Vanuatu chiefs encourage Ni-Vans to pursue arranged marriage

Vanuatu chiefs are pushing to re-introduce traditional arranged weddings as they believe it will strengthen

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The power of a ‘toothless tiger’

Pacific Island experts have welcomed a new international treaty that aims to prevent biopiracy as a major step forward in global efforts to protect indigenous intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional

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French Polynesia’s Marquesas islands join UNESCO’s World Heritage list

French Polynesia’s Marquesas islands are now part of UNESCO’s World Heritage list. The UN endorsement came as a result of the meeting of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee 46th session in New Delhi,

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Hawaii Aloha: Honouring the “Hawaii Nation”

How do we assess the success of a cultural event? What metrics apply when you’re talking about dancers, artists and a host of creatives? That’s the challenge facing anyone who wants to determine whether the 13th

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A meeting of culture, commerce and solidarity

At the halfway of the recent Festival for Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC), its operations director Makanani Sali described it as a “beautiful, chaotic mess” in an interview with local media. And that is how it

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Opinion: Tapestry of Pacific ambiguities: Political tensions against the backdrop of FestPac celebrations

The focus of the Festival of Pacific Arts, or FestPac, is always culture, and the 13th iteration held in June 2024 in Hawai’i was no different.  More than two dozen island nations sent delegations of dancers,

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Pacific voyaging organisations forge new path of collaboration

A gathering of all the voyaging organisations from Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, including around 10 Pwo navigators, was held last week before master navigator Peia Patai and Vaka Marumaru Atua left Hawai’i

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Pacific nations strengthen ties at massive FestPAC celebration in Hawaii

A crowd of thousands bid farewell to the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture on Sunday during a large-scale celebration at the University of Hawaii that hosted delegates from 27 island nations.  FestPAC, hailed

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More than 1,000 invasive trees harvested to build village for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture

The Hawaii DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife worked with the Albizia Project to cut down more than 1,000 invasive trees — mostly albizia, macaranga, and gunpowder trees — that will be used to make 28 hale for

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Reversing the tide of colonial anthropology

Doctor Tarisi Vunidilo has emerged as a leading voice in the growing movement across the Pacific in recent years to repatriate Pacific treasures, as well as human remains from museums across Europe and other parts of

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Repatriation efforts underway for ancient Chamorro carvings at Bishop Museum

For the first time in more than 30 years, the latte stones are making a public appearance at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. They’ve lived in the museum for over a century since researchers took the cultural relics

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Culture not an excuse for violence: PNG Governor-General

Papua New Guinea cannot claim to be a Christian country because its society has many social ills highlighted by a disrespect for one another, says Governor-General Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae. Speaking during the flag

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