News: invitation to Vā Moana book launch

Please join us to celebrate the launch of Vā Moana: Space and Relationality in Pacific Thought and Identity, hosted by our friends at Objectspace. At the launch, hear from Brett Graham, Lupematasila Misatauveve Melani Anae, and Leali‘ifano Albert L. Refiti.

Thursday 2 July
5.30pm doors & drinks, 6pm speaking
Objectspace, Ockham Gallery, 13 Rose Road, Ponsonby
Register online

Vā may be a small word, but it carries expansive meaning. Rooted in Indigenous Pacific knowledges – Samoan vā, Tongan tā-vā, Māori and Hawaiian wā – this concept of relational space binds people, ancestors and cosmologies across time and place. Since the late 1990s, vā has become a powerful framework in academic and cultural contexts, energising conversations across Oceania and beyond. As the world grapples with the rise of hyper-individualism, vā offers an urgent and restorative alternative: one that centres connection, responsibility and collective belonging.

The book was produced through an AUT Vā Moana Research Centre project supported by the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Marsden Fund, and published by ANU Press.

Hardcover copies of the publication will be available on the night for $120. Digital copies are available from ANU Press.