Katerina Teaiwa Explained

Katerina Teaiwa (born Katerina Martina Teaiwa), is a Pacific scholar, artist and teacher of Banaban, I-Kiribati and African American heritage.^[1] Teaiwa is well known for her scholarly and artistic work that focuses on the history of British Phosphate Commissioners mining activity in the Pacific during the 1900s and the consequent displacement of Banabans. In 2022, she became the first Indigenous woman from the Pacific to win the Australian University Teacher of the Year award and be promoted to full professor at the Australia National University.^{[2] [3]}

Biography

Katerina Teaiwa has paternal links to Banaba and Tabiteuea in Kiribati and maternal links to Washington D.C in the United States. Teaiwa was born in Savusavu, Fiji and raised in Lautoka and Suva, Fiji. Her father, John Tabakitoa Teaiwa, is from Tabiang and Tabwewa villages on Banaba and Rabi in Fiji, and Eita and Utiroa villages on Tabiteuea. She has two sisters, Teresia Teaiwa and Maria Teaiwa-Rutherford. She attended St Joseph's Secondary School and Yat-Sen Primary School in Suva.

Teaiwa received a Bachelor of Science from Santa Clara University in California and a Master of Arts in Pacific Islands Studies from University of Hawaiʻi. She completed her PhD in anthropology from Australian National University^[4]

Career

Teaiwa spent three years at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as an assistant professor. Teaiwa then returned to Australian National University where she founded and was convenor of the Pacific Studies teaching program.^[1] Furthermore, she was Head of Gender, Media and Cultural Studies program, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University.^[5] In 2008 she founded the Pasifika Australia Outreach Program.^[6] Teaiwa was the president of the Australian Association for Pacific Studies 2012 - 2017 and is now the vice-president.

Through her background in contemporary Pacific dance, Teaiwa and the late Seiuli Allan Alo, co-founded the Oceania Dance Theatre at University of the South Pacific in Fiji, 1999.^[1]

Project Banaba l

Following on from her research work for her book 'Consuming Ocean Island: Stories of People and Phosphate from Banaba, Teaiwa presented a solo multimedia exhibition that commemorated the history of Banaba Island.^[7] Project Banaba was commissioned by Carriageworks Cultural Precinct in Sydney and curated by internationally acclaimed Pacific artist Yuki Kihara.^[7]

Project Banaba was then on show at MTG Hawke's Bay Tai Ahuriri in New Zealand in 2019.^[8]

Publications

• Teaiwa K. 'Consuming Ocean Island: Stories of People and Phosphate from Banaba. Indiana University Press. 2014.^[9]
• Stupples P & Teaiwa K. 'Contemporary Perspectives on Art and International Development'. Routledge. 2016.^[10]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Katerina Teaiwa. 2021-05-24. Australian National University (College of Asia and the Pacific). en.
2. Web site: March 21, 2022 . 1st Indigenous woman named top Australian university teacher University of Hawaiʻi System News . 2022-10-20 . en-US.
3. Web site: Kotoisuva . Pekai . 21 March 2022 . A 'creative teacher' – Teaiwa recognised for visionary approach . 2022-10-20 . FijiTimes . en.
4. Web site: 2020-04-17. Biography. 2021-05-24. Katerina Teaiwa. en.
5. Web site: Bio. 2021-05-24. Projectbanaba. en.
6. Web site: Pasifika Australia - CHL - ANU. 2021-05-24. chl.anu.edu.au. en.
7. Web site: Carriageworks 2017. 2021-05-24. Projectbanaba. en.
8. Web site: MTG 2019. 2021-05-24. Projectbanaba. en.
9. Book: Teaiwa, Katerina Martina. Consuming Ocean Island: Stories of People and Phosphate from Banaba. 2015. Indiana University Press. j.ctt16gzjmx . 978-0-253-01444-3.
10. Web site: Contemporary Perspectives on Art and International Development. 2021-05-24. Routledge & CRC Press. en.