General Info

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 Pacific Poetry in English 720 (Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh)

Point weighting 15 points

Single semester

Calender description:  A critical engagement with poetry written in English by the peoples of Oceania (Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia).  Post colonial and feminist theories, in addition to the study of Pacific epistemologies in Pacific orature and art, will be used in the construction of culturally specific Pacific aesthetic frameworks to better appreciate this dynamic literature that spans from the 1970s to the present day.    

Teaching staff involved and role:  Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh 

Expanded outline: Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh will navigate students through an Oceanic journey of Pasifika poetry and, in particular, the work of six influential Pacific women poets.  The first three, considered the foremothers of Pasifika poetry, were some of the first to have individual collections published in English: Konai Helu Thaman (Kingdom of Tonga), Grace Mera Molisa (Vanuatu), and Haunani-Kay Trask (Hawaii). The following three contemporary women poets, Teresia Teaiwa (Kiribati/America), Tusiata Avia (Samoa/ New Zealand), and Karlo Mila (Tonga/Samoa/New Zealand), influenced and inspired by these Pacific foremothers, explore issues of the Pacific diaspora located within and around Aotearoa.  Students will consider key questions in post-colonial and feminist theory in the appreciation of this diverse and powerful poetry.  They will also explore aesthetics in Pacific orature and art in the exploration of more Pasifika-based critical frameworks.  How has this multicultural Pacific literature impacted on the evolution of New Zealand literature?  How has it remapped our understanding of the Pacific? 

Teaching delivery: 12 X 2 hour seminars 

Assessment: 100% course work: One essay (5,000 words) 

Restrictions: Must not have taken English 717 New Zealand Literature in 2005 or 2006 

Co- or Pre-Requisites: None 

Resource implications: Copies of texts will be ordered for purchase through the University Bookshop, extra copies will be ordered for the library and placed on Short Term Loan, and a course reader will distribute extracts from now defunct Pacific literary journals which are included as secondary reading.  Students will also be directed to electronic copies of secondary material on the internet.  

Contact person: Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh (s.marsh@auckland.ac.nz)