We are the Ocean

We Are the Ocean is a collection of essays, fiction, and poetry by Epeli Hau'ofa, whose writing over the past three decades has consistently challenged prevailing notions about Oceania and prescriptions for its development. He highlights major problems confronted by the region and suggests alternative perspectives and ways in which its people might reorganize to relate effectively to the changing world.Hau'ofa's essays criss-cross Oceania, creating a navigator's star chart of discussion and debate. Spurning the arcana of the intellectual establishments where he was schooled, Hau'ofa has crafted a distinctive-often lyrical, at times angry-voice that speaks directly to the people of the region and the general reader. He conveys his thoughts from diverse standpoints: university-based analyst, essayist, satirist and humorist, and practical catalyst for creativity. According to Hau'ofa, only through creative originality in all fields of endeavor can the people of Oceania hope to strengthen their capacity to engage the forces of globalization.

“This collection [is] devoted to the (re)appropriation of Pacific Island identity and futures [and] should be read and pondered by all Oceanian students and by all students of Oceania.”

-- "The Contemporary Pacific"

Epeli Hau'ofa was born in 1939 in Papua New Guinea and was educated in Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Fiji, Australia, and Canada. Since 1983 he has been working at the University of the South Pacific's main campus in Suva, Fiji, where he is the founder and current director of the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture, established in 1997.

We Are the Ocean is a collection of essays by Epeli Hau'ofa, whose writing over the past three decades has consistently challenged prevailing notions about Oceania and prescriptions for its development. He highlights major problems confronted by the region and suggests alternative perspectives and ways in which its people might reorganize to relate effectively to the changing world. Hau'ofa's essays crisscross Oceania, creating a navigator's star chart of discussion and debate. "Our Sea of Islands," "The Ocean in Us," "Pasts to Remember," and "Our Place Within," all of which are included in this collection, outline some of Hau'ofa's ideas for the emergence of a stronger and freer Oceania. Throughout he expresses his concern with the environment and suggests that the most important role that the "people of the sea" can assume is as custodians of the Pacific, the vast area of the world's largest body of water.

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