L-R: Cook Islands scholars Liam Koka’ua, Inano Taripo Walter, Dr Emma Powell, Stacey Koka’ua Balfour
Dr Emma Powell writes about her recent trip to Rarotonga for the 2023 Pacific Islands Universities Network Conference.
Established in 2012, the Pacific Islands Universities Network (PIURN) Conference was intended to “enable closer and meaningful collaboration” amongst a consortium of 14 universities located in the island-Pacific. Rarotonga was chosen as the location for the networks 5th meeting and several doctoral students and Otago staff travelled to the Cook Islands to participate in the regional conference on 4-6 July 2023.
Dr Emma Powell arranged a special session for Cook Islands early career researchers on 6 July local time. Inspired by the arrangement of a festschrift for Cook Islands scholar and educator, the late Dr Marjorie Crocombe, during the conference, the session was intended to honour an pioneering generation of scholars, many of whom were mentored by Dr Crocombe, and signal new turns in Cook Islands scholarship from a swelling critical mass of new Cook Islands researchers.
Inano Taripo Walter, who is a Cook Islands doctoral candidate with secondary supervision at Te Tumu, presented on the role of va‘ine Māori within the land court. She discussed the importance of piri‘anga (relationships), ‘akapapa‘anga (genealogies) and mana to understanding the significance of women in the arbitration of ‘enua (land) within Cook Islands society. Stacey Kokaua, a Cook Islands doctoral candidate in Otago’s English department, presented her early stages of research into Cook Islands Māori theoretical responses to ecocriticsm within literary studies. Liam Kokaua, a graduate of the University of Auckland’s Masters of Indigenous Studies programme, shared compelling research he’d undertaken about the pae maunga on Rarotonga. Liam has produced material for screen and a book that makes accessible ancient and new knowledge about tupuna maunga in the Cook Islands.
The session was well-attended by other Cook Islands and Pacific delegates. The Q&A session was engaging and the panel received an overwhelming number of questions and comments that showed enthuasism both for their respective projects and the wider project of Cook Islands scholarship.
Unexpectedly and with sadness, the session seemed even more poignant with the surprise passing of legendary Cook Islands scholar, musician, writer and public servant, Professor Jon Jonassen, on the first day of the PIURN Conference. Professor Jonassen was widely acknowledged as an expert on Cook Islands peu Māori (cultural traditions), tua ta‘ito (ancients stories) and the Cook Islands drumming tradition. His passing during the conference was a shock to many attending and was felt sharply during the session.
Acknowledgements must also go to Univeristy of Otago colleagues who presented at the conference: Dr Moira Fortin Cornejo (Languages and Cultures) and Dr Jesse Kokaua & Dr Troy Ruhe (Va‘a o Tautai). Dr Powell also presented at the festschrift session for Dr Crocombe where she spoke to a brief paper titled: “That we may be proud of our heritage”, Marjorie Crocombe & Pacific Literature.
