How a South Island university is celebrating its Pacific students and their culture

New Zealand’s oldest university is finding new ways to accentuate its growing Pacific student cohort - and at the same time making sure it's making content authentic to their culture.

Over the last few years Otago University’s Language Week Videos has showcased phrases, songs, dances and stories from several different Pacific cultures, collecting hundreds of thousands of views online.

Pasifika Communications Advisor Keilah Fox said the content’s success has been thanks to the university collaborating with students, and local community members.

“Our whakaaro behind this was that our Dunedin-based Pacific communities are a big part of our university, and they play a big role in helping support our Pacific tauira coming through.

“In our first year we focused on basic reo to kick off what we always hoped would grow into more detailed representations of Pacific languages and cultures over time. In 2023, we wanted to work closer with our Pacific students’ associations on our Pacific language week initiative.”

Students from the Otago Samoan Students Association sharing their culture:

In doing so, the breadth in knowledge in the videos grew as the Pacific students’ creativity began to influence the videos.

“We gave our student collaborators as much creative control as they wanted and had the capacity for. [And] we are delighted that this has turned into a student-driven initiative.

“Our students come up with the video concepts, film with us, work with us on translations and subtitles and decide who gets the final sign off on these videos.

“These students involve their respective communities, do their own research into the topic, bounce ideas off of whānau in the Islands and work with leaders and experts in their respective communities to create content they can confidently stand behind.”

Through this, the videos were able to develop from basic words and phrases, into dances, traditional stories and legends from each respective country.

During Kiribati Language Week in 2023, the University collaborated with the Otago Kiribati Islands Students Association to deliver an informative video about traditional iKiribati dance. The video is the most viewed of all the projects, gathering 200,000 views across Facebook and Instagram.

OKISA Public Relations Officer Aviu Aviu said the language week video was really important for iKiribati students to contribute to.

“It was something really big, knowing it was coming up it was always something we were mentioning leading up to it. Starting the planning of it once the emails started rolling out.

“At first we were kind of brainstorming, to figure out what we wanted out of the project. But when we realised in the first meeting with Keilah and the team, that it was really all up to us, it was really cool.

“That’s when it was (like a) free roam (of ideas), everyone in our team gave in all our ideas and input. It’s not every day or with every project you’re given all the resources you need, and the platform to say what you want to say and show what you want to show about your culture.

“That was really cool and really big for us.”

Students from the Otago Kiribati Islands Students Association sharing their culture:

Keilah Fox said Aviu took the lead in the Kiribati project.

“For this year not only did they come with a script, beautiful culture wear, they knew what they wanted to say. Aviu was behind the camera, he knew every background, every shot, he was really involved.

“Having the opportunity to work with students and to see what they can do is really exciting. And it gave us the confidence to move forward because as a University we can’t know every Pacific culture and language.

“But these students do. They know their culture, they know their community, it’s such a privilege to work with them.”

Acting Director of the Pacific Development Office Rose Richards said the videos are an important way to connect the University with the Pacific student cohort.

“The University has a lot of commitment to the Pacific, and there’s a lot of desire from our staff to know and understand how to connect and celebrate our students. The language weeks provide a beautiful vehicle for our students to be visible in the university.

“For us as staff, there are spaces where students are our students. But there are other spaces where our students know more about their culture, elements of their own experience (in their culture).

“And when it comes to our role (in that space) at the University, we’re colleagues. When it comes to showcasing things Pacific, we're colleagues, we’re partners. When it comes to advocacy, our students are front and center.

“I think the language weeks are a beautiful example of that.”

Social Media Advisor Eugene Yeo capturing students from the Otago Tongan Students Association. Photo/Provided.