Negotiating the Digital Vā: Emerging Pacific Scholars and Community Building on Twitter

Seuta‘afili Patrick Thomsen; Lana Lopesi; Gregory Pōmaikaʻi Gushiken; Leah Damm; Kevin Lujan Lee; Emmaline Pickering-Martin; Fetaui Iosefo; Sereana Naepi; Litia Tuiburelevu

doi:10.26686/jnzs.iNS33.7388

Authors

Seuta‘afili Patrick Thomsen University of Auckland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7498-7192
Lana Lopesi Auckland University of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8873-3273
Gregory Pōmaikaʻi Gushiken University of California San Diego
Leah Damm https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8328-3242
Kevin Lujan Lee Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Emmaline Pickering-Martin Hāpai Te Hauora - Māori Public Health https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2915-8584
Fetaui Iosefo University of Auckland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3841-0630
Sereana Naepi University of Auckland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6067-9014
Litia Tuiburelevu University of Auckland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/jnzs.iNS33.7388

Abstract

Although the power of social media to bring people together across borders is acknowledged, very little has been written about the potential of social media sites for emerging Pacific scholars living transnationally across our region and beyond. We deploy thematic talanoa to demonstrate how emerging Pacific scholars engage Twitter as a platform where routes and relationships are established and teu/tauhi in the digital vā. Furthermore, we argue that emerging scholars of Pacific heritage are building an augmented reality founded on Pacific-specific ways of relationship building, forming external to, and in response to, marginalising dominant narratives inside and outside Pacific worlds.

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Author Biographies

Seuta‘afili Patrick Thomsen, University of Auckland

Dr Seuta‘afili Patrick Thomsen (Sāmoa -Vaimoso, Vaigaga; he/them) is a Lecturer in Global Studies at Te Puna Reo (School of Cultures Languages and Linguistics) Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. He is the Queer and LGBT+ Studies Collection Editor for Lived Places Publishing, Board Member of F’INE Pasifika Aotearoa, Principal Investigator for the Manalagi Project, as well as Creator and Producer of the Manalagi TV series airing in 2022. He received his PhD from the University of Washington -Seattle.

Lana Lopesi, Auckland University of Technology

Dr Lana Lopesi (Sāmoan/Pākehā; she/her) is an art critic, editor and author of False Divides (2018) and Bloody Woman (2021). Currently she is Editor-in-Chief for the Pacific Art Legacy Project, Editor for Marinade: Aotearoa Journal of Moana Art, and Arts Editor, Metro Magazine. She received her PhD in 2021 from Auckland University of Technology on Moana Cosmopolitan Imaginaries. Lana is a researcher for the Vā Moana -Pacific Spaces research cluster at Auckland University of Technology, where she also lectures in art theory.

Gregory Pōmaikaʻi Gushiken, University of California San Diego

Gregory Pōmaika‘i Gushiken (he/him) is a Kanaka Maoli PhD candidate in Ethnic Studies with a Graduate Specialization in Critical Gender Studies at the University of California, San Diego.

Leah Damm

Leah Damm is of Cook Island Māori descent, from Matavera in Rarotonga, and currently holds a BA in Sociology and BA Hons in Pacific Studies. She is currently working as researcher on an HRC-funded study looking into the impacts of climate change on the mental wellbeing of Pacific people. Leah’s doctoral studies commence in 2022, which will study the formation of Pacific feminist counterpublics in the digital space.

Kevin Lujan Lee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Kevin Lujan Lee (Familian Capili; he/they) is a Chamoru researcher with ancestral roots in Manislan Mariånas, and specifically the island of Guåhan (Taotao Barrigada). He is a PhD student in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Guided by the Chamoru principle of inafa’maolek, he studies low-wage worker mobilizations in comparative perspective and is the co-Principal Investigator of the 2021 Guåhan Survey.

Emmaline Pickering-Martin, Hāpai Te Hauora - Māori Public Health

Emmaline Pickering-Martin (she/her) is the Fijian granddaughter of Emmaline Levy, Ratu Jone Kalougivaki, Jean Bonniface and Frank Martin. Emmaline holds a BHSc (midwifery), BEd (teaching primary), a PGDip and a master’s degree in Pacific Studies with a focus on the Mental Health system in Fiji. Her doctoral studies begin in 2022 exploring women’s skin marking across Moana nui a Kiwa and women’s wellbeing. She is the Communications Advisor for Hāpai Te Hauora - Māori Public Health and the creator and co-director of Pacific media organisation ‘Tabu Tok’.

Fetaui Iosefo, University of Auckland

Fetaui Iosefo is the youngest daughter of Fuimaono Luse Vui Siope and Su‘a Muamai Vui Siope. Her parents migrated from Samoa to Aotearoa in the late 1950’s. Sonny Iosefo is her life partner. Together they have two beautiful sons. Fetaui is a PhD candidate and a teaching fellow with the Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland, Te Papa Ako o Tai Tonga, South Auckland Campus.

Sereana Naepi, University of Auckland

Dr Sereana Naepi (Fijian/Pākehā; she/her) is a pouako, Lecturer in Sociology at Te Puna Mārama (School of Social Sciences), Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland. Sereana is a Rutherford Fellow and explores how our university and research sector can be more equitable.

Litia Tuiburelevu, University of Auckland

Litia Tuiburelevu (she/her) is a research fellow at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Law. She is of Fijian, Tongan and Pākehā ancestry. She is the lead investigator for the research project Pacific Peoples and the Criminal Justice System in New Zealand, funded by the Borrin Foundation. She received her BA/LLB(Hons) from the University of Auckland in 2018.