Sessions
Research in West New Britain
Articulating the Genealogies of Indigenous Anthropology
On the Problem of "Empathy"
Constructing Human Difference in Oceania
Diaspora, Identity and Incorporation
En/gendering Violence
Imagination and Innovation
Indigenous Struggles and Issues
Mortuary Rites
Schooling the Nation(s)
Agency of the Past in Melanesia
Kava in Australasia
Christian Politics
Community Development as Fantasy
Dumont in the Pacific
History and Movement in the Southern Lowlands of New Guinea
Identity Issues and Ethno-racial Categorization
Obesity and Oceania
Pacific Pasts: Agency, Archive, and Artifact
Remembering Donald Tuzin
 
Proposed New Sessions
Translations and Transformations of Sensual Experiences in Oceania
Research on Austronesian Taiwan: Retrospect and Prospect



Working Session: Indigenous Struggles and Issues in Oceania today
Organizers: Marie Salaun (Université Paris 5-Sorbonne) and Natacha Gagné (University of Ottawa)

Forty-six persons attended the session over the day. Nine pre-circulated papers were presented and discussed, first by a pre-identified discussant and then through a general discussion. At the end of the day, the 11 authors of the pre-circulated papers confirmed their commitment for next year. Four new participants also expressed their desire to join the session. We are thus moving towards a symposium in 2009 by collective agreement. We also agreed to submit a semi-final version of our papers for comments by November 1st, 2008. The finale drafts will be expected by January 15th, 2009 for pre-circulation.

We collectively decided to focus on the problematization of the concept of "indigeneity". We will look at the issue of indigenous struggles in a range of Pacific societies, including Aotearoa/New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Rotuma in the context of Fiji, PNG, and most probably next year, Samoa, Tonga, and Hawai'i. We were positively surprised at the level of synergy that was achieved in the session. The organizers will circulate among the session participants a full summary of the working session, a short bibliography and an outline of the main themes for the 2009 symposium in the forthcoming weeks.

For more information or if you are interested in joining, please contact the session organizers. We send a special invitation to indigenous scholars.

Marie Salaün, Université de Paris 5, Faculté des Sciences Sociales, 45, rue des Saints-Pères, 75 006 Paris, FRANCE; <marie.salaun@paris5.sorbonne.fr>

Natacha Gagné, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Ottawa, 550 Cumberland (388), Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, CANADA; <natgagne@uottawa.ca>


"