Research among indigenous peoples of the Pacific in the 21st century face a number of challenges. One of the most powerful of these is the unchecked and careless use of frames that do not take into account languages and Indigenous knowledge protocols, philosophies and principles, especially where and when their own knowledges and tribal issues are researched. Today, indigenous Pacific people are beginning to describe and articulate their preferred processes of knowledge gathering, processing and dissemination in a wider move to achieve some form of self-determination in academia and in knowledge institutions especially. This article details Fijian Vanua Framework for Research (FVRF) and proposes that it is used when researching indigenous Fijian histories, knowledges, skills, arts, values and lifeways. The paper connects the Fijian Vanua Research Framework to other similar movements around the Pacific and then details the protocols and processes involved, as well as examples of its use.

Talanoa has been defined as 'talking about nothing in particular ' , 'chat' or 'gossip' . It is within the cultural milieu of talanoa that knowledge and emotions are shared and new knowledge is generated. Talanoa has recently been taken up by development researchers and others as a culturally appropriate research method in Pacific contexts. However, talanoa is often treated as synonymous with 'informal open-ended interviews' and tends to gloss over the deep empathic understanding required in such exchanges. Highlighting the connection between talanoa and empathy is vital in ensuring that development practitioners and researchers are implicitly aware of the political dimensions, cultural appropriacy and socio-ecological impact of their research methods. This connection is also critical in illuminating how talanoa as a method may decolonise research in the Pacific, inform the decolonisation of research in other cultural contexts, and contribute to ethical and empowering development policy and practice. We will argue for the merits of what we refer to here as 'empathic apprenticeship': an intentional, embodied, emotional, and intersubjective methodology and process between the researcher and the participant. An empathic apprenticeship has the potential to enhance shared understandings between all human beings and is essential if talanoa is intended as a decolonising research methodology.

It is a rare event when senior scholars and actors in a field come together; more so when that takes place in the company of new and emerging scholars. Even rarer are such occasions in the Oceania region, where distance can mediate against key players coming together in time and space. When the stars align, the opportunity must be seized. This article portrays aspects of an event when, due to otherwise unfortunate circumstances, three senior Pacific educators, scholars, and leaders offered glimpses of their experiential learning and leadership by presenting a storied discussion of leadership. The account given here discusses ideas derived from that storying. It is an examination of the form used to enact the educators’ pedagogical purpose; keynote-as-storied-discussion. This innovative way of delivering a keynote leverages the intersectional value of the tone-setting intent of a keynote, the emotional and experiential layering of storying, the pedagogical potential of woven narrative strands, and the discursive exchange of ideas.

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