''The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs'' is an academic journal covering a wide range of disciplines with the aim of providing comprehensive coverage of contemporary developments in the entire Pacific Islands region, including

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

, and

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

. It features refereed, readable articles that examine social, economic, political, ecological, and cultural topics, along with political reviews, book and media reviews, resource reviews, and a dialogue section with interviews and short essays. Each recent issue highlights the work of a

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

artist. The journal was founded at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

Center for Pacific Islands Studies The Center for Pacific Islands Studies, in the University of Hawaii at Mānoa School of Pacific and Asian Studies, is both an academic department and a research center on the Pacific Islands and issues of concern to Pacific Islanders. Its instructi ...

under the directorship of Robert C. Kiste, with then-CPIS faculty member

Brij Lal Brij Lal is a Fijian politician and Member of the Parliament of Fiji. He is of Indians in Fiji, Indian descent. Lal was educated at Labasa College. He later went on to achieve a Teaching certificate from the Lautoka Teachers College, National T ...

serving as editor of volumes 1-4. The historian David Hanlon edited volumes 5-10, the anthropologist Geoffrey M. White edited volumes 11-13, the playwright

Vilsoni Hereniko Vilsoni Hereniko (born October 13, 1954) is a Rotuman playwright, film director and academic. He was the writer and director of Rotuma's first ever (and so far only) feature film, ''The Land Has Eyes'' (''Pear ta ma 'on maf''). Biography Hereniko ...

edited volumes 14-20, and the political scientist Terence Wesley-Smith edits current volumes. The journal continues to be edited at the UH Center for Pacific Islands Studies and published by the

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. CPIS also edits and UH Press publishes the related Pacific Islands Monograph Series. From volume 15 (2003), the journal began featuring the work of a different Pacific Islander artist on the cover and inside each issue. Among the artists featured so far are

John Pule John Puhiatau Pule (born 18 April 1962) is a Niuean artist, novelist and poet. The Queensland Art Gallery describes him as "one of the Pacific's most significant artists".

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

, Kapulani Landgraf of Hawaii, Rongotai Lomas of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Ake Lianga Ake Lianga (born 1975 on Guadalcanal) is a Solomon Islands screen printer and painter, who has "gained recognition for paintings and murals throughout Oceania".

of the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

, Meleanna Aluli Meyer of Hawaii, Ric R Castro of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, Albert Wendt of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, Larry Santana of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, Shigeyuki Kihara of

Ralph Regenvanu Ralph John Regenvanu (born 20 September 1970 in Suva, Fiji''Laef Blong Mi'', Sethy Regenvanu, op.cit., p. 76) is a Ni-Vanuatu anthropologist, artist and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since September 2008, was a member of Cabinet ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

, Carl Franklin Kaailāau Pao of Hawaii, Jewel Castro of

, Lingikoni Vaka‘uta of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, Daniel Waswas of Papua New Guinea, Sue Pearson of

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

, Michael Tuffery of New Zealand,

Niki Hastings-McFall Niki Hastings-McFall (born 1959) is a New Zealand jeweller and artist of Samoan and Pākehā descent. She has been described by art historian Karen Stevenson as one of the core members of a group of artists of Pasifika descent who brought conte ...

of New Zealand, Solomon Enos of Hawaii, Andy Leileisi'uao of Samoa,

Ani O'Neill Ani O'Neill (born 1971) is a New Zealand artist of Cook Island (Ngati Makea, Ngati Te Tika) and Irish descent. She has been described by art historian Karen Stevenson as one of the core members of a group of artists of Pasifika descent who bro ...

of New Zealand, and the Jaki-Ed Collective in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

. ''The Contemporary Pacific'' appears semiannually. Its first electronic edition appeared in 2000 on

Project MUSE Project MUSE, a non-profit collaboration between libraries and publishers, is an online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books. Project MUSE contains digital humanities and social science content from over 250 university ...

. Back issues are being added to an open-access archive in the University of Hawaii at Mānoa's

ScholarSpace The Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa is the largest research library in the state of Hawaii. The Library serves as a key resource for the flagship Manoa campus (a land, sea and space grant institution) as well as the other ...

institutional repository An institutional repository is an archive for collecting, preserving, and disseminating digital copies of the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution. Academics also utilize their IRs for archiving published work ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Contemporary Pacific Cultural journals Oceania studies journals English-language journals Publications established in 1989