Pacific Development

The postgraduate course in Pacific Development will explore how communities adapt to social change, newness, globalisation and cultural politics. Serious questions will be examined such as:

  • How will the future unfold for the new generation of the contemporary Pacific?
  • How will culture, power and knowledge be modified?
  • How will Pacific leaders who are different from their forebears be equipped to best represent their own generation which has undergone change and is different from their parents generation?

Research active staff:

Dr Teena Brown-Pulu

Teena is the Curriculum Leader for Pacific Development. In 2008 she received a BRCSS Postdoctoral Research Award to explore how Auckland Tongans sustain kinship ties to their origin village in Tonga. She is also co-editing a book on voluntary work in Māori and Pacific communities of Aotearoa. Teena's students explore how globalisation reshapes culture and identity.

They examine responses of Pacific Peoples in Aotearoa and the contemporary Pacific to new environments in social and economic change.

Research and Supervisory Interests include:

  • Social change and cultural politics in the contemporary Pacific
  • Anthropology and social theory.