 |
Search The Pacific Centre |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Talanoa in Fijian
means to have a conversation, to relate something, or simply to
'talk story'. It has a similar meaning in other languages of the
Central Pacific
Talanoa Newsletter
| Vol. 2,
No. 1 |
December, 1999
|
|
SUMMARY
The Centre for the Contemporary Pacific was established by The
Australian National University in 1990 to develop and promote the
university's internationally distinguished and unrivalled
scholarship on the Pacific Islands region. It has accomplished this
mission by developing links with government agencies, institutions
and universities within Australia and the Pacific region, bringing
to the ANU a number of distinguished Pacific Island leaders and
public figures, including former prime ministers and heads of
states, and by hosting major workshops and conferences on topical
issues and concerns in the contemporary Pacific.
Return to Top of Page
CENTRE
SEMINARS
.
 |
Impacts of the Bougainville Crisis on the Military in Papua
New Guinea
YAUKO LIRIA
Senior Pacific Islands Visiting Fellow, ANU
31 March
(Jointly with the Department of Political and
Social Change). |
|
Bougainvilleans' Economic Initiatives in the Peace Process,
1998.
MARIE TYLER
Program Advisor for the Foundation for Community Development,
Bougainville
25 March
(Jointly with State,
Society and Governance in Melanesia Project) |
|
Fiji General Elections of
1999
BRIJ V. LAL
Director, Centre for the Contemporary Pacific
10 June. |
|
Fiji in Transition: Personal
Reflections
MAJOR GENERAL SITIVENI RABUKA
former Fiji Prime Minister
5 July |
|
Conflict in the Solomon Islands: Reflections
MAJOR GENERAL SITIVENI RABUKA
7 July |
|
Pacific Regionalism and the Future of the SPC
ROBERT DUNN
Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community
18 August |
|
Governance in Fiji: Contradictions in the new Fiji
constitution
YASH GHAI
University of Hong Kong
2 September
(jointly with State,
Society and Governance in Melanesia Project) |
|
South Pacific Forum: The Road Ahead
IOSEFA MAIAVA
Deputy Secretary General, South Pacific Forum
4 November |
|
Recent Developments in Samoa
HON. MAFASOLIA PAPU VAAI
Samoan Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and
Meteorogical Servies
15 September |
Return to Top of Page
CONFERENCES AND UPDATES
|
|
Samoa and Fiji Focus - 9 July
King George Room Carlton Crest Hotel, Brisbane
(With National Centre for Development Studies). |
|
Fiji Update - 28 July
Crawford Building, The Australian National University
(With National Centre for Development Studies). |
|
Island State Security Conference - 22-24 June
Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Honolulu
(invited participation) |
|
Identities du Pacifique - 15-16 July
University of New Caledonia, Noumea
(invited participation). |
|
Constitutional Design 2000: Institutional Design, Conflict
Management, and Democracy in the Late 20th Century - 9-11
December
Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
(invited participation). |
Return to Top of Page
CENTRE VISITORS
|
|
Marie Tyler - 16-29 March
Professional Home Economist and Program Advisor for the Foundation
for Community Development in Bougainville |
|
Meg Taylor - 11 March
Papua New Guinea Diplomat and Stateswoman |
|
Gerald Zackios - 20 April
Attorney General of the Republic of the Marshal Islands |
|
HRH Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata - 16 August
Tongan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence |
|
Dr Jean-Luc Renard - 29 September
External Relations Delegate for Asia and the Pacific, CIRAD |
Return to Top of Page
CENTRE VISITING FELLOW
| Dr Margaret Burns (PhD, ANU, 1994) is an anthropologist
with specialist interest in metaphor and the contemporary arts, and
how those contribute to the creation of knowledge. She is currently
completing a book-length study of these topics, focusing on
cultural revival in Chinese communities in the Francophone Pacific,
focusing on the importance of Chinese philosophical and religious
ideas to understanding the cultural importance of art and
architecture in French Polynesia.
She can be contacted at: mburns@coombs.anu.edu.au
|
|
Return to Top of Page
PACIFIC DISTINGUISHED LECTURE
Widening Worlds, Shrinking Worlds: The Reshaping of
Oceania
Emeritus Professor and Centre Distinguished Fellow RG Ward
12 October 1999
'The dimensions of Oceania and its component parts
have changed dramatically in the last two centuries. For some, life
worlds and identities have widenened. For others, they have been
re-shaped, re-located, or have even shrunk. Two basic
characteristics of the region which profoundly influence people's
world view and areas of action distance and isolation may be
thought of as absolutes. In fact they are relative values. Changes
in transport and communication technologies have brought
transformations of distance, accessibility and degrees of
remoteness to Oceania in recent decades. In this lecture Professor
Ward reviews some of the ways in which images of 'Oceania' have
changed and how technological change has, and in continuing to
re-shape this island world.'
The published version of the lecture will be
available from the Centre in the new year.
Enquiries: ccp@coombs.anu.edu.au
|
|
Return to Top of Page
CANBERRA RETREAT ON PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY
IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
(Organised in association with the Centre for Democratic
Institutions,
The Australian National University)
22-26 November
The aim of the Retreat was to discuss the ways in
which the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, inherited
at independence, is functioning in the post-colonial Pacific. It
sought to understand the complex ways in which the western
parliamentary process is incorporated into local social and
cultural contexts intersected by ethnicity, gender and social
conditions.
Three parliamentary representatives each from Fiji,
Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia
and Samoa attended. Broad themes discussed at the Retreat
included:
|
|
Political Parties and Parliamentary Democracy |
|
The Individual Parliamentarian and Parliamentary Democracy |
|
The Role of the Opposition in Parliamentary Democracy |
|
Parliamentary Ethics and the Role of Leadership Codes. |
Return to Top of Page
CONFERENCE NOTICE: FOOD IN THE PACIFIC AND ASIA
27-28 April, 2000
| The Centre for the Contemporary Pacific is planning a two-day
conference on food as a mediator in intercultural relations and
invites papers from scholars across a range of disciplines as well
as people from the region who have a special interest or expertise
in relevant aspects of food in social and cultural contexts. Papers
are expected to cover a range of topics and themes including food
as a social bond, as a medium of exchange, as a marker of identity
and as a mediator of relationships between different cultural
groups. For more information, contact the Centre. (see below) |
|
Return to Top of Page
Please write to us at:
Centre for the Contemporary Pacific
Research School of Pacific & Asian Studies
Coombs Bldg No. 9
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA
Fax: 61 2 6125 5525/Email: ccp@coombs.anu.edu.au
|
|
