Vā Moana Reading Group 02 2020

The next Vā Moana Reading Group will look at online vā in the time of Covid-19.

Pacific diaspora communities have been early adopters of the online environment to help connect commuting cultures spread across oceans and to obliterate distance. Significant participation has been seen at every level from the chat room to now-defunct Bebo and Myspace to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more recently Tik Tok.

While Pacific peoples adopting and adapting online is not a new phenomenon, the online environment has gained undeniable prescience in the everyday lives of most people globally in light of Covid-19. This reading group asks how Indigenous Pacific relational practices can be maintained or shifted to the online environment and what happens when these practices have to be mediated through devices and operate within the rigid systems of the internet?

We will be discussing these ideas in relation to three texts:

• Emele Ugavale. (2020). Oceania: Social Media, Cyber-Indigeneity and Cancel Culture. Debating Communities and Networks 11 Conference 2020
• McKenzie Wark. (2019). Capital Is Dead: Is This Something Worse? Verso: London. (Introductory chapter)
• Lana Lopesi. (2018). False Divides. BWB: Wellington. (Chapter 4 Double Edged Sword: Moana Peoples Online)

The reading group will be held on Thursday 16 July 10am—12.30pm in WE303, level 3 WE Building, St Paul Street. We also welcome people to join us via Zoom. The link can be found here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82611707436

This is open to Māori and Pacific postgraduate students as well as extended aiga and those in their final year of their undergraduate degrees. Spaces are limited so please RSVP to lana.lopesi@aut.ac.nz.