Pacific Islands Studies Plan B Masters Projects

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/20086

SEE ALSO
M.A. - Pacific Islands Studies [http://hdl.handle.net/10125/2130]
and
M.A. Plan A - Pacific Islands Studies [http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20085]

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 93

Surfacing Climate Finance, Cryptocurrency, and Sovereignty: A Technofinancial Future of Community Well-Being in the Kingdom of Tonga
(2025) Fusituʻa, Alana Lehuanani Pilialoha Griep Wilson
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face significant challenges in accessing financial resources at both macro and micro levels. At the macro level, many SIDS governments lack the institutional capacity needed to directly receive and manage climate finance from large financial institutions such as the World Bank (Roberts & Weikmans, 2017). At the micro level, families who rely on remittances sent through services like Western Union or MoneyGram often encounter high transaction fees and logistical barriers, including the need to physically collect funds from financial institutions (World Bank, 2020). As I explored these dynamics more deeply, I became increasingly interested in how cryptocurrency might provide an alternative pathway to address these longstanding financial inequities in the Pacific. Cryptocurrency shows potential as a tool for both climate finance accessibility and broader financial infrastructure development. On a macro scale, it could streamline the disbursement and management of climate funds and strengthen governmental financial systems (Tama, 2022). On a micro scale, it holds the capacity to support small businesses, reduce remittance fees, and improve everyday financial transactions for local communities. Several Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including Palau through its Stablecoin Program and the Marshall Islands with the sovereign digital currency SOV, are already exploring and implementing cryptocurrency solutions within their national frameworks. Vanuatu, while often cited in discussions of digital-currency experimentation, is not pursuing a government-led initiative; instead, the activity associated with Vanuatu stems from an Oxfam-led pilot, not the Vanuatu government (Carter & Farrell, 2021; IMF, 2022). Their initiatives demonstrate growing interest in digital currencies as a means of strengthening state capacity, sovereignty, and financial resilience. Cryptocurrency, broadly defined, “is a form of digital asset that operates on an encrypted, decentralized network, enabling secure peer-to-peer transactions without the need for a central authority like a government or bank…built on blockchain technology, which is a public immutable ledger that records all transactions and ensures transparency and security” (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.). Although cryptocurrency itself is not traditional money, it can be monetized, converted to currency, or invested in globally through blockchain networks. This form of payment is attractive to governments and businesses because blockchain systems allow for highly secure, encrypted transactions and the permanent recording of information (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.). Given these features, I saw that the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem presents a promising alternative for addressing both climate finance challenges and financial infrastructure gaps within Pacific Island nations. It offers possibilities for streamlining climate fund transfers at the state level, strengthening financial sovereignty, and reducing everyday financial burdens for citizens. However, this potential must be balanced with critical awareness. Global Bitcoin mining and the broader cryptocurrency industry can pose environmental risks, particularly to the fragile ecosystems of the Pacific Region. Yet, emerging research also shows possibilities for mitigating these impacts through renewable energy integration and the utilization of lower-energy cryptocurrency and/or Bitcoin-mining technologies that significantly reduce environmental burdens. These developments offer pathways that future studies could explore more fully. Through frameworks like Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 “Climate Action” and SDG 7 “Affordable and Clean Energy,” countries interested in digital currencies have opportunities to foster climate-conscious digital infrastructure. According to the United Nations University (2025), even though energy-intensive digital currencies can strain local resources, transitions to renewable energy sources such as hydropower, along with complementary practices like reforestation, as seen in China, can substantially offset environmental impacts. These examples indicate the potential for reimagining digital financial systems in more climate-conscious and sustainable ways. In Tonga’s context, recently deceased Lord Fusituʻa advocated powerfully for this vision. As highlighted in "Volcanoes, Bitcoin and Remittances: A Tongan Lord Plans for Financial Security," he proposed utilizing geothermal energy, one of Tonga’s abundant natural resources, to power low-emission Bitcoin mining. His proposal reflected a broader cultural and economic aspiration: to reduce foreign financial dependence while strengthening economic sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and long-term resilience. I recognize that many industries with historically large carbon footprints such as international shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel-based energy imports all have long operated in the Pacific with minimal accountability. These sectors have contributed significantly to emissions and ocean degradation. By contrast, a carefully regulated, locally controlled digital financial system powered by renewable energy could offer a more sustainable pathway, particularly if it reduces remittance costs, enhances financial equity, and supports community well-being. As someone deeply interested in future studies, I was compelled to examine how cryptocurrency could be leveraged to support climate finance in Pacific Island contexts. My research led me to question how digital currencies might reshape financial ecosystems, governmental capacity, and community-level economic participation. Pacific SIDS such as Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu are already experimenting with digital financial frameworks that provide valuable entry points for this analysis (Government of Palau, 2022; Republic of the Marshall Islands, 2018). Ultimately, my curiosity about these intersecting issues guided me toward developing this portfolio at the nexus of climate finance, Pacific Islander state sovereignty, and community well-being. By using cryptocurrency as a focal lens, I sought to understand not only its potential opportunities and risks, but also its implications for broader techno-futures in Oceania and beyond.
Rotuman Identity Through Storytelling
(2024-05) Taukave, John Jimione Brandon
This creative scholarly project documents my creative work with Rako Pasefika for over ten years alongside fresh work created for this MA Portfolio research. Rako Pasefika is a company of performers and creatives living in Fiji who have been reconnecting with their homeland of Rotuma through diverse performative media in dance, poetry, spoken word, chant and oratory. The Armea bird, a black and red feathered Honeyeater symbolic and endemic to Rotuma has been the practical, affective, spiritual and symbolic focus of this reconnection. Creative works in music, dance, war cries, poetry and spoken word, summoning and deploying the hanuju (stories) of the Armea are highlighted in, and have illuminated my journey of reconnection. This research work is important because it contributes to understanding the potential of creative critical scholarship to support the interdisciplinary breadth of Pacific Islands Studies and because it demonstrates the critical value of interweaving academic scholarship and performance art as a way of reconnecting back and empowering my Rotuman identity towards diverse goals from environmental conservation and the everyday politics of sustainable living, to Indigenous leadership in place-based management of valued local natures represented by the Armea bird, to the role of performance in creating and maintaining potent relationalities between artists and communities and their shared home(is)lands. This MA Portfolio has four integral parts: a scholarly essay, a performance booklet and artistic statement, Living Moments with Jay-j, a collection of “Tiny Desk” performance videos capturing the expressive contribution and accomplishment of the creative contribution of this work, and a concluding reflection. The scholarly essay opens with an exploration of the concept of story contextualizing my creative journey with Rako Pasefika, and a discussion of the disconnect, I previously experienced with my Rotuman identity. It then presents archival research and data along with qualitative social science on the Armea bird, Rotuman history and language as a reconstitution, recognition and reconnection through the figure of the Armea. It concludes with a discussion of the integration of contemporary Oceanian and Pasifika critical research methodology frameworks such as the Teu le vā with a Rotuman Performative lens drawing on experiences with my community. I have also incorporated essential communal values and proverbs that are required of me when engaging with my Rotuman communities, chiefs, elders and storytellers. Indigenous methods of documenting these stories orally in performance are key forms of credible history that must be acknowledged and integrated into academic scholarship. Within each of the components of this cover essay, I have woven intimate letters of gratitude to my Rako Pasefika family, elder and sub-chief, Gagaj Taimanav as well as to the Armea bird. The letters are story bridges, architectures which I hope will strengthen all of the demonstrated relationships and be an important tool for other young Rotuman and Pacific Islander creative scholars who find themselves disconnected as they navigate their paths of reconnection. By documenting my creative journey with Rako, my work with Rotuman elders, my interweavings of performance and critical scholarly work, I hope to better understand who I am as a Rotuman, a performing artist and as an emerging scholar in Pacific Islands Studies. I also hope that this work in its written and performance form will inspire young indigenous artists/ scholars in their own journey of reconnection. Some of the keywords that will constantly appear in this work are: Armea: the bird of focus and creative inspiration, endemic to Rotuma Hanuju: stories in the Rotuman language Reconnection: reconnecting back to my Rotuman identity through performances around the hanuju of the Armea. Performance: The mediums in which I will perform my work of reconnection through music, chanting, spoken word and dance.
Noho Ana Ke Akua I Ka Nāhelehele
(2014) Blair-Stahn, Chai Grahame Kaiaka
The Hawaiian chant Noho Ana Ke Akua I Ka Nāhelehele describes hula practitioners as kahu, or stewards, of Laka, the principle Hawaiian hula deity who may be perceived of as the natural environment. This customary role is problematized by features of contemporary life that degrade the natural environment. The practice, performance, and perpetuation of hula are all at stake, as nature is the primary source of inspiration, emulation, and resources for hula practitioners. Potential solutions to some environmental issues are presented as re-solutions based upon customary hula practices. These suggestions were derived through an interdisciplinary investigation featuring ethnographic, narrative, linguistic, and scientific analyses.

The methodology for this investigation was rooted in Hawaiian concepts and values of Nihi ka hele – treading lightly, Nānā i ke kumu – looking to the source, and Maka hana ka ‘ike – knowing through doing. While drawing upon published sources and interviews with cultural practitioners, the investigation also drew upon the personal experiences of a non-Kanaka Maoli (non-Native Hawaiian) hula practitioner.

This portfolio is organized as two separate but interrelated mahele or divisions. Mahele One comprises the major written component. Mahele Two includes separate Lau, or leaves -interview transcripts, a glossary of terms, calculations, and tables of supporting information.
AELÕÑ IN AIBOJOOJ: Visual Reclamation of Marshallese Self-Representation
(2020-03-03) Enomoto, Joy Lehuanani
There are a few dominant visual narratives of the Marshall Islands, however precious few of those narratives are told by the Marshallese. Issues such as, climate change, the Compact Of Free Association, and the nuclear legacy are discourses about the Marshall Islands fueled by the media. Images of loss and devastation that promote concepts of extinction rather than the deeper stories of an imaginative and problem solving people. But what happens when the cameras are given to those who actually the descendants of the land? How does the lens shift? In July, 2018, a small group of Marshallese students and community members, came together to participate in a photography project engaging the question, "What is the visual story you want to tell about your home?" The result was a photo exhibition that was shared at the close of the National Climate Dialogue held at the International Conference Center in Majuro. The participants named the exhibition, Aelõñ in Aibojooj - beautiful small things. The exhibition shares images of children, of laughter and favorite beaches, of soil erosion and solutions, of culture and community. In a just a few images, it provides a larger visual narrative of the beauty of place that is often not truly seen. It is for the people of this place, who call this place home, sharing the beauty in the small things of everyday life. Their life.
Cultivator: Pacific Tongues Educators' Guide to cultivating an active artistic Oceanic community of writers, spoken word performers, leaders, educators, and students of all ages
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015) Won Pat-Borja, Melvin; Mateo, Jason; Pacific Islands Studies
Heads & Shoulders: Representations of Polynesian Men in the NFL
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014) Manarpaac, Christine; Pacific Islands Studies
In Our Own Verse: Tongan Music and Poetry-Writing as Decolonial Praxis
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015) Kava, Leora Kalandra; Pacific Islands Studies
Changing Attitudes of Education in Hawaii, 1820-1920
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014) Iaukea, Liane Patricia Carmen; Pacific Islands Studies
Ke Mau Ki Pale O Tokelau: Hold Fast To The Treasures of Tokelau; Navigating Tokelauan Agency In The Homeland and Diaspora
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014) Iaukea, Lesley Kehaunani; Pacific Islands Studies
Iep Jaltok: A History of Marshallese Literature
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2014) Jetnil-Kijiner, Kathy; Pacific Islands Studies
Sapon Riki Ba Kain Toromon: A Study of the I-Kiribati Community in Solomon Islands
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011) Tabe, Tammy; Pacific Islands Studies
Lei Stories: Experiences and Practices Behind Lei Production in Hawaii
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2010) Nishida, Junko; Pacific Islands Studies
With the emergence of a globalized capitalist economy, discussions regarding social meanings of things are constructed more around symbols: how things are represented and categorized, rather than practice: how things are produced and consumed. Especially in Hawai‘i, where tourism has a strong presence in the landscapes and the lives of people, issues concerning representation of “Hawaiian culture” are widely argued both in the business and academic arenas. Lei, which is generally regarded as a “Hawaiian cultural commodity,” circulates widely within both the everyday life of the local community and the tourist industry. While much of the discussion of lei is centered on its representation and authenticity, its production processes remain unrevealed. Who are the producers? Under what conditions do they make lei? What are the local and extra-local connections involved in the production process? Through following the chain of production and consumption, my project aims to outline the interconnectedness of people and their social activities in relation to today’s capitalist economy. Choosing lei as a product of research is, therefore, a challenge for naturalized thinking processes about culture and its connection to everyday material life.
I Kareran I Palabran Mami-The Journey of Our Words
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2010) Hoppe-Cruz, Anghet; Borja-Kicho'cho', Kisha; Pacific Islands Studies
Our portfolio is dedicated to speaking against the colonization of Guåhan and, to a lesser extent, the other islands in Micronesia. The main purposes for this portfolio project were to utilize performance and written poetry that would cut across the boundaries of age, gender, socioeconomic status, and religious and cultural beliefs. Furthermore, the portfolio attempts to decolonize western curricula and the field of Pacific Islands Studies by choosing the communal over the individual and honoring our oral histories/storytelling through using poetry as a means to heal, to feel empowered, to be resilient, to “write” the wrongs.
The Compact of Free Association (COFA): A History of Failures
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012) Diaz, Keola K.; Pacific Islands Studies
This project has been significant because it presents a positive focus on Micronesian agency and activism and it also enables us to hear and see Micronesian experiences. When researching for my undergraduate senior thesis for the School of Communications at U.H. Manoa in the Spring 2008 semester, I discovered that during this time negative media attention began to rise more noticeably about Micronesians in the community, particularly in the schools. My BA portfolio project provided a different perspective about this Pacific community. I documented stories in the newspaper that addressed crime, health and education concerns regarding “Micronesians” for my research, and produced a short film that featured a few aspects of Micronesians in Hawai`i that I hoped would counter some of the over-represented, negative media about them. That film was entitled Micronesians in Hawai`i. Shortly after I finished that documentary, the media focus turned to Micronesian use of state funded medical and health services. In the face of fiscal recession, the cost of providing health coverage to COFA citizens had become the highlighted topic of the media. Implementation of the new BHH plan, class-action litigation, and public concern once again put Micronesian communities in the spotlight. In response I studied how people were being directly affected by the plan and produced a second documentary that addressed these concerns, including perspectives from people who play a role in influencing Micronesians’ experiences (i.e. political leaders, organization leaders, and social service administrators). In addition to the BHH issue itself, the film also addressed the military service that COFA citizens had been allowed to make under the Compact. One of the noticeable avenues to what many COFA citizens considered as an option for upward mobility was to join the U.S. military. COFA youths joining the military and losing their lives in the recent wars of Iraq and Afghanistan was an important reason that COFA citizens felt that they deserved at the very least, health care coverage provided by the federal government. The significant loss of lives from the Micronesian region in these wars showed that these were not people who were looking for free social services, but rather a people who were looking for opportunities to change their situation. I hoped to reverse the negative trend through the documentary and establish a connection that allowed for a more human approach in helping to understand the contemporary concerns of Micronesian peoples in need of help. I wanted to show that it was not Micronesians causing the financial strain in Hawai`i, but rather the federal government’s failure to fulfill its obligations. This failure was not the first and I am confident that it will not be the last. This paper complements the documentary by providing a historical context of U.S.-Micronesian compromises that demonstrated failures on the part of the United States many times over before this latest failure with health services.
Island Brothers/Island Blood: The Stories of Samoan Vietnam War Veterans
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012) Akuna, Peter; Pacific Islands Studies
Throughout the Vietnam War, America and other allied forces that supported the South Vietnamese government awarded their courageous soldiers with distinguished medals for their extraordinary and exceptional bravery in combat. Yet, the recipients of these prestigious awards attest that their fallen comrades are the bona fide beneficiaries and heroes—the recognition of these soldiers’ deeds of valor in Vietnam was bittersweet knowing that many comrades perished in battle. This deep-seated sense of loss and survivor’s guilt caused some surviving soldiers to never disclose or revealed their notable services. Further, the controversy surrounding the Vietnam War affected the surviving soldiers in a heavier way; the unwelcome and disrespect they experienced when they returned to the United States (U.S.) caused many Vietnam veterans severe distress, for they had risked their lives. The anti-Vietnam War sentiment created an atmosphere of distrust among Vietnam veterans which forced the soldiers to conceal their war history and make it known to only a few, if at all. Most veterans remained silent about their experiences because of embarrassment, fear, anger, aggression, or trauma. Many veterans, to this day, continue to struggle with the debilitating effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as well as sleepless nights and mental and emotional torment consistent with war violence. This project aims to collect and tell the stories of Samoan Vietnam veterans who made enormous sacrifices during the war. This will, hopefully, fill the gap in the literatures and make known to the world, and especially the consciousness of American citizens, the sacrifices of these Pacific Islanders. The service and unfortunate casualties of Samoan Vietnam veterans are generally unrecognized and unappreciated in the dominant narratives of American war histories.
Swept Around the Sphere: Inside and Outside Pacific Islands Studies
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007) Yamauchi, Chikako; Pacific Islands Studies
The Survival of Traditional Art Forms Along the Middle Sepik River in Papua New Guinea and Their Relationship to the Culture and Environment
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1981) Yacoe, Caroline; Pacific Islands Studies
This paper is the result of a number of … art courses, an August '80 trip to the Middle Sepik River area of Papua New Guinea, and information gained from other Pacific Island Program courses. All these sources merged to complement, enrich, and enlarge my understanding of the many facets and complexities of Middle Sepik life and art. Together they serve as a background for this paper.
Duke Kahanamoku: Cultural Icon (with DVD: Duke Kahanamoku Influences of a Cultural Icon)
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005) Wright, Katie; Pacific Islands Studies
Women in the Islands: An Annotated Bibliography of Pacific Women's Issues 1982-89
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1990) Woods, Anne Catherine; Pacific Islands Studies
The Origins of Indigenous Political Parties in Polynesia and Melanesia
(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1986) Wolf, Ira; Pacific Islands Studies

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