Constructive Disequilibrium and Transformative Pedagogy

In this reflective essay we examined the experiences of a group of students from a small liberal arts college in the United States on a study abroad program to the Marshall Islands to intern as preservice teachers in Marshallese schools. Specifically, we examined 32 students’ critical reflections written once they returned from their programs. We interrogated their understanding of themselves regarding their privilege as American students and the inequality between the two nations. Through their teaching of Marshallese students, they deeply questioned the meaning of privilege, culture, identity, and community. We interpreted these experiences through the lens of transformative learning theory and the notion of constructive disequilibrium. When critical-transformative pedagogies inform these experiences, they nudge students out of their comfort zone and offer them opportunities to consider new possibilities that widen their life trajectories and develop global citizenship. We conclude with advocating for the importance of study abroad experiences.

Low-Lying States, Climate Change-Induced Relocation, and the Collective Right to Self-Determination

<p>It is increasingly likely that, due to the impacts of climate change, entire populations of low-lying States – Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives – will need to relocate to other States' territories. Such en masse relocations would jeopardise these peoples' national identities and manifestations of their ways of life: cultures, languages, customs, and social, political and economic systems. Legal writers analysing this topic focus mainly on maritime boundaries and statehood questions. This thesis examines the right to self-determination. The principal finding is that the peoples of low-lying States are entitled to enjoy self-determination in climate change-related relocation and that there are practical ways this can occur. After explaining the factual scenario and the approach to this research, the analysis has four key components. First, it defines the right to self-determination in context of the low-lying States, including entitlements flowing from this collective right. The populations of low-lying States' are "peoples" entitled to self-determination, including in relocation. Self-determination comprises various elements, resembling a bundle of rights. A framework is devised for unpacking this bundle and understanding what self-determination entails. The framework divides the right into strategic and operational elements. The strategic elements are the right's objectives of peace and human rights, as well as its classic expressions; external and internal self-determination. The operational elements seek to secure the right's objectives through substantive and procedural entitlements. Substantive entitlements include the right of peoples to continuity of their States, to be different, to freely-determined political statuses, and to freely-pursued economic, social and cultural development. Procedural aspects include processes for determining the substantive elements, plus democratic governance, and some degree of autonomy from other political units. The second major component of this thesis examines potential duty-bearers, and the nature of their duties. Low-lying States are the principal duty-bearers regarding their peoples' right to self-determination. Third-party States and the United Nations have relevant duties, but these are vague and do not anticipate proactive involvement in supporting low-lying peoples' endeavours to maintain self-determination ex situ. The duties become clearer for a third-party State that partners in a low-lying people's relocation, but there are no obligations to become such a partner. The third part of the legal analysis re-examines the issue of whether statehood can be maintained without inhabitable territory, but in light of the self-determination analysis. There is a presumption of continuity of statehood in international law and it applies to low-lying States. There is no legal basis to argue that statehood would be terminated in this relocation scenario. The presumption of continuity is bolstered by self-determination, which gives the peoples of low-lying States exclusive competence to determine their political statuses. Prior analyses of statehood have focused on the Montevideo Convention indicia. However, these indicia only apply to the creation of States, not termination. Consequently, there is far-reaching flexibility for extant States to decide how, or whether, the indicia are satisfied. Finally, options for enabling ex situ self-determination are presented concerning key questions of legal personality (since statehood is only one option), land and international frameworks. The final section also proposes ways of incorporating self-determination into the emerging human rights-based approach to climate change adaptation.</p>

"[They] danced, and, then, … it was our turn to dance": Performative cultural diplomacy between Tuvalu and Taiwan

<p>Taiwan (the Republic of China, ROC) contains vibrant communities of Pacific diplomats and students from Taiwan’s allies—as of August 2019, this included Tuvalu, Nauru, Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and Palau—and sometimes non-allies like Papua New Guinea. These communities are overlooked in both Pacific Studies and International Relations (IR) research. While working as an interpreter for the Tuvalu Embassy in Taiwan, I interacted with Pacific and Taiwanese diplomatic communities and witnessed how the Tuvalu and Taiwan governments attempted to communicate culture through performative/dance projects (i.e., performative cultural diplomacy). These performative engagements challenge IR analysis of Asia in the Pacific, which sees Pacific-Taiwan diplomacy as primarily determined by competition between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Instead, these engagements demonstrate how participants in Tuvalu-Taiwan performative cultural diplomacy, the majority of whom are not diplomats, carry with them multiple ideas and identities; consider their actions based on diverse contexts; and assign varying levels of importance to diplomacy, Tuvalu, and Taiwan. Consequently, in this thesis, I adopt a Pacific Studies research framework that emphasizes indigenous epistemologies, comparativity, interdisciplinarity, and a critical empowerment rationale to examine three topics: (1) Tuvaluan, Pacific, and Taiwanese conceptions of diplomacy; (2) the Tuvalu-Taiwan diplomatic relationship and its underlying assumptions; and (3) how Tuvalu-Taiwan performative cultural diplomacy both reflects and complicates diplomatic conceptions and assumptions. After introducing my research questions and structure in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2, I outline conceptions of diplomacy explicated by Pacific diplomats in Taiwan; Tuvaluan diplomats, officials, and traditional leaders in Tuvalu and Taiwan; and Taiwanese diplomats/officials in the same locations. I demonstrate how Tuvaluan/Pacific ideas of diplomacy often diverge from those held by Taiwanese diplomats/officials while also highlighting disparities among Tuvaluan and other Pacific views. In Chapter 3, I sketch discursive histories of Tuvalu-Taiwan diplomacy. I map how Tuvalu and Taiwan have characterized each other since establishing relations and trace the complex routes that structure how they currently imagine their diplomatic partner. Chapter 3 also shows how discursive histories both dovetail with and challenge diplomatic conceptions outlined in Chapter 2. Subsequently, in Chapters 4 to 6, I bring three Tuvalu-Taiwan performative cultural diplomacy projects into conversation with conceptual and discursive trends from Chapters 2 and 3. Here, I emphasize the voices of diplomats, officials, planners, performers, and audience members who engage with projects and underscore tensions that arise among participants and between participants and diplomats, officials, and audience members from their diplomatic partner. I also consider diplomatic conceptions, discourses, and assumptions discussed earlier in the thesis from the perspectives of project participants and observers to show how performative cultural diplomacy influences and illuminates diplomatic relationships. In the Conclusion, I explore the theoretical and practical applications of this research. For theoretical applications, I discuss how a Pacific Studies research framework and Performance/Dance Studies create new possibilities for IR research. I also show how this thesis provides an interface for rethinking Taiwan’s positionality, especially Taiwan’s connections to and distance from the Pacific. For practical applications, I make recommendations for the future implementation of diplomacy and performative cultural diplomacy.</p>

"[They] danced, and, then, … it was our turn to dance": Performative cultural diplomacy between Tuvalu and Taiwan

<p>Taiwan (the Republic of China, ROC) contains vibrant communities of Pacific diplomats and students from Taiwan’s allies—as of August 2019, this included Tuvalu, Nauru, Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and Palau—and sometimes non-allies like Papua New Guinea. These communities are overlooked in both Pacific Studies and International Relations (IR) research. While working as an interpreter for the Tuvalu Embassy in Taiwan, I interacted with Pacific and Taiwanese diplomatic communities and witnessed how the Tuvalu and Taiwan governments attempted to communicate culture through performative/dance projects (i.e., performative cultural diplomacy). These performative engagements challenge IR analysis of Asia in the Pacific, which sees Pacific-Taiwan diplomacy as primarily determined by competition between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Instead, these engagements demonstrate how participants in Tuvalu-Taiwan performative cultural diplomacy, the majority of whom are not diplomats, carry with them multiple ideas and identities; consider their actions based on diverse contexts; and assign varying levels of importance to diplomacy, Tuvalu, and Taiwan. Consequently, in this thesis, I adopt a Pacific Studies research framework that emphasizes indigenous epistemologies, comparativity, interdisciplinarity, and a critical empowerment rationale to examine three topics: (1) Tuvaluan, Pacific, and Taiwanese conceptions of diplomacy; (2) the Tuvalu-Taiwan diplomatic relationship and its underlying assumptions; and (3) how Tuvalu-Taiwan performative cultural diplomacy both reflects and complicates diplomatic conceptions and assumptions. After introducing my research questions and structure in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2, I outline conceptions of diplomacy explicated by Pacific diplomats in Taiwan; Tuvaluan diplomats, officials, and traditional leaders in Tuvalu and Taiwan; and Taiwanese diplomats/officials in the same locations. I demonstrate how Tuvaluan/Pacific ideas of diplomacy often diverge from those held by Taiwanese diplomats/officials while also highlighting disparities among Tuvaluan and other Pacific views. In Chapter 3, I sketch discursive histories of Tuvalu-Taiwan diplomacy. I map how Tuvalu and Taiwan have characterized each other since establishing relations and trace the complex routes that structure how they currently imagine their diplomatic partner. Chapter 3 also shows how discursive histories both dovetail with and challenge diplomatic conceptions outlined in Chapter 2. Subsequently, in Chapters 4 to 6, I bring three Tuvalu-Taiwan performative cultural diplomacy projects into conversation with conceptual and discursive trends from Chapters 2 and 3. Here, I emphasize the voices of diplomats, officials, planners, performers, and audience members who engage with projects and underscore tensions that arise among participants and between participants and diplomats, officials, and audience members from their diplomatic partner. I also consider diplomatic conceptions, discourses, and assumptions discussed earlier in the thesis from the perspectives of project participants and observers to show how performative cultural diplomacy influences and illuminates diplomatic relationships. In the Conclusion, I explore the theoretical and practical applications of this research. For theoretical applications, I discuss how a Pacific Studies research framework and Performance/Dance Studies create new possibilities for IR research. I also show how this thesis provides an interface for rethinking Taiwan’s positionality, especially Taiwan’s connections to and distance from the Pacific. For practical applications, I make recommendations for the future implementation of diplomacy and performative cultural diplomacy.</p>

Low-Lying States, Climate Change-Induced Relocation, and the Collective Right to Self-Determination

<p>It is increasingly likely that, due to the impacts of climate change, entire populations of low-lying States – Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives – will need to relocate to other States' territories. Such en masse relocations would jeopardise these peoples' national identities and manifestations of their ways of life: cultures, languages, customs, and social, political and economic systems. Legal writers analysing this topic focus mainly on maritime boundaries and statehood questions. This thesis examines the right to self-determination. The principal finding is that the peoples of low-lying States are entitled to enjoy self-determination in climate change-related relocation and that there are practical ways this can occur. After explaining the factual scenario and the approach to this research, the analysis has four key components. First, it defines the right to self-determination in context of the low-lying States, including entitlements flowing from this collective right. The populations of low-lying States' are "peoples" entitled to self-determination, including in relocation. Self-determination comprises various elements, resembling a bundle of rights. A framework is devised for unpacking this bundle and understanding what self-determination entails. The framework divides the right into strategic and operational elements. The strategic elements are the right's objectives of peace and human rights, as well as its classic expressions; external and internal self-determination. The operational elements seek to secure the right's objectives through substantive and procedural entitlements. Substantive entitlements include the right of peoples to continuity of their States, to be different, to freely-determined political statuses, and to freely-pursued economic, social and cultural development. Procedural aspects include processes for determining the substantive elements, plus democratic governance, and some degree of autonomy from other political units. The second major component of this thesis examines potential duty-bearers, and the nature of their duties. Low-lying States are the principal duty-bearers regarding their peoples' right to self-determination. Third-party States and the United Nations have relevant duties, but these are vague and do not anticipate proactive involvement in supporting low-lying peoples' endeavours to maintain self-determination ex situ. The duties become clearer for a third-party State that partners in a low-lying people's relocation, but there are no obligations to become such a partner. The third part of the legal analysis re-examines the issue of whether statehood can be maintained without inhabitable territory, but in light of the self-determination analysis. There is a presumption of continuity of statehood in international law and it applies to low-lying States. There is no legal basis to argue that statehood would be terminated in this relocation scenario. The presumption of continuity is bolstered by self-determination, which gives the peoples of low-lying States exclusive competence to determine their political statuses. Prior analyses of statehood have focused on the Montevideo Convention indicia. However, these indicia only apply to the creation of States, not termination. Consequently, there is far-reaching flexibility for extant States to decide how, or whether, the indicia are satisfied. Finally, options for enabling ex situ self-determination are presented concerning key questions of legal personality (since statehood is only one option), land and international frameworks. The final section also proposes ways of incorporating self-determination into the emerging human rights-based approach to climate change adaptation.</p>

Fish Teeth Sr Isotope Stratigraphy and Nd Isotope Variations: New Insights on REY Enrichments in Deep-Sea Sediments in the Pacific

Rare earth elements and yttrium (REY) are widely recognized as strategic materials for advanced technological applications. Deep-sea sediments from the eastern South Pacific and central North Pacific were first reported as potential resources containing significant amounts of REY that are comparable to, or greater than, those of land-based deposits. Despite nearly a decade of research, quantitative abundances and spatial distributions of these deposits remain insufficient. Age controls are generally absent due to the lack of biostratigraphic constraints. Thus, the factors controlling the formation of REY-rich sediments are still controversial. In this study, the REY contents of surface sediments (<2 m depth) in 14 piston cores from the Middle and Western Pacific were investigated. The results show that deep-sea sediments with high REY contents (>1000 μg/g) were mainly concentrated around seamounts (e.g., the Marshall Islands). The REY contents of surface sediments generally decreased with distance from the seamounts. Biostratigraphic and fish teeth debris (apatite) Sr isotopic stratigraphy of one piston cores (P10) from the Middle Pacific indicate that deep-sea sediments with high REY contents were aged from early Oligocene to early Miocene. Since the opening of the Drake Passage during the early Oligocene, the northward-flowing Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) would have led to an upwelling of nutrients around seamounts with topographic barriers, and at the same time, AABW would delay the rate of sediment burial to try for enough time for REY entering and enriching in the apatite (fish teeth debris). Understanding the spatial distribution of fertile regions for REY-rich sediments provides guidance for searching for other REY resources in the Pacific and in other oceans.

Ganoderma applanatum. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

A description is provided for Ganoderma applanatum. Sporophores of this fungus are found on both living and dead trees, where the fungus causes a decay of heartwood resulting in a white soft spongy heart and butt rot. Some information on its associated organisms and substrata, dispersal and transmission, habitats and conservation status is given, along with details of its geographical distribution (Africa (Angola, Benin, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, São Tomé and Principe, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo), Asia (Azerbaijan, Brunei Darussalam, China (Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hong Kong, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Nei Mongol Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang), Christmas Island, Cyprus, Georgia, India (Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal), Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan (Almaty, East Kazakhstan, Kostanay, South Kazakhstan), Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia (Altai Krai, Altai Republic, Irkutsk Oblast, Kamchatka Krai, Kemerovo Oblast, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Novosibirsk Oblast, Omsk Oblast, Primorsky Krai, Sakha Republic, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Tomsk Oblast, Tyumen Oblast, YamaloNenets Autonomous Okrug), Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam), Australasia (Australia (Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia), New Zealand), Caribbean (American Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago), Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama. Europe: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Russia (Arkhangelsk Oblast, Belgorod Oblast, Bryansk Oblast, Chuvash Republic, Ivanovo Oblast, Kaliningrad Oblast, Kaluga Oblast, Kirov Oblast, Kostroma Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Kursk Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Mari El Republic, Moscow Oblast, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Orenburg Oblast, Oryol Oblast, Penza Oblast, Perm Krai, Pskov Oblast, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Tatarstan, Samara Oblast, Smolensk Oblast, Tula Oblast, Tver Oblast, Udmurt Republic, Vladimir Oblast, Vologda Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast), Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK), Indian Ocean (Seychelles. North America: Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan), Mexico, USA (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming)), Pacific Ocean (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, USA (Hawaii)), South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (Acre, Alagoas, Amapá, Amazonas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Paraná, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Roraima, Santa Catarina, São Paulo), Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela)).

Making new history: Contemporary art and the temporal orientations of climate change in Oceania

This article explores artistic production in the region of Oceania that resists the ahistorical and future-oriented temporality of climate change discourse, as it perpetuates colonial structures of power by denying Indigenous futures and ignoring the violent histories that have led to the current climate breakdown. In the video poem Anointed (2018), prominent climate justice activist Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner strategically combines spoken word poetry with visual montage in order to situate Cold War nuclear tests by the US military within the same temporal plane as rising sea levels currently threatening the Marshall Islands. Katerina Teaiwa’s exhibition Project Banaba (2017) similarly mobilizes archival imagery in order to visualize the genealogical relationship between Banabans and the settler landscapes of Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Sean Connelly’s architectural and design practice in Hawaiʻi Futures, an ongoing digital design project that engages with the threats of sea level rise and coastal erosion in Hawaiʻi, problematizes linear formations of time and favours a future structured around cyclical, ecological time instead. Interacting with vastly different sites, strategies and temporalities, these three multidisciplinary projects provide critical alternatives to the ahistorical framing of colonial climate change in Oceania and thus play a crucial role in constructing a more just future.