Oceania Currents

16. Hawaiʻi Triennial 2025: “Aloha Nō”

The Hawaiʻi Triennial is Hawaiʻi’s largest, thematic exhibition of contemporary art from Hawai‘i, the Pacific, and beyond. Last year’s Hawaiʻi Triennial 2025 (HT25) shared the work of 49 artists and artist collectives around the theme "Aloha Nō." In this episode, we hear from one of the three co-curators of HT25, Noelle Kahanu, as well as three HT25 artists: * Gisela McDaniel, a diasporic, Indigenous CHamoru artist who explores the effects of trauma, displacement, and colonization through portraiture and oral histories; * John Pule, the celebrated Niuean painter and poet based in Aotearoa New Zealand; and * Brandy Nālani McDougall, the Kanaka ʻŌiwi poet and educator who served as Hawaiʻi State Poet Laureate 2023-2025.

15. The Blue Pacific: A Narrative for Pacific Regionalism

The concept of the Blue Pacific is central to Pacific regionalism. It serves as a narrative for rallying Pacific Islands countries to commitment to regionalism and collective diplomacy as well as a counter narrative to global geopolitical mappings. The Blue Pacific empowers Pacific Island countries by giving them agency to frame and tell their own narratives and map their region in context of increasing geopolitical competition. In this episode we talk story with Dame Meg Taylor, the former Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and Sione Tekiteki, a senior lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology. We talanoa about the concept of the Blue Pacific, how it emerged, and what it means to the region.

14. Guåhan in FestPAC: Renewing Ancestral Connections

In this two-part story, Oceania Currents dives into Guåhan’s rich and complex relationship with the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC), produced with guest host Eva Aguon Cruz. In episode one, we hear from three leading CHamoru cultural practitioners as they reflect on their journeys through FestPAC, from Guåhan’s first participation in 1976 to today: Leonard Iriarte, master chanter and founder of I Fanalai’an Oral History Project; Julie “Mama Jill” Benavente, master carver from artist co-operative Guinahan CHamoru; and Raphael Unpingco, multidisciplinary artist based at Sagan Kotturan CHamoru.

13. Geopolitics in Oceania: Pacific Islands' Security in an Era of Great Power Competition

After the Cold War, US interest in the Pacific Islands waned. Assistance to Pacific Islands declined, and the US closed its embassies and consular offices in several Pacific Islands. However, China’s presence and influence in the Pacific Islands has triggered renewed interest from Western powers and a new geopolitical competition. In this episode, we speak with Prof. Kenneth Gofigan Kuper (University of Guam) about militarization and US strategy in Guåhan and the broader Micronesian subregion and with journalist Nic Maclellan about European and Australian engagement with Oceania.

12. Nuclear Testing in the Pacific: Truth-telling and Collective Memory

Between 1946 and 1996, the US, Great Britain and France tested over 300 nuclear weapons in the Pacific. The legacies of those nuclear weapons tests continue to affect Pacific Islanders and Islands today. In this episode, we speak with Nic Maclellan, an Australian journalist who has worked on nuclear issues in the Pacific for decades. After that, we talk story with Mililani Ganivet and Marie-Helene Villierme from Tahiti about their audio-documentary podcast project Nu/clear Stories [https://open.spotify.com/show/0DqOxreTxTQ58RLVIAGeTL?si=38a7a81ba1b54765], which shares stories of everyday life and grapples with the legacies of the period of nuclear testing in French Polynesia.