An Indigenous Ocean

An Indigenous Ocean: 
Pacific Essays
Damon Salesa

The Pacific’s ‘Indigenous times’ are not just smaller sections of larger histories, but dimensions of their own.

Histories of our Pacific world are richly rendered in these essays by 
Damon Salesa. From the first Indigenous civilisations that flourished 
in Oceania to the colonial encounters of the nineteenth century, and on 
to the complex contemporary relationships between New Zealand and 
the Pacific, Salesa offers new perspectives on this vast ocean – its people, 
its cultures, its pasts and its future.

Spanning a wide range of topics, from race and migration to Pacific studies 
and empire, these essays demonstrate Salesa’s remarkable scholarship. 
Bridging the gap between academic disciplines and cultural traditions, Salesa locates Pacific peoples always at the centre of their stories. An Indigenous Ocean is a pivotal contribution to understanding the history and culture of Oceania.

Professor Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa is an interdisciplinary scholar 
focused on Oceania, deeply influenced by Indigenous Pacific cultures, 
particularly his own Samoan genealogy. He is an award-winning author, 
whose publications include Racial Crossings: Race, Intermarriage, and the 
Victorian British Empire (Oxford University Press, 2013) and Island Time: 
New Zealand’s Pacific Futures (BWB Texts, 2017). Dr Salesa was educated 
in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and has held academic 
positions in New Zealand and the United States. Currently the Vice
Chancellor of the Auckland University of Technology, he was honoured 
as a Fellow of the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2021 for 
his outstanding contribution to Pacific Studies.

An Indigenous Ocean: Pacific Essays
Damon Salesa
RRP $49.99 Hardback  |  388 pages
240 x 170mm
ISBN 9781991033604
Publication: November 2023