Pacific Studies and Anthropology: Articulations and Disarticulations

This essay considers the articulations and disarticulations between Pacific studies and cultural anthropology, drawing on the author’s experiences and others’ published literature, in order to better illuminate the contours and imperatives of Pacific studies. It begins by acknowledging the interrelated histories of the two fields and reviewing instances in which Pacific studies and the anthropology of Oceania have been discussed in relation to each other. It then surveys the more extensive body of literature that critically interrogates anthropology’s relationships with Pacific peoples. Finally, it applies Teresia Teaiwa’s 2010 prescription for Pacific studies to identify palpable differences between the prerogatives and practices of interdisciplinary Pacific studies and cultural anthropology. The essay concludes that to carry on a Pacific studies inspired by Teresia Teaiwa’s teaching and work requires advocating for a form of critical Pacific empowerment that “account[s] for indigenous ways of knowing” (2010, 116) while holding fast to an imperative for critique in the pursuit of justice and dialogue, striving for better understanding and commitment to relationalities across and beyond the region, and continuing to foster interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches able to embrace creative registers, not just as sources of knowledge but as modes of knowledge dissemination. While all of these imperatives and trajectories do exist in pockets within the anthropology of Oceania, they are central to the practice of Pacific studies.