Exploring political realities in Oceania

The group recently hosted the research seminar «Locating the Political in the Pacific», with participants including anthropologists of Oceania based at the University of Bergen as well as at institutions overseas. 

The seminar was based on the participants’ ethnographic research different parts of Oceania, from Fiji to Hawai’I, the Cook Islands, the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Tokelau and Vanuatu. The contributions examined current and perhaps surprising fields in which broader political issues are revealed, including in the export of aquarium fish to the United States, the revitalization of traditional chiefly ceremonies, and non-communicable diseases related to changing diets as locally produced vegetables, fruits and fish are increasingly reserved growing tourism industries.

The seminar was the Bergen Pacific Studies’ second of 2026 and had, in addition to the group‘s members from University of Bergen, visiting researchers from the University of Waikato, University of St. Andrews, Sapienza Università di Roma and the University of Oslo.

Bergen Pacific Studies, established in 2005, is one of the department’s longest running research groups.