Pacific Alternatives: Cultural Heritage and Political Innovation in Oceania
The “Pacific Alternatives” programme exemplifies the wide international connections of the BPS group, through its formation of a strong scholarly network of mutual commitment to joint research effort, involving key institutions in Europe, North America, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Funded mainly by the Research Council of Norway (Major Grant [FRISAM] 185646, 2008-2012), the project had its base at the University of Bergen’s Department of Social Anthropology.
The two key institutional partners cooperating under signed agreements with the University of Bergen for “Pacific Alternatives” were the University of Hawai’i (Center for Pacific Islands Studies and Department of Anthropology) and the East-West Center (Pacific Islands Development Program), both located on the Mānoa campus in Honolulu. The project evolved from many years of expanding cooperation between the Mānoa and Bergen campuses in the fields of research collaboration and student exchange.
Additional “Pacific Alternatives” partners with signed institutional agreements included the Solomon Islands National Museum, Vanuatu Cultural Centre, the British Museum (Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas), University College London (Museums and Collections), James Cook University (Department of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology), New York University (Faculty of Arts and Science) and the University of Tulsa (Department of Anthropology).
