Oceanic Imaginaries and Waterworlds: Vaka Moana on the Sea and Stage

This essay explores trans-Indigenous dynamics by examining the interface between two cultural revival efforts in Oceania: the renaissance of Indigenous seafaring vessels and navigational technologies, and the development of local forms of modern theatrical expression. The resurgence of vaka moana (ocean-going canoes) has nurtured national pride and regional affiliations in the Pacific, and the performing arts have contributed to that discourse, transmitting, challenging, and imaginatively elaborating information and attitudes. the vaka’s historical and ongoing emphasis on suturing Indigenous/Indigenous ties across Oceania bypasses the binaries of traditional postcolonial inquiry to privilege lateral, multi-sited connections and collaborations, and the essay analyzes these relationships through contemporary voyaging performances from Hawai’i, Tahiti, and Fiji. By charting exchanges and alliances along with exclusions and disjunctions, this discussion acknowledges Oceania as a complex, heterogeneous, and volatile region, inviting consideration of how trans-Indigenous methodologies work across various forms of power and authority, and encouraging a more nuanced appreciation of how identities are negotiated in Oceanic performance.