Gina Cole

Citation

Thesis Title
Wayfinding Pasifikafuturism: An Indigenous Science Fiction Vision of the Ocean in Space

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Researching the reasons for the absence of Maori and Pasifika writers from the science fiction genre, Ms Cole found science fiction provides a lens through which to examine the histories and ancestral knowledge of Indigenous Pacific peoples impacted by colonialism. Inspired by Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurisms, and their fictive kin, Ms Cole developed what she calls “Pasifikafuturism”. A theoretical construct rooted in Pacific Ocean Indigeneity, it explores Indigenous Pasifika science fiction within a framework of Pasifika culture, history, and values. Ms Cole’s research employed ancestral Māori and Pasifika navigational knowledge of wayfinding across the Pacific Ocean, as an imaginative metaphor for Indigenous Pacific writers finding their way in the present and envisioning transformative future pathways in science fiction writing.

Supervisors
Dr Thom Conroy
Dr Tina Makereti