• Home
• Study
• Study Information
• Modules
• Module Information

Pacific Histories: Environment, People and Politics

Module description

Traditionally the Pacific has been conceptualised as an empty space, a region without history or culture. This module flips this traditional narrative to reveal the Pacific as a vibrant region of mobility, exchange, networks, protest, and activism. Taking the islands of the Pacific as its foci this module centres primarily on the 20th century. You will study Pacific histories of migration and colonisation, movements for decolonisation, indigenous rights, and environmental justice. We will look at how Pacific peoples have engaged in regional and international forums of governance and engaged with global environmental politics. You will also be asked to think about how knowledge about the Pacific is produced and reflect on ways to raise awareness about the history and the significance of this region.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to introduce you to the core history and theory related to Pacific History. You will study the methods associated with global and transnational history as well as the interdisciplinary fields of Pacific Studies and Environmental Humanities. You will build your historical skills and knowledge though examining a range of sources including maps, photographs, oral histories, protest literature, music, material culture, petitions, colonial records, personal papers, and government records. You will learn how to write about history for both public and academic audiences, alongside producing your own creative and research outputs.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a historical understanding of the key events and themes relating to Pacific history
• 2. Engage with historical sources to explain the impact of migration, colonialism and decolonisation in the Pacific
• 3. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the methods of global and transnational history alongside interdisciplinary approaches of Pacific Studies and Environmental Humanities

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the methods of global and transnational history alongside interdisciplinary approaches of Pacific Studies and Environmental Humanities
• 5. Engage critically with existing historiography and with a variety of theoretical frameworks relating to migration, colonisation, and decolonisation

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Deploy persuasive communication skills both independently and in group work
• 7. Mobilise effective research skills to critically analyse primary and secondary material on the module themes and issues
• 8. Work independently and to module deadlines

Syllabus plan

Whilst content may vary from year to year, you will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Genealogies of knowledge: How do we know the Pacific?
• Postcolonialism and approaches to history
• The Pacific in Global History
• Migrations: Navigation, Diaspora, and Settlement
• Colonialism in the Pacific
• The ‘Pacific’ War: WWII and Pacific peoples
• Decolonising the Pacific: Transnational networks and protest
• The Black Pacific and Indigenous Globalisation
• Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific: Anticolonial and Environmental activism
• The Pacific Way: Democracy, Socialism, and the Pacific

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Tracey Banivanua Mar, Decolonisation and the Pacific: Indigenous Globalisation and the Ends of Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
• Matt Matsuda, Pacific Worlds: A history of Seas, Peoples and Cultures (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
• Armitage and Bashford (eds.), Pacific Histories: Ocean, Land, Heritage (Bloomsbury, 2014).
• Quito Swan, Pasifika Black: Oceania, Anti-Colonialism and the African World (NYU Press, 2022).
• John Kelly and Martha Kaplan, Represented Communities: Fiji and World Decolonization (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001)

Key words search

Pacific History, Colonisation, Decolonisation, Environment, Politics, Indigenous, Global History, Governance, Activism, Protest