Vaka Vuku: Navigating Knowledge

Pacific Epistemologies Conference
July 3-7, 2006, at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

'Vaka' translates as canoe in Polynesian. In an Oceanic mind, 'canoe' connotes travel, visiting and taking gifts, connecting with other clans and tribes, a means to a livelihood, and a part of a family. Some Polynesian languages use the word wa'a or va'a. In Kiribati wā is used. The word 'vuku' is from Fijian. As a noun, it refers to wisdom, or a body of knowledge. As a person, it is someone who knows.

Vaka vuku: Canoes of wisdom and knowledge and people who know.

You can download some pertinent articles: Emerging Epistemologies, by Professor Subramani.

HaveWe Been Thinking Upside-Down? The Contemporary Emergence of Pacific Theoretical Thought, by Elise Huffer and Ropate Qalo. With permission from The Contemporary Pacific, © 2004 University of Hawai'i Press.

"How We Know": Kwara'ae Rural Villagers Doing Indigenous Epistemology, by David Welchman Gegeo and Karen AnnWatson-Gegeo. With permission from The Contemporary Pacific, © 2001 University of Hawai'i Press.

Whose Knowledge? Epistemological Collisions in Solomon Islands Community Development, by David Welchman Gegeo and Karen AnnWatson-Gegeo. With permission from The Contemporary Pacific, © 2002 University of Hawai'i Press.

Our Own Liberation: Reflections on Hawaiian Epistemology, by Manulani Aluli Meyer. With permission from The Contemporary Pacific, © 2001 University of Hawai'i Press.

The Story of the Fijian Story Teller by Apolonia Tamata.With permission from Directions © 2000 Institute of Education, University of the South Pacific.

This website has been created by Yogesh Nath of CFDL (formely Media Centre).