Birthing Educational Pathways: Pacific Feminisms and the Ethics of Kuleana and Kinship

Abstract

ABSTRACT As a daughter of Oceania residing in Turtle Island, I have birthed pathways within higher education that center Pacific epistemes in curriculum and pedagogy. These spaces have assisted Pacific Islander and Indigenous students, among others, through expansive practices of kinship and mentorship that embody the praxes of Pacific feminisms. Drawing from Oceanic feminist concepts and praxes, I have created spaces that are grounded in relational ethics and expansive kinship models. These spaces challenge the highly meritocratic structures of the academy and instead reproduce scholars and thinkers engaged in building Pacific feminist futures.