An Indigenous Ocean Pacific

An Indigenous Ocean Pacific by Damon Salesa ~
2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards

An Indigenous Ocean: Pacific Essays Damon Salesa The Pacifi c’s ‘Indigenous times’ are not just smaller sections of larger histories, but dimensions of their own.

Histories of our Pacific world are richly rendered in these essays by Damon Salesa. From the first Indigenous civilisations that flourished in Oceania to the colonial encounters of the nineteenth century, and on to the complex contemporary relationships between New Zealand and the Pacific, Salesa offers new perspectives on this vast ocean – its people, its cultures, its pasts and its future.

Spanning a wide range of topics, from race and migration to Pacifi c studies and empire, these essays demonstrate Salesa’s remarkable scholarship. Bridging the gap between academic disciplines and cultural traditions, Salesa locates Pacific peoples always at the centre of their stories. An Indigenous Ocean is a pivotal contribution to understanding the history and culture of Oceania.

Professor Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa is an interdisciplinary scholar focused on Oceania, deeply influenced by Indigenous Pacific cultures, particularly his own Samoan genealogy. He is an award-winning author, whose publications include Racial Crossings: Race, Intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire (Oxford University Press, 2013) and Island Time: New Zealand’s Pacifi c Futures (BWB Texts, 2017). Dr Salesa was educated in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and has held academic positions in New Zealand and the United States. Currently the Vice-Chancellor of the Auckland University of Technology, he was honoured as a Fellow of the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2021 for his outstanding contribution to Pacific Studies.