Editorial: Voices of the Pacific in a Globalised World

• Author: Natalie Baird
• Position: Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Canterbury
• Pages: 1-3

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EDITORIAL:

VOICES OF THE PACIFIC IN

A GLOBALISED WORLD

Natalie Baird *

Talofa lava , Mālō e lelei, Ni sa bula vi naka, Namas te, Kia orana, Ta loha ni, Ia orana ,

Fakaa lofa lahi atu, ‘Al ii, Malo ni, H alo Olaketa, M auri, Aloha ma i e and Warm Paci f‌ic

Greetings.

This Speci al Issue of the C anterbury Law Review arises f rom the 2018 Paci f‌ic

Law and Cu lture Con ference held at t he University of Canter bury. The Conference

was jointl y hosted by the School of Law, the Pas if‌ika Law Students’ So ciety and the

Macmil lan Brown C entre for Pacif‌ic S tudies, a nd sponsored i n part by t he New

Zeala nd Law Foundation. The a ims of the Pacif‌ic L aw and Cultur e Conference series

are to incr ease underst anding of Paci f‌ic legal issues a nd to strengthe n relationships

between Paci f‌ic legal sch olars and s tudents. The C onference provide s a regular

platform for emergi ng and establi shed Pacif‌ic legal schol ars to consider the cr itical

question of how to en sure law operates eect ively whilst als o remaining cu lturally

appropriate t o the Pacif‌ic. In 2018, the o verall theme of the Conferenc e was “Voices

of the Pacif‌ic i n a Globalised World.” This theme r aised various ques tions including

what can be done , in an incre asing ly global ised world, to e nsure th at Indigenous

Pacif‌ic voices a nd perspect ives are hea rd local ly, national ly and int ernationa lly. It

also led to c onsideration of how issues of con f‌lict between int ernational la w or state

law on the one han d, and Pacif‌ic cultu re and/or customar y law on the other might

best be resolved . Also cons idered was how Paci f‌ic perspect ives mig ht be incorpor ated

into the law s of states, such as New Ze aland, wit h large Pacif‌ic dia spora.

A range of rich a nd diverse pa pers address ing these qu estions wa s presented

by scholars f rom around the Paci f‌ic region, and we are del ighted to include some of

these in th is Specia l Issue. Althou gh this col lection of ar ticles is prim arily conc erned

with the l aw, it also provide s a platform for schola rs from ot her discipli nes to

share thei r resear ch to increa se underst andi ng of Pacif‌ic leg al issues. Toge ther,

the art icles indic ate that it rem ains ch alleng ing in t he face of the pressu res of

global isation for Indi genous Pacif‌ic per specti ves to be heard a nd ref‌lect ed in law

and governa nce arra ngements – at t he local, n ational, r egional a nd inter nationa l

* Associat e Professor, School of L aw, University of C anterbur y.