Tag Archives: Melanesia

Navigating Pacific Studies

Semester Two 2013 will see the introduction of an entirely online course into the Bachelor of Pacific Studies syllabus – a first for Pacific Studies at the ANU. PASI 1011 / 6001: Navigating Pacific Studies has been jointly developed by Dr Roannie … Continue reading

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West Papua – advocacy, dialogue & engagement

On the eve of the MSG Leaders’ Summit, the Pacific Institute for Public Policy argues that, “it’s time to talk frankly and openly about West Papua’s future. Melanesian leaders face a question integral to their collective identity: How and whether West … Continue reading

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Pacific Buzz (June 19): MSG summit underway | Deep-sea minerals | Fisheries agreements | Tonga budget | More

A roundup of political and economic news by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy and the Development Policy Centre. POLITICS West Papua decision delayed: MSG summit gets underway Political leaders and officials from Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia’s indigenous political movement–the Front De Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS)–have gathered in Noumea for the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) summit. Members will discuss a wide range of issues [...] Continue reading

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Summary of main themes emerging from the conference on Sorcery & Witchcraft-Related Killings in Melanesia, 5-7 June 2013, ANU, Canberra

This three day multi-disciplinary conference focused on the negative social consequences of belief in sorcery and witchcraft in Melanesia (the conference booklet with program, abstracts and speakers is available here).  Approximately half the speakers were from PNG, Vanuatu and Solomon … Continue reading

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Welcome, Salmah Eva-Lina Lawrence!

Salmah Eva-Lina is a new PhD Candidate in Gender, Sexuality and Culture. She left a decade long career with a global business advisory firm leading risk management practices in London, New York and Sydney to undertake work in international and … Continue reading

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Jobs: SSGM Pacific Research Fellow Positions

The State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific is seeking to appoint two Pacific Research Fellows with ongoing research interests in Melanesia (PNG, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, New … Continue reading

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Job: Pasifika Outreach and Research Fellow Position

The State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific seeks to expand and deepen our outreach and research capacity on migrant Pacific communities with a special emphasis … Continue reading

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Reminder: State of the Pacific Conference (SOTP 2013) and Pacific & PNG Update 2013

Pacific and PNG Update 2013 June 27-28 Hedley Bull Lecture Theatre 1, Ground Floor, Hedley Bull Centre, Building 130 Last year we revived the Pacific Update tradition with a one-day event. This year, the Update returns as a two-day conference. June 27th is on the Pacific island region, and June 28th on PNG. This is an event not to be missed for anyone working on the region. The keynote speech [...] Continue reading

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The Pacific Plan and non-self-governing territories in the Pacific

In the latest Podcast from the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program (SSGM), Nic Maclellan “discusses the capacity of United Nations agencies, the Pacific Islands Forum and other regional organisations to advance decolonisation initiatives in the region” with specific … Continue reading

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Breaking the Spell: update on sorcery and witchcraft conference

“Widespread practice and belief in sorcery and witchcraft are not only linked to brutal violence and killings in Melanesia – they are stifling the development and modernisation of the region” writes Belinda Cranston. Read her article, or more about the … Continue reading

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Pacific Buzz (June 5): PNG death penalty | Fiji loan block | SDP to exit Ok Tedi | Pacific workers in Oz | More

A roundup of political and economic news by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy and the Development Policy Centre. POLITICS PNG repeals Sorcery Act, enacts death penalty The parliament of Papua New Guinea has responded to a spate of globally publicised crimes with legislative amendments. In the same session that the Sorcery Act, which provided a defence for violent attacks on suspected sorcerers, was repealed, the parliament voted to apply the death [...] Continue reading

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Pacific Buzz (May 22): French Polynesia on decolonisation list | Major powers court leaders | Australian aid budget | Fishing deals

A roundup of political and economic news by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy and the Development Policy Centre. POLITICS French Polynesia re-inscribed on UN decolonisation list Former president Oscar Temaru managed a last minute political victory, seeing French Polynesia re-inscribed into the United Nations decolonisation list on the same day he handed over his presidency to Gaston Flosse. The resolution was introduced to the 193-member UN General Assembly by Solomon Islands, Nauru, [...] Continue reading

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Big enough for all of us: geo-strategic competition in the Pacific Islands

China’s growing engagement in the Pacific Islands has fueled talk of great-power competition in the region.  But viewing China’s activities in the region in geo-strategic terms is inappropriate and potentially counter-productive.  Australia and the United States should focus on cooperating with…

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Final Report of the Solomon Islands Truth & Reconciliation Commission unofficially released

At the height of the ethnic tensions in Solomon Islands, in 2000, the Solomon Islands Christian Association requested that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission be established. Further to the passage of an Act of Parliament in 2008, this came about in 2009. In February of 2012 the Commission presented its five-volume report to Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo. Under the terms of the governing Act, ‘The Prime Minister on receiving [...] Continue reading

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Kago, Kastom and Kalja: The Study of Indigenous Movements in Melanesia Today (Cahiers du Credo) (Volume 2)

Edited by Marc Tabani and Marcellin Abong, Pacific-Credo Publications (April 2013). [purchase through Amazon.com] “This volume, bringing together six ethnographic papers and an epilogue first presented at ASAO sessions in 2009 (Santa Cruz) and 2010 Alexandria), includes a wealth of … Continue reading

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Fiji constitutional referendum? Unlikely

Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has released the much anticipated Fiji draft constitution, an extensive revision of the 2012 draft released by the Constitutional Commission, led by international constitutional law scholar Yash Ghai.

T… Continue reading

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PNG slowdown pushing regional growth lower in the Pacific

In the latest issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor, released yesterday (March 26), the ADB forecasts that the average rate of growth in its 14 developing member countries in the Pacific region will fall to 5.2%, as earlier gains from major foreign investments and public infrastructure projects fade. The performance of the region’s larger natural resource exporting economies (Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Timor-Leste) continues to drive the economic outlook, [...] Continue reading

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Last Post for Peter Worsley (1924-2013)

by Assoc. Prof. Colin Filer, RMAP. Sad to report that Peter Worsley died last week. I cannot imagine that he ever attended an Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) meeting, but that is not surprising because he was forced … Continue reading

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It’s 2013, And They’re Burning ‘Witches’

In her latest article in The Global Mail, Jo Chandler writes that ”Belief in black magic persists in Papua New Guinea, where communities are warping under the pressure of the mining boom’s unfulfilled expectations. Women are blamed, accused of sorcery and … Continue reading

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The economic costs of non-communicable diseases in the Pacific Islands

There are three main messages contained in the recently released World Bank report ‘The economic costs of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Pacific Islands: a rapid stocktake of the situation in Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu‘ (available here [PDF]) (the report did not include analysis of Papua New Guinea). First, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) impose large health, financial and economic costs on developing countries, including those in the Pacific. NCDs, including heart disease, [...] Continue reading

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UQ ePress new Pacific titles

Prof. Clive Moore (UQ) and Prof. Brij Lal (ANU) have been working to establish a Pacific series in the UQ ePress. The first publications in this series contain two new titles (the first in this list) and the reissue of … Continue reading

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China and India in the Fiji equation

Professor Wadan Narsey is an Adjunct Professor at The Cairns Institute.
The Fiji regime’s clear breach of its own decrees and roadmap to democracy, as described in my previous post, has unsettled traditional donors and must also create s… Continue reading

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Why the Fiji regime rejected the draft constitution

Professor Wadan Narsey is an Adjunct Professor at The Cairns Institute.
As Jenny Hayward-Jones described last Friday, the Fiji regime’s promise of a transparent and accountable ‘roadmap’ to parliamentary elections in 2014, following the writi… Continue reading

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Pacific predictions 2013 – Fiji falters, and more

This time last year, I offered Pacific predictions for 2012: you can see them here. Looking back, I didn’t do too badly, so I thought I’d have another go this year. There will no doubt be many other highlights and key moments but here I identify some of what I think will be the big ticket items, under the headings of politics, economics, and regionalism. Politics Elections – forthcoming and [...] Continue reading

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PNG: The six billion kina question

Graeme Smith is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the China Studies Centre, University of Sydney and a Visiting Fellow with the State, Society and Governance Program in Melanesia Program, ANU.
When I penned Are Chinese Soft Loans Always a Bad Thing? for Th… Continue reading

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Development in the Pacific islands: what can we learn from experience?

On 6-8 November 2012 at USP, Suva, twenty-five men and four women (three more women withdrew too late for them to be replaced), all senior practitioners or analysts of social and economic development in Pacific island countries (PICs) and two-thirds of them Pacific islanders by descent, met by invitation in a ‘What We Can Learn’ project symposium to consider and debate what they had learned from their aggregate of a [...] Continue reading

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The Pacific’s digital future

Led by bloggers, digital entrepreneurs and social media groups in Papua New Guinea, a Pacific ‘digital generation’ is emerging that is increasingly influencing public debates, forming policy ideas, holding institutions accountable and coordinating… Continue reading

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Melanesian politics: Stael blong Vanuatu

A parliamentary vote in Vanuatu yesterday saw Sato Kilman re-elected by 29 to 23 votes as Prime Minister following the 30 October elections. His People’s Progressive Party won only five seats in a 52-member parliament (pictured) but Kilman pr… Continue reading

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AAA Conference 2012 (Pacific-related papers)

The 111th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) has just been held in San Francisco with the theme Borders and Crossings (November 14-18). This year’s program had 717 sessions, 34 workshops, 13 innovents and 183 special events. The … Continue reading

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Welcome back, Dr Matthew Allen!

This month, Dr Matthew Allen returned to the ANU to take up his new position with the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia (SSGM) program. From 2008 until mid-2012, Matt was based in the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific (RMAP) program. … Continue reading

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PhD Scholarship for research on “Understanding Mobile and Social Media in the Pacific”

School of Media and Communication, RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia) Application deadline: 31 October 2012.

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Vanuatu resurgent

Despite its openness and smallness, Vanuatu’s economy has been performing well over a number of years. It had weathered the global financial crisis and the political instabilities that the various governments have gone through. Sustaining this growth in the medium term is the key. In this post, I shall briefly discuss the economy and its prospects and assess briefly whether this growth is sustainable. Past, present and future economic growth [...] Continue reading

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Pacific Symposium at the ANU (16-17 October 2012)

16-17 October 2012, ANU Centre for European Studies, Canberra The École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Canberra (EHESS @ ANU) and the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific and ANU Centre for European Studies are hosting this … Continue reading

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Review: Palm tree justice

This book provides a very particular and personal view from inside Operation Helpem Fren, otherwise known as the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, or RAMSI. This Australian-led mission has been part of the landscape of Solomon Islands since 2003, so Drumgold’s book is very much a snapshot of a particular time (January 2006 to February 2007). After the initial mission to restore peace, RAMSI scaled back its military input [...] Continue reading

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Global Reef Expedition (2011-2015)

Track the progress of research vessel M/Y Golden Shadow as it moves west through the Pacific islands from French Polynesia to the Indonesian archipelago (website features  interactive maps, blogs, photos and the research aims and objectives of the expedition).

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Alternative indicators of well-being for Melanesia: Vanuatu pilot study report (and video)

A new report on Alternative Indicators of Well-Being for Melanesia: Vanuatu pilot study report [8Mb PDF] is now available from the Vanuatu National Statistics Office (VNSO). You may read more about this report in an insightful article by Bob Makin … Continue reading

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Solomon Islands economic update

On September 6th the Development Policy Centre hosted the 2012 Pacific Update at the ANU. The program consisted of panel discussions on PNG and Timor-Leste; Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa; and Solomon Islands and Fiji. This post is a summary of the comments on the Solomon Islands’ economy made by Rick Hou, the Minister of Finance for Government of the Solomon Islands. My presentation will focus on our economy: the recent [...] Continue reading

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Poor political governance in Solomon Islands – what can donors do?

In recent blog posts (here and here) I have discussed problems of political governance in Solomon Islands, along with their probable causes. This discussion was, in part, a response to an excellent discussion paper and blog posts (here and here) written by the World Bank’s Tobias Haque. In the paper and posts Tobias argued that political governance problems in Solomons are better explained by rational actor based models than by alternative explanations in [...] Continue reading

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Poor political governance in Solomon Islands – what use rational choice explanations?

What are the causes of poor political governance in Solomon Islands? In a previous post I pointed out that this is an important development question. And, prompted by two blog posts (here and here) and a Discussion Paper [PDF] written by Tobias Haque, I started to examine potential causes of poor political governance. In particular, broadly in agreement with Tobias, I argued that the central problems of political governance in [...] Continue reading

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Scholarships for SSGM Research Colloquium 2013 (applications close 21 September)

The State, Society & Governance in Melanesia Program is currently accepting applications for the 2013 Pacific Research Colloquium (PRC) - held for researchers from the Pacific and Timor Leste who are in the early stages of their career. Successful applicants will participate in a 2 week intensive program of research skills … Continue reading

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