Melanesian tok stori in leadership development: Ontological and relational implications for donor-funded programmes in the Western Pacific

Abstract

© 2018, Flinders University. Donor-funded programmes in areas such as leadership development take place in every continent. In the Western Pacific, Melanesia has been host to such programmes based on non-Melanesian thought and practice over the years. However, a review of donor-funded leadership programmes in the region reveals a history of concern regarding effectiveness but no significant change in programme orientation. This article provides a counter-story of a donor-funded leadership programme which utilizes a readily available cultural model of thought and practice of Indigenous origin: tok stori. Tok stori is a form of discursive group communication which is an everyday occurrence in Melanesia. The experiences of leadership mentors operating in a tok stori-centred leadership development programme located in the Solomon Islands provide an opportunity to explore and evaluate what cultural wisdom can contribute as the core of a leadership development programme. The benefits are many: leaders benefit when complex contextual matters can be introduced into leadership development by the openness of tok stori; depth of engagement is supported by the development of mentor-leader relationality as an integral part of the tok stori process; and mentors gain increased expertise in using a cultural form with which they are already familiar in new pedagogical contexts. Ultimately, this is a story of the value of honouring important aspects of culture for those who inhabit the ontology which gives them significance. Re-negotiating the way the cultures of donors and recipients are regarded by programme developers is an important factor in the centring of Indigenous thinking and practices such as tok stori in leadership and other person-centred programmes. The lesson of this article is that there are gains available to all where this occurs.

Ethics curriculum in Indigenous Pacific: a Solomon Islands study

“…Third and finally, Solomon Islands ethics educators and researchers have much to do in negotiating future research on institutional and Indigenous ethics education as well as on the overlapping spaces of both in ways which are respectful of and engaging for all. As a first step, I have proposed key research areas which might feed into a wider tok stori (Sanga & Reynolds, 2018) or conversation involving Indigenous Solomon Islanders. Ultimately, tok stori as proposed might show the absurd compartmentalization of ethics education in Solomon Islands wherein institutional ethics education is exclusively privileged at the cost of a more complex, comprehensive, appreciative, participatory and authentic ethics education curriculum and moral socialization which is of, by and for the Solomon Islands.…”

“…Beyond giving voice (Snider, 2008), debate educates. Particularly, if debate uses Indigenous discursive group processes such as tok stori (Melanesian discursive group communication; Sanga & Reynolds, 2018), discussions are more likely to be relevant, practical and sustainable for Indigenous Solomon Islanders.…”

Pacific Academic Migrants: Re-shaping Spaces in Dynamic Times (Dispatch)

“…Storying is a pedagogy with deep roots in the Pacific region. Tok stori, for example, is a Melanesian form of communication, whereby a shared reality is created through storying (Sanga & Reynolds, 2019;Sanga et al, 2018). Those who contribute to a storying session are understood to be experts in their own experiences.…”

A Review of the Emerging Indigenous Pacific Research, 2000–2018

“…we seek to examine relationships and relatedness in educational thinking, research and practice in the pacific region in a way which honors what the region has to offer. much thinking in the pacific region understands the world through a relational lens (e.g., anae, 2010;gegeo, 2001;helu-thaman, 2008;Ka'ili, 2005;reynolds, 2016;sanga & reynolds, 2019;vaioleti, 2006;wendt, 1999). we honor these various traditions by adopting a methodological perspective which brings discourse about relationality, the state of being related, to the fore.…”