Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies

UC staff and students are invited to share the sounds of their culture — language, music, stories, and more with Pacific MBC Artist in Residence Posenai Mavaega🌺🎶

📍 Level 4, Logie Building
📅 Thursday 11 June
⏰ 2.00 PM

Interested but can’t make it, or want more information? Contact [email protected] or [email protected]

It's Vaia*o o le Gagana Samoa! 🌺

The 2026 theme for Samoa Language Week is "‘E afua mai i mauga tetele manuia o le 'nu'u - From the high mountains are the blessings of the village."

Head to MPP for more info: https://www.mpp.govt.nz/programmes-and-funding/pacific-languages/pacific-language-weeks/samoa-language-week/

So honoured to have highly respected Samoan musician Matuaitoga Posenai Mavaega as our 2026 CNZ | MBC Artist in Residence 🌺

We can’t wait to see what Posenai creates during his time with MBC 🎶

Pacific Arts - Creative New Zealand

🎶 For the first time in its 30-year history, MBC Pacific Artist in Residence at UC, funded by Creative New Zealand, has selected a musician.

Highly respected Samoan musician, producer and arts leader Posenai Mavaega has been named the 2026 Pacific Artist in Residence.

Posenai says the residency is an opportunity to honour the stories, relationships and musical traditions that have shaped his work.

Welcome to UC, Posenai 🌺

Posenai Mavaega (right), pictured with Tumaru Mataio – UCSA - University of Canterbury Students' Association President (left).

Pacific Arts - Creative New Zealand

It was a pleasure to host Jope Davetanivalu from Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme - SPREP at the University of Canterbury to discuss future collaboration opportunities across the Pacific region 🌏

Following the signing of an MOU earlier this year, we are excited to continue strengthening our shared priorities together.

Vinaka vakalevu, Jope, for your visit and rich talanoa 🤝

Join us for a special presentation with Nigel Cooper 🌏

“Living History: Peace Building in the Pacific – Stories from Papua New Guinea”

Hear firsthand reflections on the Bougainville peace process in Papua New Guinea from someone directly involved in shaping this pivotal chapter in Pacific history. ✨

This event will also mark the presentation of his Papua New Guinea archives to the Macmillan Brown Library.

The story of diplomacy in the Pacific is often told through a narrow lens—one shaped by the rise of the modern nation-state and the formalities of Western practice since independence. Yet, as this volume so powerfully reveals, the art of persuasion or negotiation, reconciliation, and relationship-building has been woven into the life of Oceania for thousands of years. Long before colonial boundaries or international conventions, our islands, clans, and chiefly systems were navigating their own pathways of peace, alliance, and exchange across the vast Pacific Ocean.

- From the foreword by Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa

➡️ Download FREE: https://pacificdynamics.nz/2026/02/23/oceanic-diplomacy-reasserting-indigenous-pathways-through-the-contemporary-pacific/

Share your research with the Pacific community! Publish open access with zero article processing charges. View guidelines and deadlines here ➡️ https://pacificdynamics.nz/pacific-dynamics-call-for-papers/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio