About us - the Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Studies (AAAPS)

 Getting Started

 At a meeting hosted by ANU on 9 October 2004, thirty-four delegates attended with Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and South Australia represented. The fields represented included anthropology, gender, geography, health, history, law, literature/cultural studies, linguistics, museums/cultural heritage, political science and sociology. Prof Kam Louie, the interim Director of the International Centre for Excellence in Asian and Pacific Studies (ICE-APS), presented a short report on the four-year federal funding provided for five 'International Centres of Excellence' including an $8.8 million national program to create a peak body to showcase Australian excellence in teaching and research about the Pacific and Asia. The funding would establish an International School of Diplomacy (with $4.8 million funding) and liaise with two components - the Asian Studies Association of Australia and a yet to be created peak body for Pacific Island Studies (now known as the Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Island Studies). It was noted during discussion at the meeting that AAAPS was a national initiative, not located in any particular university, and that relationships would need to be established with existing disciplinary and trans-disciplinary Humanities organisations which had a similar Pacific Island Studies promotional charter, such as PHA, PIPSA, SPACLALS, Pacific Circle, ICPSI, UH/CPIS, regional universities and Archives, galleries, Libraries, Museums and Cultural Centre networks.

Several objectives were identified at the meeting for the proposed AAAPS:

• To promote the international excellence of Australian research and teaching in Pacific Studies

• To play an advocacy role with Government, NGOs, schools, business, media and universities

• To promote Pacific Studies and its component disciplines at the undergraduate and postgraduate level

• To promote the role of Australian repositories in the collection, preservation and access to Pacific Island research, cultural and historical materials

• To promote excellence in the teaching of Pacific Studies through professional development programs for university teachers

• To promote public knowledge and the study of Australia-Pacific Island relations Several specific projects were listed and funding over the initial four-year ICE funding period and beyond, was considered.

Suggested projects included:

• Establish and maintain links with Australia's Pacific Islander communities

• Invite an open, interdisciplinary membership

• Liaise with existing Australian Pacific Studies professional associations

• Produce reports and forward planning documents for advocacy with government and non-government agencies

• Enhance public awareness of Australia's relationships with the Pacific Islands

• Create and maintain a database with web access, on current research and teaching, units being taught and resources

• Respond to current issues and events

• Hold conferences, including an inaugural conference in Brisbane in early 2006, followed by a series of national conferences in all states

• Ensure Pacific Studies was represented on State and Territory Curriculum Boards

The following delegates were elected to the interim committee:

• Assoc Prof Grant McCall, UNSW Interim President

• Dr Max Quanchi, QUT Interim Secretary

• Dr Paul D’Arcy, JCU

• Prof Margaret Jolly, ANU

• Assoc Prof Steve Mullins, CQU

• Prof Peter Mühlhaüsler, Adelaide

• Katy Le Roy, Melbourne

• Dr Michael Morgan, ANU

• Kalissa Alexeyeff, Melbourne

• Tracy Banivanua-Mar, Melbourne

• Dr Rod Ewin, Tasmania (in absentia)

Pacific Studies in Australia

In 2004, when AAAPS was first mooted, it had been two decades since a conference was devoted solely to an “Australia-Pacific” theme and to showcasing humanities research and teaching about Australia’s relationship with Oceania. That conference at ANU in 1985 offered an opportunity for scholarly dialogue from the diverse range of fields in which Australian and Australian-based scholars worked on Australian-Pacific relationships and specific phenomenon in the islands. In the following two decades the undergraduate teaching of Pacific Studies waxed and waned and Research Centres opened and closed. But throughout this time an impressive quantity of research was undertaken resulting in monographs, edited collections, conference papers, reports and a long list of Honours, Masters and Doctoral theses. Several parliamentary inquiries also sought to identify policies that reflected past and future directions of the Australia-Pacific relationship. Australians have maintained a major international role in Pacific Studies research and could fairly be said to lead several fields in a global context. The first conference, in Brisbane in 2006, became a forum for the research, presentation and preservation carried out by archives, museums and galleries as well as university teaching and research, along with community-based performance, art and creative outputs. Most importantly the conference was a launching platform for a long overdue national organization to promote teaching and research in Pacific Studies.

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Executive and Committee members

The following committee was elected at the Annual general meeting held during the 2nd AAAPS conference, held at ANU in April 2008.

Executive

President: Clive Moore, UQ c.moore@uq.edu.au

V/President: Grant McCall, UNSW g.mccall@unsw.edu.au

Treasurer: Paul D’Arcy, ANU paul.darcy@anu.edu.au

Secretary: Max Quanchi, QUT m.quanchi@qut.edu.au

Editor: Margaret Jolly, ANU Margaret.Jolly@anu.edu.au

Community Liaison:  Joycelin Leahy, UQ beyondart@bigpond.com

Community Liaison: Keren Ruki, ANU Keren_ruki@hotmail.com

Conference Convenor: Helen Hill, VU helen.hill@vu.edu.au

Ordinary and Co-Opted members of the Committee:

Samantha Rose (National Report) s.rose@qut.edu.au

Paul Sharrad, Woollongong p.sharrad@uow.edu.au I

an Molloy, SCU ivan.molloy@gmail.com

Ewan Maidment, ANU pambu@coombs.anu.edu.au

Irene Paulsen, VU Irene.Paulsen@vu.edu.au

Katerina Teaiwa, ANU katerina.teaiwa@anu.edu.au

Paul Turnbull, Griffith p.turnbull@griffith.edu.au

Philippe Water-Tariliu, Melb voiceofmelanesia@live.com.au

Pamela Zepplin, USA Pamela.Zeplin@unisa.edu.au

Chris Ballard, ANU Chris.Ballard@anu.edu.au

Susan Cochrane, Brisbane s.cochrane@uq.edu.au

Jennifer Corrin, UQ j.care@law.uq.edu.au

Stewart Firth, ANU stewart.firth@anu.edu.au

Anges Hannan, JCU agnes.hannan@jcu.edu.au

Katy Leroy, Nauru roland.kun@naurugov.nr

Tracey Banivanua-Mar, Melb Uni t.banivanuamar@latrobe.edu.au

Elaine Elamani, Canberra elainematalena@msn.com

Sean Dorney, ABC media Dorney.sean@abc.net.au

Vilisoni Hereniko, UH, Hawaii vili@hawaii.edu

Sonia Lacabanne, UNC, Noumea lacabanne@canl.nc 5