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Vā Moana Pacific Spaces

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

Prof. Ty P. Kāwika Tengan

Ty P. Kāwika Tengan is an Associate Investigator in the Marsden-funded research Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity and a Professor of Ethnic Studies and Anthropology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. In this talanoa, Ty elaborates on wā being the space between two points, not only spatially, but also temporally. Further, he explains the meaning of wā as a roar, a din, or a rift, which glosses with the Samoan understanding of vā. He suggests that the vibration of the voice during ʻoli chants relates to wā, as in wawā: a reduplication of wā; reverberations that connect past and present, space and time. To cite: Tengan, T. P. K. (27 November 2023).

‍Interview with Ty P. Kāwika Tengan (Videographer/editor: Emily Parr, interviewer: Albert L. Refiti). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Marques Hanalei Marzan

Marques Halanei Marzan is a contemporary artist and bearer of Hawaiian and Oceanic fibre knowledge. The Cultural Advisor at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Marques is a conduit for bridging innovations of the past with those of the present, creating dialogues within his work and community engagement that speak to the vibrancy and dynamism of culture. In this talanoa with Albert L. Refiti, Marques discusses how the concept of wā structures the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian cosmogonic ʻoli chant, and its relationship to the cyclical nature of events in the world.
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To cite: Marzan, M. H. (1 June 2023). Interview with Marques Hanalei Marzan (Videographer/editor: Emily Parr, interviewer: Albert L. Refiti). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Dr. Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu

Dr. Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu, lecturer in Pacific Studies at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, is a Kanaka ʻŌiwi scholar and artist whose work is intertwined with wā and vā. In this talanoa with Vā Moana researcher, Rosanna Raymond, Nālani asks the question, “what is the wā in Hine?” Articulating the position of women in Moananui within the wā and vā, Nālani advances the idea that wā and Hina are the ebb and flow of the ocean, freshwater sources, rain, wind; the source for everything.

To cite: Wilson-Hokowhitu, N. (7 September 2022). Interview with Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu (Videographer/editor: Paul Janman, interviewer: Rosanna Raymond). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Prof. Albert L. Refiti & Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul

In this talanoa, coordinators of the Vā Moana research cluster, Professors Albert L. Refiti and Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, discuss with Rosanna Raymond the genesis of the Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and Identity research project, which stems back to 2007 when they first encountered the fale-shaped Tropical Islands Resort complex in Brandenburg, Germany. Principal Investigators on the Marsden-funded project, Refiti and Engels-Schwarzpaul share the main aims of the research and talanoa series.

To cite: Refiti, P., Engels-Schwarzpaul, A. C. (11 May 2022). Interview with Albert L. Refiti and Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul (Videographer: Paul Janman, editor: Emily Parr, interviewer: Rosanna Raymond). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Pita Turei

Pita Turei (Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi) is known for his work as a curator, sculptor, dancer, Māori ritual specialist and staunch cultural and iwi advocate. He is a respected storyteller and orator, connecting a new generation with the ancient histories and pūrākau of Tāmaki Makaurau. In this interview, Pita describes his understanding of vā/wā as a multi-disciplinary Māori arts practitioner and his engagement with artists from Moananui since the 1980s.

To cite: Turei, P. (17 December 2020). Interview with Pita Turei (Videographer: Paul Janman; interviewer: Albert L. Refiti). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Ioane Ioane

It was Ioane (John) Ioane who once stated, in a panel discussion at our 2021 Vā Moana conference, that while visiting Sāmoa the “vā just got pulled out of me. It was placed at the airport when I arrived, and I collected it three months later and took it back home.” In this interview, Ioane discusses encountering teu le vā in his family upbringing, his approach to the idea, and being present at the beginnings of the Pacific Art movement in Tāmaki Makaurau in the late 1980s.

To cite: Ioane, I. (2022, 26 May) Interview with Ioane Ioane (Videographer/editor: Paul Janman, interviewer: Albert L. Refiti). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Dr. Lana Lopesi

Dr. Lana Lopesi (Sāmoa), Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon, completed her PhD in 2021 as part of the Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity Marsden-funded research team at the Auckland University of Technology. In this talanoa, she discusses some key concepts in her research, linking vā and the Moana Cosmopolitanism that emerged from the late 1950s to the current generation of transnational Moana creatives in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on the term ‘Vā Moana’, Lana describes the relational social world (often digital) in which the Moana Cosmopolitanism imaginary operates. A widely published writer and editor, Lana’s major contributions include Pacific Arts Aotearoa (2023), Bloody Woman (2021), and Marinade journal.
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To cite: Lopesi, L. (2023, August 22). Interview with Lana Lopesi (Videographer/editor/interviewer: Emily Parr). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Prof. Tēvita O. Kaʻili

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.

Dr. Brett Graham

Dr. Brett Graham (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura; Tainui) is an Associate Investigator in the Marsden-funded research Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity and an interviewer in this Talanoa series. Brett is a senior contemporary artist in Aotearoa NZ who has exhibited internationally, including at the Venice (2007), Sydney (2006, 2010) and Honolulu (2017) Biennales. His landmark exhibition Tai Moana Tai Tangata (Govett-Brewster Art Gallery 2020; City Gallery Wellington 2021; Christchurch Art Gallery 2023) draws on connections between Tainui and Taranaki, and is nominated for the 2024 Walters Prize. The research and resulting exhibition for Tai Moana Tai Tangata was carried out as part of his research for the Vā Moana Marsden-funded grant. In the Talanoa, Brett discusses the impact of the understanding of wā (vā in Sāmoa/Tonga) in Māori philosophy, especially in the drawings and writings of Tainui scholar Pei Te Hurinui Jones (1898–1976) and their use in emerging scholarship on Indigenous understandings of time and space by Moana artists and researchers.

To cite: Graham, B. (2022, 6 July) Interview with Brett Graham (Videographer/editor: Paul Janman, interviewer: Albert L. Refiti). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Lily Laita

Lily Laita (Ngāti Raukawa ki Te Tonga, Sāmoa) is a prolific painter and art educator who has exhibited in Aotearoa and internationally since graduating from the Elam School of Fine Arts in 1990. In this talanoa, Laita recalls her art school years and the genesis of a Pacific contemporary art scene in Auckland. She traces the use of vā in her practice to a time spent painting in Sāmoa, during which otherworldly experiences and conversations with Momoe Von Reiche offered her something to connect with. Laita describes vā as both a space she inhabits during the painting process, and the space beyond the canvas that becomes layered in her works.
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To cite: Laita, L. (2022, 22 August) Interview with Lily Laita (Videographer: Paul Janman, editor: Emily Parr, interviewer: Albert L. Refiti). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Sia Figiel

This talanoa with Sia Figiel took place at the newly-opened Galu Moana theatre in the village of Vaivase Uta in Sāmoa. A prominent Sāmoan novellist and poet, Figiel discusses the operating structure of her work, suʻifefiloi, and how concepts of vā and alofa influence how she creates. She talks of learning to negotiate vā as a girl in Sāmoa, the ‘forgetting’ that can occur in the diaspora, and coming full circle by returning home and living vā.

To cite: Figiel, S. (2023, 10 May) Interview with Sia Figiel (Videographer & interviewer: Emily Parr). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Rosanna Raymond

In this talanoa in her studio in Tāmaki Makaurau, Rosanna Raymond talks about her developing understanding and practice of vā in her art, museum and conservation practices – in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, the UK and the USA. Raymond, co-founder of Pacific Sisters collective, co-curator of Pasifika Styles at Cambridge University Museum (UK), researcher, author, and restless artist, has inspired many working with vā, through discussion and action. As a long-term practitioner, she completed her Master of Philosophy thesis, Conser.VĀ.tion|Acti.VĀ.tion: Museums, the Body and Indigenous Moana Art Practice, in 2021. Other relevant publications include Raymond, R., & Sully, D. (2010). Sharing with Hinemihi, Sully, D., Raymond, R., & Hoete, A. (2014). Locating Hinemihi’s people, and Tolia‐Kelly, D. P., & Raymond, R. (2020). Decolonising museum cultures.
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To cite: Raymond, R. (2021, 8 December) Interview with Rosanna Raymond (Videographer: Paul Janman, interviewer: T. Engels-Schwarzpaul). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Emeritus Prof. Serge Tcherkézoff

Talanoa with Emeritus Professor Serge Tcherkézoff about his observations and growing understanding of vā, since he first visited Sāmoa in the early 1980s. As an anthropologist, he has reflected on its use in Sāmoa and in the diasporas of Aotearoa and Australia – but also on its deployment in international, mostly academic contexts as a concept in anthropology, education and health sciences. Relevant publications include First Contacts in Polynesia-the Samoan Case (1722-1848) (2008) and More on Polynesian Gift-Giving (2012). Through his wife Sueina Lokeni, Serge has ʻāiga connections to Sāmoa – they live with their sons in La Ciotat, close to Marseille in France, where the talanoa took place.

To cite: Tcherkézoff, S. (2022, 10 July) Interview with Serge Tcherkézoff (Videographer & interviewer: T. Engels-Schwarzpaul). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Lupematasila Assoc. Prof. Melani Anae QSO

Talanoa with Lupematasila Associate Professor Melani Anae about the concept of teu le vā and its development in Samoan communities, as well as the educational and health sectors, in Aotearoa. It was recorded in May 2022 at her home in Tāmaki Makaurau. Anae is an important early contributor to the development of the concept of vā, particularly in Pasifika education (see a summary in her 2016 article, “Teu le vā: Samoan relational ethics”).

To cite: Anae, Lupematasila Melani. (2022, 10 May). Interview with Lupematasila Melani Anae (Videographer: Paul Janman/Interviewers:A.L. Refiti and A-C Engels-Schwarzpaul). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

The Hon. Le Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa

The Honourable Le Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa replies to Lealiʻifano Albert Refiti’s question about the Samoan notion of vā on her recent visit to Te Wānanga Aronui Auckland University of Technology. Fiamē is the seventh Prime Minister of Sāmoa and the first woman to do so as leader of the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Sāmoa ua Tasi party since 2021.

To cite: Mataʻafa, F. N. (2022, 13 June 2022) Interview with Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa (Videographer: AUT Events)/Interviewers: Walter Fraser and Albert L. Refiti. Auckland University of Technology, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Dr. Iʻuogafa Tuagalu

Talatalanoa with Iʻuogafa Tuagalu (Satuimalufilufi and Tauʻese, Sāmoa) about his current research on developing an Indigenous history of Sāmoa through an understanding of how vā structures Samoan kinship or gafa. He also advances the idea that vā takes effect as an energetic field that causes action to be felt at a distance. Iʻuogafa is completing a PhD researching the prehistory of vā before European arrival and the period until 1918.
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To cite: Tuagalu, I. (2022, 20 March 2022). Interview with Iʻuogafa Tuagalu (Videographer: Paul Janman)/Interviewer: A. L. Refiti.). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Prof. Anne Salmond

Talanoa with Professor Anne Salmond about her experiences of wā with Eruera Stirling, as well as her conversations with Patu Hohepa, Manuka Henare and other scholars, of non-linear, dynamic Māori conceptions of time and space as spiral or vortex. Such configurations allow thinking through whakapapa, and in connected past/present/future dimensions. Salmond has been working in the contact zones of Western and Māori worlds for many decades. Her most recent publication in this area is Tears of Rangi: experiments across worlds.

To cite: Salmond, A. (2021 30 March 2021) Interview with Anne Salmond (Videographer: Paul Janman)/Interviewer: B. Graham). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Hūfanga Dr. ‘Ōkusitino Māhina

Talatalanoa with Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Dr. ‘Ōkusitino Māhina on his experiences as a student at Atenisi Institute, with the late Futa Helu, and about the emergence of his own ideas on vā. He sees vā as not only as a system that structures relationships, but also as an integral part of artistic endeavours in Moana societies like the rhythmic beating and marking of time. Hūfanga’s PhD thesis, which became the first theory of history from an Indigenous Moana perspective, promoted the notion of an Indigenous Tongan history as Talaēfonua. As creators of the Tā-Vā Theory and Philosophy of Reality, Hūfanga and his colleagues have been responsible for the publication of two important double issues of the Pacific Studies Journal (Vol. 40, Nos. 1/2-Apr./Aug. 2017; Vol. 44, Nos. 1/2 – Oct. 2021) outlining the various facets of Tā-Vā.

To cite: Māhina, ʻŌ. (2022, 20 March 2022) Hūfanga ‘Ōkusitino Māhina (Videographer: Paul Janman)/Interviewer: A. L. Refiti.). Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal

Talanoa with Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal (Marutūahu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāpuhi) who takes a creative and performative perspective on thinking in time and space, and beyond time and space, through wā (as well as related concepts in Polynesian languages). An interesting example is an abridged whakapapa rendered in Māori Marsden’s Woven Universe. Royal has made significant contributions to mātauranga Māori as an academic, performer and cultural leader and forges important connections in this interview.

To cite: Royal, T. A. C. (2021 25 March 2021) Interview with Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal (Videographer: Paul Janman)/Interviewer: B. Graham. Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Dr. Valance Smith

Talanoa with Dr. Valance Smith (Ngāpuhi, Waikato, Ngāti Haina, Ngāti Pākehā), Assistant Pro-Vice Chancellor (Māori Advancement) at Auckland University of Technology, about similarities and differences between the connotations of vā (Sāmoan) and wā (Māori). It was recorded on 11 February 2021 in the wharenui Te Pūrengi, Ngā Wai o Horotiu marae, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Valance is an affiliate and advisor of the Vā Moana research cluster and has accompanied us, particularly in our explorations of the transition from a vā arising from physical co-presence to different forms of digital vā, from the beginning of the Marsden research project.
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To cite: Smith, Valance. (2021 11 February 2021) Interview with Valance Smith (Videographer: Paul Janman)/Interviewer: B. Graham. Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Maualaivao Emeritus Prof. Albert Wendt

Talanoa with Maualaivao Emeritus Professor Albert Wendt on his rendition of teu le vā as an important concept in Sāmoan and Moananui thought recorded November 2020 at his home in Tāmaki Makaurau. Wendt crucially ignited a wide discussion of what vā means for Samoan communities in Aotearoa New Zealand through his 1996 keynote, “Tatauing the Post-Colonial Body”.

To cite: Wendt, M. A. (2021 November 2020) Interview with Maualaivao Albert Wendt (Videographer: Paul Janman)/Interviewer: Leali'ifano Albert Refiti. Vā Moana: space and relationality in Pacific thought and identity interviews, Vā Moana - Pacific Spaces Research Cluster, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.