. We argue indigenous education within urban contexts in the diaspora is fluid yet dynamic. The continuous movement of people for improved life and education further emphasizes the diverse ways Moana communities mobilize their knowledges and practices as well as educational aspirations across multiple networks in the diaspora. Indigenous education therefore is context-specific, inclusive of the negotiations across time and space that enable the sense making of educational experiences that empower the next generation in Oceania.

Transforming practices in initial teacher education and school and early childhood education contexts to support the success of Pasifika students and children can be challenging. Palagi educators, in particular, may find their practices are constrained by bureaucratic systems, processes and professional norms in ways that limit thinking about and responses to different ways of being and doing. Drawing from the experiences of a diverse group of educators during an educational journey to Samoa led by an esteemed Samoan leader, colleague and mentor, this article argues culturally based pedagogy holds the key to thinking and moving beyond some of these constraints. The article suggests that understanding Pasifika cultural values and integrating these into pedagogy is a critical first step for educators, before concluding with several practice messages. While these messages focus on Pasifika communities, students and children, they can be adapted for other ethnic groups.

Many Pacific Islanders living in Australia have a high regard for education and have high expectations of the capacity of the school system to provide the learning experiences needed for their children to achieve successful education outcomes. However, there are some challenges to achieving this goal; socio-cultural, financial and physical factors such as limited in-home supports for study time, space or schedules have consistently been reported as common barriers to providing a supportive learning environment within the homes of young Pacific Islander (PI) learners. This paper examines notions of relationships and relationality as experienced by a group of PI learners specifically from Polynesia and Melanesia, as they lived and studied in a region of Melbourne from 2012 to 2015. It follows these learners' experiences as they navigate and negotiate the different spaces, structures and systems found within their home and school environments. In particular, it looks at ways that PI learners engage and interact with various players within these two important spaces and how these relationships affect school achievements and outcomes. The paper argues that complex relationship customs and relationality patterns can lead to both positive and negative impacts on learning for some PI learners.

The apparently readily comprehensible descriptive discourse in Margaret Mead's famous ethnographic study "Coming of Age in Samoa" (1928) (CAS) presents a discursive challenge that is greater than one might expect from a book that has gained a wide readership. Through theoretical analysis, and in relation to the notorious Mead/Freeman controversy, we seek to contribute to understanding CAS as discourse, and even more specifically as "educational discourse." Three research questions are addressed: How can the account of Samoan culture presented by Mead in CAS be understood as discourse? How can her account of "early childhood education" be understood in relation to Freeman's account? Is Mead describing "permissive education" when describing patterns of early childhood education in Samoa? We argue that Mead produced an overlapping research discourse that has appealed to the wider public because of its cultural suppressed message aimed at the unconscious in culture. Mead's and Freeman's contradictory accounts of Samoan cultural patterns in relation to "early childhood education" can be explained by differences in the perspectives of the social and hierarchical positions of respectable elders and chiefs (Freeman) and of young girls who were caregivers of even younger children (Mead). Finally, we argue that "early childhood education" in Samoa at that time was clearly not permissive. Young Samoan girls internalized the symbolic Law (Lacan) and were therefore able to act in an authoritative way as caregivers. In the field of education nearly a century later, Mead's descriptions of "early childhood education" in Samoa still provide an intricate case study.

This paper considers an appropriate pedagogy for indigenous language programmes at tertiary level in a context in which a former colonial language has become the default as both medium of instruction and subject of academic study. This pedagogy is guided by an overarching commitment to decolonisation of the academic space, is grounded in the sociolinguistic realities of each specific context, and remains flexible enough to accommodate the complexities that are inevitable when a language is made welcome for the first time in a new domain. A recent expansion in the number of languages offered for study at the University of the South Pacific serves as the backdrop to this discussion.

The Pacific Island countries are committed to promoting disability-inclusive education through enactment of the Pacific Education Development Framework. To support this move, key stakeholders have identified the need for developing local and contextually appropriate indicators for measuring progress of disability-inclusive education. This paper reports on the usefulness of a newly developed tool (Pacific Indicators for Disability-Inclusive Education--Pacific-INDIE) as a catalyst in implementing inclusive education in the Pacific. Data were collected from a range of stakeholders who have used the Pacific-INDIE in three countries (Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands). Thematic analysis was used to identify the key themes relating to the usefulness of the tool. The key themes that emerged from the data included, positive outcomes, challenges, planned future directions, and process issues. The findings discussed are related to how the indicators can best support future policy development and implementation of disability-inclusive education across the region.

Intercultural education is often a contested area. This is true of Pasifika education, the education in Aotearoa New Zealand of students with links to Pacific Island nations. Despite shifts of framing, one area identified as significant in Pasifika education is student-teacher relationships. This article describes two phases of research which pay attention to these relationships. One mines teacher responses to student-made video. The second draws data from teacher-made videos following professional development. The Pacific relational concept of "va," relational space, formed part of teachers' learning opportunities. The article argues for the potential of reunderstanding Pasifika education through contextualised Pacific concepts.

This paper offers an overview of complexities of the contexts for education in Aotearoa, which include the need to recognise and include Maori (Indigenous) perspectives, but also to extend this inclusion to the context of increasing ethnic diversity. These complexities include the situation of worsening disparities between rich and poor which disproportionately position Maori and those from Pacific Island backgrounds in situations of poverty. It then offers a brief critique of government policies before providing some examples of models that resist "normal science" categorisations. These include: the Maori values underpinning the effective teachers' profile of the Kotahitanga project and of the Maori assessment model for early childhood education; the dispositions identified in a Samoan model for assessing young children's learning; and the approach developed for assessing Maori children's literacy and numeracy within schools where Maori language is the medium of instruction. These models all position learning within culturally relevant frames that are grounded in non-Western onto-epistemologies which include spiritual, cultural, and collective aspirations.

Current government discourses on partnerships tend to assume an uncritical belief in the existence of equal ownership and equal power relations between development partners and partner governments. The rhetoric of shared visions, common strategic directions or complementary approaches to development in the Pacific begs the question of how such visions and directions are interpreted by the "partners", and especially how ideas look once they become funded development projects/programmes. This paper takes a critical postcolonial perspective of practice, past and present, and explores whether these partnerships are "working" or whether the wheel of international development assistance goes round and round without much visible change. The author first examines the topic from a theoretical and policy perspective. She then utilises examples from her experience in Pacific education as consultant and researcher, using Samoa as an illustrative case. (Contains 4 footnotes and 1 figure.)

Recent debates on climate mobilities have largely ignored the dynamics of mobility patterns including short-distance and short-duration circular movements to enhance adaptative capacity and resilience of households and individuals, enabling them to remain in place despite facing increasingly severe climatic risks. This paper explores Pacific Islanders' climate-related mobilities with reference to cases from Samoa. It first conceptualizes Samoan mobility, which is rooted in Samoan culture, norms and worldviews, and then uses this as a framework to examine ways in which people shift and diversify their residential locations for climate-associated reasons. The study employs a comparative case study approach using conversational (the Pacific-originated talanoa-style) interviews with 40 participants in two villages in Samoa—one urban and the other rural. Findings suggest that shifting spatially and temporarily between two residences (a practice called fa'a-'āigalua) occurs not only within the village but across villages. Thereby, villagers reduce the risk of incurring physical harm from climate-related disasters, while minimizing the risk of cultural harm from place detachment. Our study challenges the discourse of 'vulnerable Pacific Islanders' by demonstrating the adaptability of Samoans to changing socio-ecological and climatic circumstances and their ability to develop a variety of climate resilience strategies, including micro-mobilities and circular migration. This article is part of the theme issue 'Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thinking and working politically is an approach to manoeuvring within social and political realities to achieve development goals, which some see as a new orthodoxy [Teskey 2017. Thinking and Working Politically: Are We Seeing the Emergence of a Second Orthodoxy? Governance Working Paper Series, Issue 1. Massachusetts: Abt Associates]. This research explores the practice of thinking and working politically in the Pacific, through in-depth interviews and observation with nine Pacific Islander staff working within a bilateral aid programme in Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Solomon Islands. The findings provide a rich description of what thinking and working politically entails in small, highly connected island communities, with insights into how these processes can be supported in official aid programmes. Highlights This research unpacks thinking and working politically from the unique perspective of Pacific staff working in a bilateral aid programme. Thinking politically involves knowing the context, who to work with, and when to act. Working politically entails good communication, intuition, flexibility, influence, connecting people, and "playing different cards" at appropriate moments. Building and maintaining relationships is the cornerstone of thinking and working politically but is not always valued by within aid programmes. Moving away from political analysis as donor-led, intelligence-gathering exercises towards investment in locally led processes necessitates genuinely valuing relational work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trivialization of Pacific Islanders' existence, exposed in travel books and fiction on the 'South Seas' from the late 18th century to the present, includes a view of Polynesian women as sexually saturated figures, in which exoticism and eroticism overlap. The theories of anthropologists, synthesized in the Mead-Freeman controversy on female sexuality in Samoa, reflect an instrumental use of indigenous cultures to demonstrate preconceptual hypotheses. Samoan writer Sia Figiel has been one of the first Pacific Islands women to offer an insider representation of Pacific femininity. Her works reflect the "decolonial turn" advocated by Maria Lugones to reject the hierarchical dichotomies and categorial logic of the Western episteme and affirm that "fractured locus" which allows multiple ontological presuppositions. Her latest novel Freelove (2016), analysed in this article, is centred on the coming of age of a Samoan girl in the 1980s and offers an unprecedented viewpoint on Samoan female sexuality, from an indigenous perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: This paper explores various issues pertinent to international social work practice, including its definition, how Western epistemologies affect international placements, barriers to effective placements and student motivations for undertaking practicum away from home. METHOD: Reviewed literature will be coupled with Australian student-participants' evaluations of their experience in completing social work placements in Fiji and Samoa. FINDINGS: A new model of approaching Pacific social work across Oceania emerges from the study. Entitled Tanoa Ni Veiqaravi (Serving Bowl of Serving Others), this culturally nuanced framework integrates both Western and Pacific social work perspectives to support professional practice, policy development and research across the region. CONCLUSIONS: Recommendations for the improvement of international field practice are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American Samoa and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) are two small Pacific Island nations that have some of the highest noncommunicable disease (NCD) mortality rates in the world. Supported by church leaders to address obesity as an NCD risk factor, American Samoa, and Chuuk and Kosrae States of FSM selected the implementation of healthy beverages as a nutrition intervention through a water- and coconut water-only pledge in church events. The consumption of water and coconut water was tracked. Across 105 church events in the three jurisdictions, the count of water bottles before and after events decreased from 142.8 to 22.3, the number of coconuts before and after events decreased from 19.6 to 1.2, and cups of water before and after events decreased from 52.9 to 7.6. The promotion of healthy beverages in church settings holds promise in the Pacific as a feasible, accessible, and culturally responsive nutrition approach, given limited access to other nutritional alternatives, e.g., fresh fruits and vegetables. Supplemental health promotion messaging to maintain knowledge and attitudes about healthy is recommended for future scaling up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe key characteristics of the dietary habits of Samoans residing in Logan, Queensland and to compare these characteristics with comparable populations.Design: Dietary intake was measured using a self-administered structured questionnaire between December 2012 and March 2013. Demographic characteristics included age and sex. Questionnaire results were compared with data from samples of Brisbane residents of similar social and economic characteristics and Pacific Islanders in New Zealand. The association between demographic characteristics and diet was investigated.Setting: Logan, Queensland, Australia.Subjects: Samoans aged 16 years and older.Results: A total of 207 Samoans participated, ninety-six (46 %) of whom were male. Of the participants, seventy-nine (38 %) were aged 16-29 years, sixty-three (30 %) were aged 30-49 years and sixty-five (31 %) were aged ≥50 years. Younger adults were significantly more likely to eat hamburgers, pizza, cakes, savoury pastries, potato crisps, sweets and soft drinks (all variables P<0·001). Among Samoans, 44·7 % consumed two or more pieces of fruit daily, compared with 43·8 % of comparable Brisbane residents (relative risk=1·0; 95 % CI 0·8, 1·2). Three or more servings of vegetables each day were consumed by 9·2 % of Samoans compared with 36·6 % of comparable Brisbane residents (relative risk=3·8; 95 % CI 2·5, 6·0).Conclusions: Samoans are consuming significantly fewer vegetables and more discretionary foods than other populations. Socio-economic factors, length of stay in Australia and cultural practices may impact upon Samoans' diets. Further comprehensive studies on Samoans' dietary habits in Australia are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To assess the perinatal morbidity and mortality of macrosomic (>4500 g) and low birth weight (LBW) (<2500 g) neonates in a Pacific Islander population (PIP) from Samoa compared to a Caucasian population (CP).Methods: Case-control study. Clinical data were extracted by chart review.Results: In 3166 (PIP) and 2101 (CP) deliveries, macrosomia was more prevalent and LBW less prevalent in the PIP [76/3166 (2.4 %) vs. 21/2101 (0.9 %); p < 0.0001 and 149/3166 (4.7 %) vs. 163/2101 (7.7 %); p < 0.0001, respectively]. Among macrosomic neonates, perinatal mortality and composite severe neonatal morbidity (CNM) were higher in the PIP compared to the CP [2/76 (3 %) vs. 0/21 (0 %) and 6/76 (7 %) vs. 1/21 (4 %), respectively]. Among LBW neonates, mortality, but not CNM, was significantly higher in the PIP [16/149 (7 %) vs. 2/163 (1 %), p < 0.0001 and 10/149 (6 %) vs. 5/163 (3 %), p = 0.2, respectively]. The proportion of macrosomic neonates transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was significantly higher in the PIP [50/76 (65 %) vs. 0/21 (0 %), p < 0.0001]. Age, body mass index, and delivery mode did not independently predict CNM.Conclusion: Samoan women have higher rates of macrosomia and lower rates of LBW compared to Caucasians, suggesting an anthropomorphic basis of this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies suggest Pacific Islander women have disparate rates of preterm birth, primary cesarean delivery, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and low birthweight infants. However, data is limited. In order to improve the health of Pacific Islanders, it is essential to better understand differences in obstetric outcomes in this diverse populationMethods: This study compared perinatal outcomes between Pacific Islander (9,646) and White (n = 5,510) women who delivered a singleton liveborn in any Hawaii hospital from January 2010 to December 2011 using the Hawaii Health Information Corporation (HHIC) database. Pacific Islanders were disaggregated into the following groups: Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Micronesian, and Other Pacific Islanders. Perinatal outcomes (e.g. hypertensive diseases, birthweight, mode of delivery) were compared using multivariable logistic models controlling for relevant sociodemographic and health risk factors (e.g. age and payer type).Results: Significant differences in perinatal outcomes between Pacific Islander and White women and newborns were noted. All Pacific Islander groups had an increased risk of hypertension. Outcome differences were also seen between Pacific Islanders groups. Native Hawaiians had the highest risk of low birthweight infants, Samoans had the highest risk of macrosomic infants and Micronesians had the highest risk of cesarean delivery.Conclusions: Important differences in perinatal outcomes among Pacific Islanders exist. It is important to examine Pacific Islander populations separately in future research, public health interventions, and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the impacts of long-standing obesity (BMIs ≥ 30.0 kg/m(2)) on health outcomes among Samoan and Tongan men (aged ≥ 18 years) in California using a life course perspective.Design: Cross-sectional analysis of 103 males from the Pacific Islander Health Study (PIHS), a probability sample modeled after the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).Setting: Urban residential neighborhoods in San Mateo and Los Angeles counties using a multistage, cluster sample design.Main Outcome Measures: BMI, diabetes, hypertension, total cholesterol, smoking, drinking, arthritis, gout and migraines.Results: Bivariate analysis shows high rates of poor health outcomes distributed throughout the obese and non-obese sample. Logistic analysis finds that being obese does not significantly increase observed negative health outcomes. After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, the presence of obesity results in non-significant findings for hypertension (OR=1.02; CI: .21, 4.91), and high cholesterol (OR=.52; CI: .10, 2.73), while obesity significantly reduces the risk of diabetes by 60% (OR=.40; CI: .14, 1.17). When applying disease counts, obese men have a significantly lower risk of reporting multiple health conditions (OR=.72; CI: .52, 1.00).Conclusion: Overall, the health of Samoan and Tongan males in California is uniformly poor and obesity alone does not significantly increase risks of poor health outcomes. Using a life course perspective, the analysis offers new insights on the basic health of this understudied population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacific Islanders have been exposed to risks associated with climate change. Samoa as one of the Pacific Islands are prone to climatic hazards that will likely increase in coming decades, affecting coastal communities and infrastructure around the is- lands. Climate models do not predict a reduction of such disaster events in the future in Samoa; indeed, most predict an increase in such events. This paper identifies key infrastructure and their functions and status in order to provide an overall picture of relative vulnerability to climate-related stresses of such infrastructure on the island. By reviewing existing reports as well as holding a series of consultation meetings, a list of critical infrastructures were developed and shared with stakeholders for their consideration. An indicator-based vulnerability model (SIVM) was developed in collaboration with stakeholders to assess the vulnerability of selected infrastructure systems on the Samoan Islands. Damage costs were extracted from the Evan cyclone recovery needs document. On the other hand, criticality and capacity to repair data were collected from stakeholders. Having stakeholder perspectives on these two issues was important because (a) criticality of a given infrastructure could be viewed differently among different stakeholders, and (b) stakeholders were the best available source (in this study) to estimate the capacity to repair non-physical damage to such infrastructure. Analysis of the results suggested rankings from most vulnerable to least vulnerable sectors are the transportation sector, the power sector, the water supply sector and the sewerage system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• COVID-19 rates examined in Pacific Islanders living in Hawai'i. • Pacific Islanders account for 4% of the population but almost 30% of cases. • Little COVID-19 transmission from Pacific Islanders to other groups. • There is an epidemic within an epidemic in Hawai'i. This is a brief report on an unusual observation regarding COVID-19 cases. The State of Hawaii is one of the most remote of the Pacific islands and the population is approximately 1.4 million. The racial and ethnic diversity is very high. For example, white Caucasians comprise ∼25%, Asians including Japanese, Chinese, and other Asians account for ∼30%, Hawaiians for 20%, and Pacific Islanders mostly from Micronesia and Samoa comprise ∼4%. We discovered that the COVID-19 rate in the latter group was up to 10 times that in all of the other groups combined and they accounted for almost 30% of cases. Moreover, we are unaware of COVID-19 transmission from Pacific Islanders to islanders with other ethnicities. Thus, there is an epidemic within the epidemic in Hawai'i. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New flows of population movements have called into question both conventional categories of "migration" and their assumptions, encouraged by concepts such as diaspora and transnationalism. Despite the incorporation of the new concepts diaspora and transnationalism in migration studies in Oceania, conceptual problems remain because traditional categories of migration, diaspora, and transnationalism continue to dominate mobility literature with notions of severing ties, uprootedness, and rupture as Pacific Islanders move from the periphery (villages) to the core (Pacific Rim countries). In this article, I argue that indigenous conceptions of migration and development provide a better understanding of people's movements and the connection of migration to development for Island societies and economies. Through an ethnogeographic study of Salelologa, a Samoan village with members in Sāmoa and overseas, I use Samoan concepts for migration, malaga, and social connectedness, vā, to examine the processes, ideologies, and interactions that 'āiga (kin group, family members) maintain and retain in the diaspora as they seek ways to improve households and human betterment. This discussion of a Samoan philosophy and epistemology of movement expands, invigorates, and redefines ideas of migration, development, transnationality, place, and identity through Samoan ontological lenses. Harnessing an awareness of indigenous concepts is not enough, however, unless indigeneity and its concepts are fully integrated into theoretical approaches to mobility research in Oceania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]