Dr. Frank Thomas
Discipline/Centre/Institute: Pacific Studies
Email address: Frank.thomas@usp.ac.fj
Expertise / Activities: Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, Human Behavioral and Historical Ecology, Management of Common Property Resources, Comparative Island Studies.
Educational Background/ Qualifications:
BA Honours, Master’s, and PhD in Anthropology (specializing in archaeology) from McGill University, the University of Oregon, and the University of Hawai’i.
Biography: After two stints with Geography at USP at the turn of the century, Frank returned to USP in 2006 to join Pacific Studies, teaching at the Postgraduate level, and currently UU 204 Co-Coordinator. He conducted archaeological and human ecological research and consultancies in the Caribbean, Japan, Hawai’i, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Marianas, Kiribati, and Fiji.
Research Interests: Cultural adaptation and resilience on Oceanic atolls; Lapita Archaeology.
Awards:
‘Certificate of Recognition’ (Research). 2021, USP
‘USP Research Excellence Award’. 2017
‘USP Research Excellence Award’. 2015
Publications & Presentations:
2020 Lapita Archaeology in the Southwest Pacific (with Paul Geraghty and Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith). In Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, edited by Claire Smith. Basel: Springer: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3410-1
2020 Navigating Research Trajectories in Pacific Island Countries (with Shikha Raturi, Dawn Gibson, and Atul Raturi). In Graduate Research Supervision in the Developing World: Policies, Pedagogies and Practices, edited by Erik Blair, Danielle Watson, and Shikha Raturi pp. 77-90. London: Routledge.
2020 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage in Kiribati (with Anna M. Kotarba-Morley). In Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, edited by Claire Smith. Basel: Springer: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3483-1
2019 Last Millennium Settlement on Yadua Island, Fiji: Insights into Conflict and Climate Change (with Piérick C.M. Martin, Patrick D. Nunn, Niko Tokainavatu, Javier Leon. And Neil Tindale). Asian Perspectives 58: 316-330.
2019 Origin, Development and Prospects of Sand Islands off the North Coast of Viti Levu Island, Fiji, Southwest Pacific (with Patrick D. Nunn, Michelle McKeown, Adrian McCallum, Peter Davies, Eleanor John, Reemal Chandra, and Sharon N. Raj). Journal of Coastal Conservation. DOI: 10.1007/s11852-019-00707-w
2019 A Koronivalu kei Bua: Hillforts in Bua Province (Fiji), their Chronology, Associations, and Potential Significance. (with Patrick D. Nunn, Elia Nakoro, Niko Tokainavatu, Michelle McKeown, Paul Geraghty, Piérick Martin, Brandon Hourigan, and Roselyn Kumar). Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. DOI: 10.1080/15564894.2019.1582119
2019 Atoll Archaeology in the Pacific. In Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, edited by Claire Smith. Basel: Springer: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3409-1
2019 Mollusc Harvesting in the Pre-Contact Pacific Islands: Investigating Resilience and Sustainability. In Global Perspectives on Long Term Community Resource Management, edited by Ludomir R. Lozny and Thomas H. McGovern, pp. 189-211. Basel: Springer.
2019 Sustainable Extractive Strategies in the Pre-European Contact Pacific: Evidence from Mollusk Resources. Journal of Ethnobiology 39: 240-261.
2018 A Comparative Study of Pre-Colonial Farming in the Caribbean vis-à-vis the Pacific (with Basil A. Reid and Scott M. Fitzpatrick). In The Archaeology of Caribbean and Circum-Caribbean Farmers (6000 BC-AD 1500), edited by Basil A. Reid, pp. 207-234. Routledge, London.
2016 Value of Traditional Oral Narratives in Building Climate-change Resilience: Insights from Rural Communities in Fiji (with Shaiza Janif, Patrick D. Nunn, Paul Geraghty, William Aalbersberg, Frank R. Thomas, and Mereoni Camailakeba). Ecology and Society 21(2): 7 http://dx.doi.or/10.5751/ES-08100-210207
2015 Marginal Islands and Sustainability: 2,000 Years of Human Settlement in Eastern Micronesia. Economic- and Ecohistory 11: 64-74.
2014 Shellfish Gathering and Conservation on Low Coral Islands: Kiribati Perspectives. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 9: 203-218.
2013 Climate Change and its Impact on Tangible Cultural Heritage: Challenges and Prospects for Small Island Nations. In Cultural Heritage: Protection, Developments and International Perspectives, edited by Piero Frediani, Marco Frediani, and Luca Rosi, pp. 293-307. Nova Science, Hauppauge, NY.
2013 The Precontact Period. In The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society. Revised ed., edited by Moshe Rapaport, pp. 125-137. University of Hawai´i Press, Honolulu.
2012 The Value of Historical Ecology in Planning for Sustainable Livelihoods: A Kiribati Case Study. Journal of Pacific Studies 32: 137-152.
2012 Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands (with Irene Taafaki, Caleb McClennen, and John Bungitak). In Extreme Heritage Management: The Practices and Policies of Densely Populated Islands, edited by Godfrey Baldacchino, pp. 175-197. Berghahn Books, New York.
2011 Pacific Islands Archaeology. In Comparative Archaeologies: A Sociological View of the Science of the Past, edited by Ludomir R. Lozny, pp. 731-766. Springer, New York.
2010 Learning about the Past Today to Map Future Routes: Historic Preservation and Education in Kiribati (with Teweiariki Teaero). In Education for Sustainable Development: Continuity and Survival in the Pacific, Vol. 1, edited by Unaisi Nabobo-Baba, Cresantia F. Koya, and Teweiariki Teaero, pp. 26-45. School of Education, University of the South Pacific & Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO, Suva and Tokyo.
2009 Historical Ecology in Kiribati: Linking Past with Present. Pacific Science 63: 567-600.
2008 Early Human Settlement and Adaptation in the Marshall Islands. In The Marshall Islands: Environment, History and Society in the Atolls, edited by James P. Terry and Frank R. Thomas, pp. 69-90. Faculty of Islands and Oceans, University of the South Pacific, Suva.
2008 European Discovery, the Impact of Colonialism, and Modern-Day Changes in the Marshall Islands. In The Marshall Islands: Environment, History and Society in the Atolls, edited by and James P. Terry and Frank R. Thomas, pp. 91-117. Faculty of Islands and Oceans, University of the South Pacific, Suva.
2007 The Behavioral Ecology of Shellfish Gathering in Western Kiribati, Micronesia. 2: Patch Choice, Patch Sampling, and Risk. Human Ecology 35: 515-526.
2007 The Behavioral Ecology of Shellfish Gathering in Western Kiribati, Micronesia. 1: Prey Choice. Human Ecology 35: 179-194.
2007 The Lapita Occupation at Naitabale, Moturiki Island, Central Fiji (with Patrick D. Nunn, Tomo Ishimura, William R. Dickinson, Kazumichi Katayama, Roselyn Kumar, Sepeti Matararaba, Janet Davidson, and Trevor Worthy). Asian Perspectives 46: 96-132.
2007 Pacific Island Rural Development: Challenges and Prospects in Kiribati (with Kautoa Tonganibeia). In Environment, Development and Change in Rural Asia-Pacific: Between Local and Global, edited by John Connell and Eric Waddell, pp. 38-55. Routledge, London
2007 Times of Plenty, Times of Less: Last-Millennium Societal Disruption in the Pacific Basin (with Patrick D. Nunn, Rosalind Hunter-Anderson, Mike T. Carson, Sean Ulm, and Michael J. Rowland). Human Ecology 35: 385-401.
2018 Sustainable Past of Maritime Kiribati? Historical and Ethnographic Adaptations of Kiribati People to a Changing Natural Environment. Examples from Low Coral Atolls of Abaiang and Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, Republic of Kiribati in Remote Oceania. Paper presented at Culture: Conserving It Together, ICOMOS Pasifika, Suva, October 1-5, 2018 (with Anna M. Kotarba-Morley, Mike W. Morley, Brooke Campbell, Aurelie Delisle, James Reveley, and Helen MacGregor).
2018 Where Picasso’s Blue Period Seems rather Gray: Maritime Archaeology and Anthropology of Resilience, Sustainability and Adaptation. Case Study of the Low Coral Atoll of Abaiang, Gilbert Islands, Kiribati in Remote Oceania. Paper presented at the Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology Conference, Paramatta, NSW, Australasian, September 26-28, 2018 (with Anna M. Kotarba-Morley, Mike W. Moreley, Brooke Campbell, James Reveley, and Helen MacGregor).
2018 Sustainable Extractive Strategies in the Pre-European Pacific: Evidence from Mollusc Resources. Paper presented at the Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Human and Mollusc Interactions: From Prehistory to Present Conference, Paris, January 30-February 2, 2018.
2014 Cross-disciplinary Synergies. Panelist on University Seminar, ‘Reflections on Research Networking Across Pacific Universities: the 2014 PIURN Conference in Noumea’, University of the South Pacific, Suva, November 21, 2014.
2014 Heritage Designation of Tangible Cultural Resources in Kiribati: Racing against the Rising Tide. Paper presented at the First Conference of Pacific Islands Universities, University of New Caledonia, Noumea, New Caledonia, November 3-7, 2014. Paper published in the Proceedings.
2014 ‘Sustainability Archaeology’ and Landscape Transformation in Eastern Micronesia: Kiribati Case Study. Paper presented at the Samoa III Conference, National University of Samoa, Apia, August 25-29, 2014 (with Mark Horrocks). Paper published in the Proceedings.
2014 Pacific Studies at USP: An Historical Overview. Paper presented at the School of Government, Development and International Affair, University of the South Pacific, May 29, 2014.
2014 Pacific Studies at USP: An Historical Overview. Paper presented at School of Social Sciences Seminar, University of the South Pacific, Suva, May 9, 2014.
2013 Pacific Studies at USP: An Historical Overview. Paper presented at the Oceanic Symposium, Nadi, Fiji, November 6-7, 2013.
2011Environmental History of Pacific Atolls. Paper presented at the OCACPS Seminar Series, University of the South Pacific, Suva, November 1, 2011.
2011 Historical Ecology in Kiribati. Paper presented at the School of Social Sciences Seminar, University of the South Pacific, Suva, October 28, 2011.
2011 Environmental History on Pacific Atolls: An Expanding Frontier. Paper presented at the American Society for Environmental History Annual Conference. Presentation in the session on ‘History and Sustainability in the Pacific Islands’, Phoenix, April 13-17, 2011.
2010 The Value of Historical Ecology in Planning for Sustainable Livelihoods: Kiribati Case Study. Paper presented at the Conference on Future Challenges and Ancient Solutions: What can we Learn from the Past about Managing the Future in the Pacific, University of the South Pacific, Suva, November 29-December 3, 2010.
2008 Shellfish Diets of the Lapita People at Bourewa, Southwest Viti Levu Island, Fiji (with Ledua Kuilanisautabu). Poster Session presented at the Symposium on Pacific Roots: Heritage and Identities, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, December 1-5, 2008.
2008 Historical Ecology and Conservation Biology: Bridging the Divide between Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystems in the Pacific Islands. Paper presented at the 2nd Conference of the Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, April 18-20, 2008.
2006 Early Settlement and Adaptation on Pacific Atolls. Paper presented at the 17th Pacific History Biennial Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, December 7-10, 2006.