Island and Ocean Convergences: Oceania and Caribbean Connections and Multiplicity

JoAnna Poblete • Claremont Graduate University

March 28th @ 6 P.M. via Zoom

How can combining approaches from critical studies of the Caribbean and Oceania impact methodologies of archipelagic studies? Oceania scholars emphasize the central role native peoples have and continue to play in individual, local, regional, and international relations. Caribbeanists also resist an overemphasis on the influence of western continental powers, instead focusing on creolization as sources of independence, resistance, and sovereignty. Studies of connections, flows, relations, and respect across oceans represents another central aspect of Oceania and Caribbean Studies. While both groups have historically been marginalized by western scholars, empires, and nations due to their islander, non-white, and non-colonizer status, Caribbean and Oceania scholars offer new ways to think about the world and schoalrship in general. These approaches focus not just on the neo-capitalist, globalization of today, but also the genealogies of past relations, connections, migrations, treatment, and interactions. Simultaneous fluidity and multiplicity are key, as well as necessary facets for archipelagic studies.

Islands as Metaphor and Method
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