Where Oceans Come from

Abstract

Tracing the various names used for the Pacific Ocean and drawing on Pacific scholarship and poetry, this article suggests alternative genealogies for the field of Ocean Studies that are visible from the Pacific region. Observing that the claim that Ocean Studies began in the North Atlantic echoes the history of European colonialism, and suggesting that one particular element of the Pacific Ocean is ongoing and diverse Indigenous presence, it reflects on the lack of engagement with Pacific scholarship in academic work globally. Rather than Ocean Studies turning its attention to the Pacific, it would benefit from reconsidering and reconfiguring its own genealogies in relation to multiple sites, perspectives, and oceans.

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