Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces is an international research platform which engages Indigenous Pacific and Western thought to study Pacific notions of space.

Formed in 2012 by Lealiʻifano Albert Refiti and Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, the Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces research cluster is an international research platform which engages Indigenous Pacific and Western thought to study Pacific notions of space. Based at Auckland University of Technology’s School of Art and Design, but with a far-reaching network of international scholars our research transforms ways of thinking about contemporary and customary Pacific understandings of the world, by examining Indigenous Moana modes of producing space, objects, rituals and performance. We develop new research in this area and to promote discussion and publications from Pacific perspectives. We focus on how Pacific concepts affect the production of space and the use of the built environment, re-exploring and extending customary knowledge alongside academic discourse. Pacific people have always produced new and novel ways of understanding the world, based on and extending tradition.

Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces has a strong focus on building intellectual communities and supporting emerging Pacific researchers find their feet in the academy. We run a number of events and programmes which bring together our postgraduate students, international networks and local Moana communities together these include an international reading group; vā kōrero; fono and talanoa. For more information on upcoming events and programmes please see Kawepūrongo/News/Talafou.

Principal Researchers

Prof. Albert L Refiti – Spatial & architectural theory; Pacific cultural studies and anthropology (albert.refiti@aut.ac.nz)

‍Dr. Layne Waerea – Contemporary visual art, socio-legal performance, action as knowledge, photography and video-based documentation, and te Tiriti o Waitangi. (layne.waerea@aut.ac.nz)

Prof. Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul – Spatial and cultural theories and practices; transcultural, non-traditional postgraduate research supervision; alternative ontologies and epistemologies (tengels@aut.ac.nz)

‍Associate Researchers

Dr. Lana Lopesi – Moana Cosmopolitanism; contemporary Pacific art; critical theory.

‍Dr. Fleur Palmer – Architecture, community activism, participatory action research, self-determination of Indigenous peoples

Dr. Rafik Patel – Architecture, drawing, ethnography and cultural studies, Oriental spaces in the Pacific (current PhD candidate).

Dr. I'uogafa Tuagalu – Pacific History, Samoan Thought, Vā studies, ethnography and ontology (current PhD candidate).

‍Dr. Carl Douglas – New forms of public space and infrastructures, global meshworks in the Pacific.

‍Dr. Nooroa Tapuni – Mangaian Cybernetic continuum, Media arts, Emerging technologies (VR), creativity and innovation, contemporary art (Asia / Pacific).

‍Dr. Cecelia Faumuina – Pacific design and material culture in education.

S. Ata Siulua – Pacific anthropology and ethnomusicology.‍
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Our advisors in Aotearoa are Prof. Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop (AUT) and Prof. Robert Jahnke (Massey University).

Our affiliates are positioned in academic and professional environments in Aoteroa, the Pacific, the US, and Europe:

Prof Ty P. Kāwika Tengan (University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa) Indigeneity, masculinity, Hāwaiʻi.

‍Prof Deirdre Brown (UoA) History of Māori architecture.

‍Assist Prof Jake Culbertson (Haverford College) Anthropology of architecture.

‍Assoc Prof Vicente Diaz (Uo Minnesota) Comparative and global Indigenous Studies, Critical Indigenous Theory.

‍Dr Azadeh Emadi (University of Glasgow, School of Culture & Creative Arts) Transnational, intercultural cinema, media and performance arts.

Aanoalii Rowena Fuluifaga (Tautai Director). Contemporary arts, Pacific arts.

Elisapeta Heta (Jasmax) Architecture.

Dr. Ross Jenner (UoA) Architecture and architectural history & theory.

‍Prof Tevita Ka’ili (BYU Hawaiʻi) Pacific cultural history, anthropology.

Marilyn Kohlhase (Pacific arts and community consultant)

‍Prof Sa’iliemanu Lilomaiava-Doktor (Uo Hawaiʻi) Cultural geography.

‍Dr. Billie Lythberg (UoA) Visual anthropology
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‍Prof ‘Okusitino Mahina (Vavaʻu Acad) Tonga, Pacific theoretical anthropology.

‍Prof Malama Meleisea (NUS, Samoa) Pacific history.
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Prof Carl Mika (Uo Canterbury) Philosophy of education, mātauranga Māori.

Prof Sally Jane Norman (VuW) Music theory and performance, transdisciplinarity.

Lemi Ponifasio (MAU dance theatre) Choreography, dramaturgy.

Nova Paul (Ngāpuhi – Auckland Museum) Moving image art & experimental filmmaking, mātauranga Māori.

Dr. Robert Pouwhare (Ngāi Tūhoe – AUT, Te Ara Poutama) Māori media, digital media and video production, Te Reo Māori, mātauranga and tikanga Māori.

Dr. Natalie Robertson (Ngāti Porou, Clann Dhònnchaidh – AUT) Photography, mātauranga Māori.
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‍Dr. Amiria Salmond (Düsseldorf, Germany) Theoretical material anthropology.

Benita Kumar Simati (MIT, Learning Advisor) Spatial design, Pacific communities and identities.

Dr. Valance Smith (Ngā Puhi, Waikato, Chinese – AUT, Te Ara Poutama, School of Science) Te Reo Māori, waiata, haka; Māori and indigenous spirituality and performance; traditional ecological knowledge; mātauranga Māori implementation.

Rameka Tu’inukuafe (Jasmax) Architecture.

‍Prof Matori Yamamoto (Hosei University, Tokyo) Anthropology, economy.

Please see our research page here for a list of our current postgraduate candidates.

‍Lana Lopesi (PhD, 2021)

Lisa Waldner (PhD, 2021) Conversations With the Sea: How Localised Design-things Can Sensitise Communities to the Conditions of the Anthropocene

Uhila Nai (MVA, 2020) Family Memories: Capturing Stories From Different Time-lines Within the Tongan Traditional Crafts of Ngatu (Decorated Barkcloth) Making and Kupesi (Embroidered Stencil) Design

Emily Parr (MVA, 2020) The Ocean is Calling Me Home: Settler-Indigenous Relationships of Te Moananui a Kiwa

Arielle Walker (MVA, 2020) On Returning to the Sea: Towards Belonging Through Land, Language, & Tactile Storytelling

Carl Douglas (creative practice-led PhD, 2018) Strange Relations: A design inquiry into infrastructure as topological place

‍Rowena Fuluifaga (MPhil, 2017) O feosofa'iga o le vā: Samoan Women Negotiating vā Relations in and Around an Art Centre in Rural Samoa

Waiana Jones (MPhil) Mana Wahine. Nga korero tuku iho no Tuhourangi me Ngati Wahiao. Counter memories of Maori women and strentgh of Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao.

Tima Al-Saedy (BA&D, Hons) Zakhrafa

Kate Nalesu (BA&D, Hons) Discovering a new world hidden in mythopraxis

Tara Ngari (BA&D, Hons) Kapikianga – A manifestation of materiality

Annabel Setefano (BA&D, Hons) Beyond the glass case: Re-imaging a Pacific Portayal

Shannon Smith (BA&D, Hons) Culture intervention