Editorial: Voices of the Pacific in a Globalised World
Author | Natalie Baird |
Position | Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Canterbury |
Pages | 1-3 |
1
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 eect 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.
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