Panels & Presenters: Day 1

Tēvita O. Kaʻili is genealogically connected to Tonga, Sāmoa, Fiji, and Rotuma. Tēvita is a Professor of Anthropology and Cultural Sustainability at Brigham Young University–Hawaiʻi. His research focuses on the Indigenous Tā-Vā (Time-Space) Philosophy of Reality, tauhi vā, and the intersection of Tongan cosmogony and tauhi fonua (ecological responsibility). He is the author of Marking Indigeneity: The Tongan Art of Sociospatial Relations (2017) and co-author (with Kolokesa Uafā Tuai-Māhina & Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Professor ʻOkusitino Māhina) of Sio FakaTonga ʻae ʻAati FakaTonga: Tongan Views of Tongan Arts (2025). He is also the editor of Pacific Studies, a multidisciplinary journal devoted to the study of the peoples of the Pacific Islands. 

Born in Tāmakai Makaurau, Auckland, in Aotearoa New Zealand, Eliah Aoina is an independent scholar who grew up in Yugambeh Country, Logan, Australia. His research interests lie in the semiotics of time and space, which he uses in his approach to understanding the formation of the Sāmoan diaspora, as someone who grew up in it. Eliah’s genealogies connect to Vaigaga, Toamua, Vaovai, and Malaela. He completed his BA in philosophy and anthropology at the University of Queensland in 2017, his MA in anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa 2020, and in 2026 he hopes to pursue a PhD in anthropology.

Professor of Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies and Ethnic Studies at the City College of San Francisco (CCSF). He is Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at where he oversees programs in Diversity and Social Justice, Ethnic Studies, Critical Middle East Studies, and Trauma, Prevention, and Recovery. Dr. Palaita's academic career spans several colleges and universities across the U.S., building curriculum, giving lectures, teaching, and developing programs centered on the lives of U.S. diasporic Pacific Islander/Oceania communities. His work on Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies extends into K-12 school districts in California, especially into the San Francisco County jails, bringing Pasefika knowledge to justice-impacted students. He is currently editing his dissertation for publication entitled, "The Space that is Sacred (VĀSĀ /Ocean): Pacific Islanders in Higher Education.

Rita is a Melbourne-based ethnomusicologist, composer and music director with ancestral lineages from the villages of Falealupo, Vaimoso, Sasina and Sapapali’i in Samoa. She holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology (2025) from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Universityof Melbourne as well as a Bachelor of Music (Honours) with first class honours (2013). Rita’s research focus is on the Samoan musical traditions in diaspora and provides a Samoan approach to the scholarship of pese Sāmoa (Samoan song). A creative researcher, Rita’s impactful work as a community leader, creative arts educator, advisor and mentor has culminated in the development of many community initiatives including Pacific Island Creative Arts Australia (PICAA), an organisation that promotes Pacific creative arts in Australia. She is currently the Oceania Institute Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and continues her community roles as a music composer and choir director for EFKS Northgate and Pasefik a Vitoria Choir.

Dr. Line-Noue Memea Kruse hails from the villages of Sapapali’i, Vaisala, Vaimoso, Vaitoloa, Pesega, Tuana’i, and Manunu in Sāmoa. She is an Assistant Professor of Pacific History and Affiliate Faculty in Pacific Islands Studies at University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Her research areas are Indigenous theory, critical theory applied to Indigenous land tenure and law, relational communal ontologies in gender, ecological knowledges, law, Indigenous gender studies, Moana migration and transnationalism, global citizenship and empire, territorial federalism, equity and comparative international law, Indigenous land use, climate adaptation resilience, o le alofi sā. She is the author of The Pacific Insular Case of American Sāmoa: Land Rights and Law in Unincorporated US Territories (2018), first Sāmoan territorial planner in the American Sāmoan Government, former member of Heads of Planning and Statistics in the Pacific Community, and Secretariat to the Two Sāmoas. She is a mother of four children, board member of Heritage Samoa and Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities.

Dr Cammi Webb-Gannon is a Senior Lecturer with the Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Wollongong. She is a decolonization ethnographer focusing on the Pacific Islands region with a long-term interest in West Papua’s independence movement, Australian South Sea Islander political identity and decolonization in Kanaky (New Caledonia). Cammi is the Coordinator of the West Papua Project at the University of Wollongong and is author of Morning Star Rising: The Politics of Decolonization in West Papua (2021, University of Hawai’i Press).

Dr. Ponipate Rokolekutu is an iTaukei scholar and Mata ni Vanua belonging to the lineage serving the Tui Kuku in the Vanua of Nailagolaba. His scholarship examines the colonial and neo-colonial history of iTaukei land dispossession in Fiji, situated within broader struggles for sovereignty and resistance across Oceania. Framed by critical colonial discourses, postcolonial theory, and Marxist analysis, his work critiques the neo-colonial state and its institutional apparatuses, particularly the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB) and the 1965 Mining Act which together entrench economic dependency and state control over Indigenous land and resources. Through this lens, he exposes how extractive industries transform the Vanua from a sacred space of belonging into a site of exploitation.

Tēvita O. Kaʻili is genealogically connected to Tonga, Sāmoa, Fiji, and Rotuma. Tēvita is a Professor of Anthropology and Cultural Sustainability at Brigham Young University–Hawaiʻi. His research focuses on the Indigenous Tā-Vā (Time-Space) Philosophy of Reality, tauhi vā, and the intersection of Tongan cosmogony and tauhi fonua (ecological responsibility). He is the author of Marking Indigeneity: The Tongan Art of Sociospatial Relations (2017) and co-author (with Kolokesa Uafā Tuai-Māhina & Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Professor ʻOkusitino Māhina) of Sio FakaTonga ʻae ʻAati FakaTonga: Tongan Views of Tongan Arts (2025). He is also the editor of Pacific Studies, a multidisciplinary journal devoted to the study of the peoples of the Pacific Islands. 

As Head of Pasifika Collections and Engagement at the Australian Museum, Melissa brings her Tongan and Fijian heritage to her transformative work in cultural preservation and community development. Drawing on extensive expertise in stakeholder engagement, community development, social impact, communications and operational leadership, she has successfully secured vital resources for numerous Pasifika cultural and arts initiatives. Melissa is dedicated to integrating traditional Indigenous knowledge into contemporary frameworks, ensuring these valuable perspectives gain rightful recognition in mainstream institutions. Through her work, Melissa continues to amplify Pasifika voices, strengthen cultural heritage, and drive positive change across local and international networks. Melissa was lead curator for the Australian Museum’s Wansolmoana Gallery and has developed impactful initiatives highlighting the effects of climate change in the Pacific. She has also led projects dedicated to revitalising and preserving Pasifika cultural practices in response to environmental challenges. 

Born in Tāmakai Makaurau, Auckland, in Aotearoa New Zealand, Eliah Aoina is an independent scholar who grew up in Yugambeh Country, Logan, Australia. His research interests lie in the semiotics of time and space, which he uses in his approach to understanding the formation of the Sāmoan diaspora, as someone who grew up in it. Eliah’s genealogies connect to Vaigaga, Toamua, Vaovai, and Malaela. He completed his BA in philosophy and anthropology at the University of Queensland in 2017, his MA in anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa 2020, and in 2026 he hopes to pursue a PhD in anthropology.

Melissa Sutton is the Senior Pasifika Collections Officer at the Australian Museum. Melissa’s main role at the Australian Museum is to work to safeguard and care for the Pasifika Collection consisting of over 60,000 cultural objects. Prior to joining the Australian Museum, Melissa worked at the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Centre (AH&MRC), for 5 years where she worked as the Business Development Manager. Melissa has extensive experience in business development, strategic planning and execution, management, logistics, project management and in embedding cultural respect and supplier management across various countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Dr. Line-Noue Memea Kruse hails from the villages of Sapapali’i, Vaisala, Vaimoso, Vaitoloa, Pesega, Tuana’i, and Manunu in Sāmoa. She is an Assistant Professor of Pacific History and Affiliate Faculty in Pacific Islands Studies at University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Her research areas are Indigenous theory, critical theory applied to Indigenous land tenure and law, relational communal ontologies in gender, ecological knowledges, law, Indigenous gender studies, Moana migration and transnationalism, global citizenship and empire, territorial federalism, equity and comparative international law, Indigenous land use, climate adaptation resilience, o le alofi sā. She is the author of The Pacific Insular Case of American Sāmoa: Land Rights and Law in Unincorporated US Territories (2018), first Sāmoan territorial planner in the American Sāmoan Government, former member of Heads of Planning and Statistics in the Pacific Community, and Secretariat to the Two Sāmoas. She is a mother of four children, board member of Heritage Samoa and Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities.

Courtney Marsh is a Minyungbal – South Sea mibiny who grew up on Gadigal Country. As Head, Curatorial, First Nations, she facilitates the amplification of First Nations voices, cultures and frameworks, illustrating how her Peoples’ science and knowledge-bases can be used to build a more sustainable future.

Lisa Uperesa is an interdisciplinary scholar of Samoan, Norwegian, and German descent. She works with Pacific communities to understand movement and mobility, and how they shape lives, identities, families, cultures, and futures. Her book Gridiron Capital: How American Football Became a Samoan Game (Duke University Press, 2022) focused on the rise of American football in Samoan communities and the navigation of sport mobility as both labor and tautua (service). Lisa is Associate Professor and Morgan and Helen Chu Chair in Asian American Studies at UCLA. Before moving to Los Angeles, she served as Head of Pacific Studies and co-Head of School Te Wānanga o Waipapa | School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies at Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland. She is a co-PI on a Marsden project funded by the NZ Royal Society on the evolution of Pacific research methodologies; other projects include sport, cultural expression, and digital platforms, and decolonial and culturally sustaining pedagogies.

Elijah Lemusuifeauali’i is the Wansolmoana Connect Officer at the Australian Museum, managing Pasifika engagements and building the Wansolmoana Connect program. Lemusuifeauali’i is a dedicated and profoundly committed advocate for the Pacific. Fostering strong and sincere relationships, whilst mindful of his positionality; Lemusuifeauali’i strives to establish genuine contributions to Pacific communities through his own personal and museum work. Hailing from Samoa (Malie, Eva and Matautu-Lefaga) and Aotearoa, NZ (Te Whanau a Apanui), having lived in multiple Pacific islands and speaking various Pacific languages; Lemusuifeauali’i’s extensive experience and skills make him an invaluable member to the preservation and perpetuation of Pacific knowledge & culture.

Apolonia Tamata, Ph.D., is the Senior Lecturer in Fijian Studies at USP. She holds a Masters in Linguistics from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and a Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of the South Pacific. She was the Senior Language and Culture Specialist at the iTaukei Trust Fund Board prior to rejoining USP. Apolonia is also a playwright and an artist having staged theatre and exhibitions in various locations. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholar in Residence during 2022-2023 at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa’s Hawai’i and Indigenous Performance programme, and a Climate Action Artist Residency in Warnemunde, Germany, in 20024-2025.

Dr. Apolonia Tamata is a playwright, researcher, a linguist and a language studies senior lecturer. As the coordinator for the Fijian Studies Programme, Dr. Tamata has made significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of Fijian culture, language and indigenous knowledge. Her research and publications focus on literacy, phonology, and language change, providing valuable insights into the dynamics of language evolution and education. With a passion for storytelling, Dr. Tamata’s plays are celebrated for their cultural significance, humor and linguistic richness. Her dedication to education and cultural heritage has inspired many students and scholars, making her a respected figure in the academic and cultural communities. She has written and produced four plays of which three are taught as literature texts in Fiji’s high schools. Dr. Tamata has three exhibitions to her name on Fijian dictionaries (iTaukei Trust Fund), The story of the kamunaga (The Fiji Museum), Na ibe vivigi, with Cultural Vistas at the Fiji Arts Council in Suva, Samoa, Philippines and Berlin.

Foley joined the Center for Pacific Islands Studies in February 2022 to serve as Outreach Director. She holds a BA in international studies from the American University; an MSc in nature, society, and environmental governance from the University of Oxford; an MA and PhD in geography and environment from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) and a Graduate Certificate in Pacific Islands Studies also from UHM. Her research focuses on the extent to which climate adaptation and mitigation mechanisms, such as REDD+, are meeting the needs of communities in Vanuatu. She gained grant writing, management, and evaluation experience through her work as a program specialist for the Hawai‘i Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development (HACBED). 

Elijah Lemusuifeauali’i is the Wansolmoana Connect Officer at the Australian Museum, managing Pasifika engagements and building the Wansolmoana Connect program. Lemusuifeauali’i is a dedicated and profoundly committed advocate for the Pacific. Fostering strong and sincere relationships, whilst mindful of his positionality; Lemusuifeauali’i strives to establish genuine contributions to Pacific communities through his own personal and museum work. Hailing from Samoa (Malie, Eva and Matautu-Lefaga) and Aotearoa, NZ (Te Whanau a Apanui), having lived in multiple Pacific islands and speaking various Pacific languages; Lemusuifeauali’i’s extensive experience and skills make him an invaluable member to the preservation and perpetuation of Pacific knowledge & culture.

Title: Ocean Preservation and Cultural Connections. 

Solomon “Uncle Sol” Kahoʻohalahala is a seventh-generation native Hawaiian from Lānaʻi, renowned for his lifelong dedication to ocean preservation and the perpetuation of Hawaiian cultural traditions. As Chairman of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Sanctuary Advisory Council and the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, he leads efforts to protect Hawaiʻi’s marine environments and advocates for the integration of indigenous knowledge in conservation. A crewmember of the voyaging canoe “Hōkūleʻa” since 1975, Uncle Sol has helped revive traditional navigation, strengthening the cultural and spiritual connections between Hawaiians and the deep sea. He founded the Maunalei Ahupuaʻa Community Mauka-Makai Managed Area to empower Lānaʻi’s community—especially youth—to steward their nearshore waters and ridge-to-reef lands, ensuring the protection of fragile natural and cultural resources.Through leadership, education, and community action, Uncle Sol continues to inspire efforts that honor the deep relationship between the Hawaiian people and the ocean.

Jori Etuale is a Meanjin based visual artist and social worker whose practice is an exploration of his circumstance: the realities of being a Samoan living on stolen lands, and the relationships he's formed with individuals and communities on them. Currently undertaking a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Queensland College of Art and Design, his work explores themes of family and cultural identity, and questions the roles and responsibilities of people Indigenous to other lands in decolonial struggles in so-called Australia.

Title: KO HOKU MOANA, KO HOKU TOFI‘A My Ocean, My Inheritance. 

Melino Maka is a Tongan community leader in Aotearoa and Chair of the Huelo Matamoana Trust, spearheading a historic initiative to grant legal personhood to whales in Tonga. Through the Moananui Blueprint, Maka advocates for ocean conservation rooted in Indigenous guardianship, shifting the focus from resource management to recognizing marine life as entities with inherent rights. His work blends Tongan cultural values with legal innovation to protect the ocean for future generations. He has also opposed seabed mining.

Jocelyn is Notsi from Niu Ailan province, Papua Niugini with Anglo-Celtic lineages. Responding to memories, stories and traditions of her heritage, Jocelyn investigates the meeting points of geo-politics, history and culture in contemporary art from the Great Ocean region. With professional experience in museum, commercial and community art spaces, she researches, writes, mediates and curates critically engaging projects. Jocelyn holds a Bachelor of Humanities in Art History from the University of Queensland. She is currently Assistant Curator at UQ Art Museum. 

Title: Ocean Regeneration as a Counterforce to Deep Sea Mining. 

Louisa Castledine is a Cook Islands businesswoman and founder of Ocean Toa, a social enterprise that strengthens ancestral ocean connections through ecotourism, Indigenous knowledge revitalisation, and community-led conservation. An Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity, she holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland, a Master of Indigenous-led Social Change Leadership from the University of Melbourne, and recently completed a course in Environmental Economics and Finance at Stanford University, applying an Indigenous economic lens that centres community wellbeing, cultural resurgence, and regenerative ocean-based livelihoods. As spokesperson for Ocean Ancestors, an ocean advocacy collective in the Cook Islands, she promotes Indigenous stewardship and the development of resilient, culturally grounded Pacific self-determination against the odds of deep-sea mining

Ruha was born and raised in the Island Kingdom of Tonga and continues to engage with the Pacific region through her interdisciplinary arts practice and curatorial work. She serves as Curatorial Assistant for Pacific Art at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, and as Curator-at-Large for the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in Taranaki, Aotearoa. As an artist, Fifita’s creative practice centres on collaboration, community engagement, and connection with Indigenous methods and materials to inspire social change. Her freelance curatorial work is guided by an interest in developing curatorial processes that cultivate reciprocity and intercultural exchange between artists, communities, and cultural institutions.

Tēvita O. Kaʻili is genealogically connected to Tonga, Sāmoa, Fiji, and Rotuma. Tēvita is a Professor of Anthropology and Cultural Sustainability at Brigham Young University–Hawaiʻi. His research focuses on the Indigenous Tā-Vā (Time-Space) Philosophy of Reality, tauhi vā, and the intersection of Tongan cosmogony and tauhi fonua (ecological responsibility). He is the author of Marking Indigeneity: The Tongan Art of Sociospatial Relations (2017) and co-author (with Kolokesa Uafā Tuai-Māhina & Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Professor ʻOkusitino Māhina) of Sio FakaTonga ʻae ʻAati FakaTonga: Tongan Views of Tongan Arts (2025). He is also the editor of Pacific Studies, a multidisciplinary journal devoted to the study of the peoples of the Pacific Islands. 

Lana Lopesi is an Assistant Professor in the department of Indigenous Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon. There she teaches across her research areas of Pacific studies, Indigenous feminisms and contemporary art. She is the author of False Divides (2018: BWB); Bloody Woman (2021: BWB), and editor of Pacific Arts Aotearoa (2023: Penguin Randomhouse). Lana is co-editor of Towards a Grammar of Race: In Aotearoa New Zealand (2022: BWB) and Pacific Spaces: Translations and Transmutations (2022: Berghahn Books).

Born in Tāmakai Makaurau, Auckland, in Aotearoa New Zealand, Eliah Aoina is an independent scholar who grew up in Yugambeh Country, Logan, Australia. His research interests lie in the semiotics of time and space, which he uses in his approach to understanding the formation of the Sāmoan diaspora, as someone who grew up in it. Eliah’s genealogies connect to Vaigaga, Toamua, Vaovai, and Malaela. He completed his BA in philosophy and anthropology at the University of Queensland in 2017, his MA in anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa 2020, and in 2026 he hopes to pursue a PhD in anthropology.