Date	Monday, 9th - Friday 13th December, 2002
Venue	Le Papa-I-Galagala Campus, the National University of Samoa, Apia

Pacific Islands indigenous and tribal societies evolved out of diverse and distinctive cultures. Their diverse origins and cultures were recognised with the birth of rights for everyone after the Second World War. Distinctive tribal differences were contained (though some persisted) by colonialism. In many Island societies, hereditary tribal patterns formed the basis of native administrations co-existing alongside centralised administrations and economy. At Independence, the imposition of a nation-state and the development of a human rights-based constitutional government were widely accepted. At the localised level of society, colonially modified tribal hierarchies with traditions of independence persisted, often in partnership with powerful indigenized churches, constantly contested the agenda of equal rights.

Pacific leaders did not see the inherent contradictions of the duality as a priority concern and constitutional designers had silently hoped that the competing value systems would somehow coalesce into a national cohesion. While some differences were accommodated, many persisted and frequently resulted in confusion at various levels of island society.

In the early years of independence, internal tensions were largely contained. By the end of the twentieth century, tensions had broken out into open conflict with widespread ramifications throughout Oceania- village banishment, violence, suicide, murder and political assassination, putsch and coups, ethnic and tribal warfare, and global diaspora. These conflicts represent the interface of cultural tensions as a consequence of an uneasy coexistence of ancient social structures and a globalising economy.

The conference aims to address the causes and effects of longstanding tensions and consequent clashes of values by revisiting the histories of tribal, colonial and constitutional hierarchies. The conference also seeks to pursue further the discussions from earlier conferences and invites papers on both historical and contemporary topics.

Full conference details and list of panels will be published in pha newsletter no 41 (February 2002) and through the Pacific History Association web site www.usp.ac.fj/pha/index.html

Papers will be organised around themes and panels

		HISTORIES OF TRIBAL ANCESTORS AND COLONIAL HIERARCHIES.
		DEVELOPMENT DILEMMAS OF A NATION-STATE AND CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.
		PROGRESSION OF RIGHTS AND VALUES
		ANCESTRAL HIERARCHIES, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE CLERGY.
		THE CONTINUITY OF ANCIENT AUTHORITY SYSTEMS WITHIN A GLOBALISING ECONOMY.
		VILLAGE/DISTRICT HISTORIES AND GOVERNANCE.
		HISTORICAL METAPHORS AND MYTHICAL REALITIES
		DIASPORA, OLD AND NEW ANCESTRY: STRETCHING THE BOUNDARIES
		INDIGENIZED CHURCHES: NEW ELITES AND RELATIONS BETWEEN RELIGION AND POLITICS

And from earlier conferences

		CASTING AND CATCHING THE NET
		PARTICIPANTS AS HISTORIANS
		BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY
		GENDER AND CULTURAL IDENTITY
		NEGOTIATING INDIGENOUS IDENTITIES
		PHOTOGRAPHY, IMAGING AND REPRESENTATION
		POSTGRADUATE FORUM AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
		THE FRENCH IN THE PACIFIC

Opportunities exist for further panels and individual papers to be scheduled

		EXPLORING PACIFIC ISLANDS AND TRANS-TASMAN LINKS THROUGH SPORTS
		PACIFIC ISLANDS RUGBY: GLOBAL PROFESSIONALISM AND MONEY
		GLOBAL SAMOA

Key Dates

Submission of 300 words abstracts  (In MS Word): No later than 15 July, 2002.

Confirmation of Acceptance of Abstracts End August 2002

Submission of Final Paper    End of October, 2002

Convenors

Asofou So’o Institute of Samoan Studies The National University of Samoa, Apia, Samoa e-mail: a.soo@nus.edu.ws or asofou@yahoo.com Morgan Tuimaleali’ifano Department of History and Politics The University of the South Pacific PO Box 1168, Suva, Fiji. Fax: +679 301 487  e-mail: tuimalea_am@usp.ac.fj

HOST INSTITUTIONS

Institute of Samoan Studies National University of Samoa PO Box 5768, Apia, Samoa Fax: (685) 22440. Ph: 20072, Ext 218.

 

Department of History and Politics The University of the South Pacific Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji. Fax: 679 301 487. Ph: 212 616

The proceedings of the conference will be published by the Institute of Pacific Studies at The University of the South Pacific.

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October 2002