Talanoa: Dr. Tēvita O. Kaʻili

Our Talanoa series comes out of our Marsden Project (2019-2023), 'Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity'.

Maui-TāVā-He-Ako Dr. Tēvita O. Kaʻili is a Professor of Anthropology and Cultural Sustainability at Brigham Young University in Hawaiʻi and advisor to our Vā Moana Marsden research. Dr. Kaʻili, in this talanoa, summarises the development of Tāvāism, the Indigenous Tongan Tā-Vā Philosophy of Reality, which to date has been the only contemporary critical theory movement to emerge out of Moananui. Dr. Kaʻili also discusses recent developments in his research tracing genealogical lines of flight in the Tonga cosmogony that connect to Tāvāism.

To cite: Kaʻili, T. O. (2023, July 25) Interview with Maui-TāVā-He-Ako Dr. Tēvita O. Kaʻʻili (Videographer/editor: Emily Parr, interviewers: Albert L. Refiti, Ata Siulua). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Click here to watch the talanoa.