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Welcome to ASAO
Dedicated to the anthropology of the Pacific region and its peoples.

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Registration is Now Open for the 2026 Annual Meeting!

Register Here!


Our next annual meeting will be held entirely online from February 4-8, 2026 and hosted on the virtual meeting platform, Whova
See the September 2025 newsletter for more information and important deadlines.

(To receive the newsletter to your inbox and keep current on all deadlines, become an ASAO member.) 




Thanks to everyone who attended the
2025 ASAO Annual Meeting!

February 12 to 15, 2025
Nadi, Fiji
List of Sessions



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The Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) is an international scholarly society dedicated to the anthropology of the Pacific. ASAO welcomes anyone interested in the lives of Pacific people, including scholars working in Native/Indigenous Studies, Pacific Studies, Cultural Studies, and other disciplines.

For over fifty years, ASAO has served to connect scholars from across the globe and to further knowledge of the Pacific. Our annual meeting has played a role in the origin of several important pieces of Pacific scholarship, including Epeli Hau‘ofa's essay "Our Sea of Islands" and Marshall Sahlins's "Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities". 

Our annual meetings are intimate, discussion-based, and cooperative, especially in support of developing topics for publication. In addition, ASAO has a book series and a special publication series, and many other publications have emerged from ASAO sessions (including but not limited to those listed in this cumulative bibliography).

ASAO encourages the full participation of Pacific Islanders through the Pacific Islands Scholars Award (PISA). Its Collaboration and Reciprocity (CORE) program supports ASAO members interested in co-creating and disseminating projects together with source communities in Oceania and the diaspora whose outcomes will directly benefit those communities.

ASAO also publishes a newsletter three times per year, with useful information such as annual officer reports, meeting session reports, and community updates. Our social media accounts (see links at the bottom of the page) share ongoing news and events.