The notion of ‘constellative thinking’ in Pacific thought: Expanding Oceania.

Abstract

The current paper is a contribution to an ongoing discussion that stemmed from a seminal paper titled “Our Sea of Islands”, by the late Epeli Hau’ofa, Professor of Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific. The paper aims to further the objectives of “Our Sea of Islands” by reframing its arguments using the vocabulary of a school of thought that can be traced from Immanuel Kant to Theodor Adorno, via Hegel. The aim is to see if we, as people of Oceania, can arrive at a more appropriate articulation of ourselves using the grammar embedded within Western philosophical discourse. Ultimately the paper aims at reanimating a renaissance of Oceanic thinking, given “Our Sea of Islands”.