Pacificness – telling our own side of the story

Pasifika people face increased marginalisation if they do not become active participants in any media discourse.  Newer, portable technologies open opportunities for smaller societies to become part of the media landscape. There are now more opportunities for smaller voices to express their Pasificness and be heard over the din of the mainstream. As a community, this commentary argues, Pacific people must make sure their side of the story is told in the digital era

Tongan women talking about their lives in leadership in New Zealand : a participatory visual methodological approach to talanoa, gender and culture

This thesis looks at the impact of gender and culture on leadership of Tongan women living in Auckland through a creative project consisting of an online documentary, a website tool and an exegesis. The desire to do this research was borne out of a personal interest in leadership and a passion for storytelling, specifically telling stories on Pasifika women and in this case, Tongan women. It was also the discovery of limited research on the use of a participatory visual methodology combined with the Indigenous Tongan research methodology talanoa (traditional method of face-to-face conversations) that made this master’s research very enticing. Part of the approach was to see how these two methodologies worked together or complemented each other. As a co-participant, the author was able to use an autoethnographical approach that involved semi-structured interviews, a semi-structured focus group, and reflexive diaries. However, during the research it became apparent that the diaries were not going to work for the women, because of their busy schedules and this was dropped as part of the data collection. Despite this, the researcher was able to keep a personal diary of her reflections throughout the research. This is woven throughout the exegesis to highlight the journey the author went through with the women. The talanoa sessions provided rich, in-depth and personal data. The study asked the women ‘What does leadership mean to them’ and ‘what was the impact of gender and culture on their leadership journeys?’. The study presents an audio-visual baseline of what is considered leadership by Tongan women living in New Zealand. It forms the basis of a structure to move forward and will contribute to a wider discourse on leadership for and about Tongan women, and how it can be used to help younger Tongan women, or influence older Tongan women to discuss leadership in the future

Tribute to Solomon Island women: Review of Being the First: Stories blong Oloketa Mere Lo Solomon Aelan, edited by Alice Aruhe'eta Pollard and Marilyn Warin

This book profiles the stories of 14 outstanding women, revealing their intimate moments, their struggles and the highs they have faced during their lives. Solomon Islands women make up around 49 percent of the country's population. Traditionally, these women are multi-taskers—as food producers, home keepers, child-bearers and child educators they are largely invisible in the media. Here we see them in a new light.&nbsp

ICTs in climate change communication in the Pacific Islands

Community participation is essential to effectively address communities' needs in relation to climate change. Conventional media forms that are easily accessible in the Pacific Islands region, including digital media, require strategic integration of both message creation and dissemination with stakeholder inclusion. This article argues that use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) not only enables information dissemination, but also invites local participation in communicative processes. Greater citizen engagement in content creation improves community understanding of the issues around climate change by including local perspectives, cultural knowledge, and concerns specific to the area. Recording, sharing, and discussing these changes in community settings will inform new thinking, with the potential to change perceptions and attitudes toward this urgent problem.12 page(s

To what extent can visual tools contribute to building meaningful and impactful discourse about social and economic opportunities for Pacific women?

Collaborative Research Unitec + Pacifica Mamas Understand participatory video (PV) methodology: ¡ How it can support the Pacifica Mamas work ¡ Social and economic outcome