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Pacific Studies courses

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Our first group of Learning Oceania students in 2008
Our first group of Learning Oceania students in 2008
Courses offered within the Pacific Studies program provide students with deep insight into the complex forces which shape the Pacific region, a grounded understanding of contemporary Pacific life, and a rigorous and critical approach to studying Oceania. Students engage with key themes and issues affecting the region, including culture, politics, development, religion, gender, migration, environment, migration, aid and Australia-Pacific relations. ANU is a world leader in research on the Pacific, allowing students to engage closely with eminent Pacific scholars and receive unparalleled support in their pursuit of their own research interests.


All Pacific Studies courses are offered in both undergraduate and graduate streams, with appropriate assessment requirements. In addition, the graduate stream of any Pacific Studies course can be taken as a non-award course by eligible people not currently enrolled in a university degree. Please contact the Administrator of Graduate and Advanced Programs (email Graduate.Programs.AsianStudies@anu.edu.au phone + 61 2 6125 3210) for more information on this option.


Not all courses are offered in every year. Courses offered in 2010 are:

* Offered as an intensive course during Spring Session
Undergraduate Graduate
Semester 1
PASI1010 PASI6010
PASI2001 PASI6001
PASI2003 PASI6003
Semester 2
PASI2002 PASI6002
PASI3001* PASI8001*
PASI3006* PASI8006*


The courses offered within the Pacific Studies program are:

Contents


These dedicated Pacific Studies courses are usefully complemented by the wide range of courses also included in the undergraduate Pacific Studies major or the undergraduate Pacific Languages major. More information on these two majors is available in this document.


PASI1010/2010/6010 Introduction to Melanesian Pidgins and Creoles

PASI1010/6010 will be offered in Semester 1 2010
PASI2010/6010 will not be offered in 2010
Either PASI1010/6010 or PASI2010/6010 is generally offered every year, in Semester 1

This introductory course provides students with a basic understanding of the key pidgins widely spoken in the Melanesian region: Papua New Guinean Tok Pisin, Solomon Island Pijin, and Ni-Vanuatu Bislama. The course covers the history of the three pidgins, an introduction to the grammar of pidgins, and the practical use of these pidgins. Literature and films in Melanesian pidgins will also be used to introduce students to Melanesian people’s perspectives on contemporary social, political and economic issues in the region.

Additional information for first-year students

Most Pacific Studies courses are designed for later-year or graduate students. First-year undergraduate students interested in Pacific Studies should also consider ASIA1025 Individual and Society in Asia and the Pacific A and ASIA1030 Individual and Society in Asia and the Pacific B, which are compulsory courses for the Pacific Studies major, as well as SRES1008 Australia, Asia and the Pacific: Society and Environment which can also be included in the major.


PASI2001/6001 Learning Oceania: an Introduction to Pacific Studies

PASI2001/6001 will be offered in Semester 1 2010
PASI2001/6001 is generally offered in every year, in Semester 1

This course introduces students to the histories, key terms and approaches shaping the dynamic field of Pacific Studies. It outlines the ways in which Oceania has been mapped, represented and approached in scholarly and popular knowledge and emphasizes the complexity and diversity of this region. It provides an introduction in particular to the ways in which Australia and New Zealand interact with the Pacific and a comparative lens on the position of Pacific Islander communities within these two countries. Indigenous Pacific Islander approaches to engaging and learning Oceania are particularly highlighted.


PASI2002/6002 Pacific Encounters: an Introduction to History and Culture in Oceania

PASI2002/6002 will be offered in Semester 2 2010
PASI2002/6002 is generally offered every year, in Semester 2

This course covers the history of the peoples of the tropical Pacific Islands from their initial settlement of the region until the present day. A major theme throughout is Pacific Islanders’ consistent expectation of influences and opportunities from beyond the horizon, and their ability to incorporate these external forces into their own perspectives. Beginning with Islanders’ colonisation of the region, the course then moves on chronologically to chart their progressive involvement in the emerging global economy following sustained European contacts with the region. Themes covered include the seafaring and navigational brilliance of the first colonizers of the region, their special relationship with the sea and its marine inhabitants, their struggles to establish colonies on small islands, the mystery surrounding the destruction of Easter Island society, culture contact with Europeans and the dramatic death of Captain Cook in Hawaii, resistance to European rule, the Pacific War during WWII, decolonization and the problems and benefits of independence, and contemporary issues such as instability, retaining and asserting cultural integrity in the era of globalisation, and the continuing struggle for independence for many.


PASI2003/6003 Themes in Contemporary Melanesia

PASI2003/6003 will be offered in Semester 1 2010
PASI2003/6003 is generally offered in even-numbered years, in Semester 1

The course provides an overview of the culture, geography and contemporary history of the cultural region known as Melanesia, with a particular focus on Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji, and with reference to Papua and Timor Leste. It focuses on a critical and multidisciplinary exploration of four key themes in contemporary Melanesia: development, governance, conflict and Australia’s engagements with the region. It aims to provide students with an understanding of the key academic and policy debates relating to these themes.


PASI2004/6004 On the Beach: Film and History in the Pacific

PASI2004/6004 will not be offered in 2010
PASI2004/6004 is generally offered in odd-numbered years, in Semester 2

This course explores the productive intersection between history, film studies, and Pacific studies. Cinema has played a pivotal role during the twentieth century in promoting stereotypical but highly influential representations of the Pacific. The development of Pacific cinema is traced for the light it sheds on the relationship between film and history, as well as the specific history of the region. Particular emphasis is placed on the emergence of an indigenous cinema, which confronts and subverts both colonial and contemporary representations of the Pacific by outsiders.


PASI2020/6020 Introduction to Pacific Languages

PASI2020/6020 will not be offered in 2010
PASI2020/6020 is generally offered in odd-numbered years, in Semester 2

This course provides an introductory overview to the languages of the Pacific, extending from Timor in the west through the island of New Guinea out through Melanesia into Pacific Polynesia. It deals equally with the Austronesian languages which have arrived in the region some three millennia ago and the many Papuan languages whose presence in the region goes back much further in time and which are geographically focussed on the island of New Guinea with outliers in Timor, the Moluccas, and the Solomon Islands. The emphasis is on giving an understanding of these very diverse language structures, an appreciation of the astounding linguistic diversity of the region (containing around a fifth of the world’s languages), the cultural context of language function and structure, and the continuities between traditional languages and the emergent pidgins and creoles of the region. No previous exposure to linguistics or to Pacific languages is assumed.


PASI3001/8001 The Contemporary Pacific: Culture, Politics, Society and Development

PASI3001/8001 will be offered as an intensive course in the Spring Session (during Semester 2) 2010
PASI3001/8001 is generally offered every year, in the Spring Session (during Semester 2)

This rigorous course enhances understanding of some of the challenges and prospects facing the contemporary Pacific. Local Pacific experiences and perspectives are particularly emphasised.

Themes covered include:

  • Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia: peoples and cultures
  • Historical roots of the contemporary Pacific
  • Development issues
  • Regionalism and globalisation
  • Australia, Asian and New Zealand regional engagement
  • Pacific futures

This advanced course is recommended for students interested in developing a critical and comprehensive understanding of contemporary issues in the Pacific region.


PASI3003/8003 Spirit Islands: Indigenous and Introduced Religions in Oceania

PASI3003/8003 will not be offered in 2010

This course examines the place of religion in the social lives of Pacific Islanders in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial settings. It also assesses the contribution of both indigenous Pacific ritual systems and introduced Christianity to cultural and social change in the region. The course is designed for students intersted in religion, philosophy, culture, development issues, and the Pacific. Some background in Anthropology is helpful but not required.


PASI3006/8006 Navigating the Pacific: Mapping the Study and Research Resources

PASI3006/8006 will be offered as an intensive course in the Spring Session (during Semester 2) 2010

This course provides students with the essential skills for studying and researching Pacific Island topics. Students expand their existing information literacy skills for using primary and secondary sources for Pacific research. The course is complimented by field trips to local institutions where students gain an understanding of the wide range of Pacific collections, resources and record formats available in Australia and the region.


PASI3007/8007 Ideas and Issues in Pacific Politics

PASI3007/8007 will not be offered in 2010

This course provides students with an introduction to some current political issues in the Pacific Islands, and to the way concepts from Political Science, such as power, democracy, and the state, can help understand them. The normative and contested character of political concepts is emphasized. The course will concentrate on issues where ANU researchers are engaged, for example in governance, electoral engineering, regionalism and corruption. The course will also consider the politics of doing research, and related consultancy work, in the region.

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