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 Special Issue of the Canterbury Law Review arises from the 2018 Pacif‌ic

Law and Culture 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

Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacif‌ic Studies, and sponsored in part by the 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 Pacif‌ic legal scholars and students. The Conference provides 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 increasingly globalised world, to ensure that Indigenous

Pacif‌ic voices and perspectives are heard locally, nationally and internationa 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 and diverse papers addressing these questions was 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 law, it also provides a platform for scholars from other disciplines to

share their research to increase understanding of Pacif‌ic legal issues. Together,

the articles indicate that it remains challenging in the face of the pressures of

globalisation for Indigenous Pacif‌ic perspectives to be heard and ref‌lected in law

and governance arrangements – at the local, national, regional and international

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