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5.3 Talanoa Vā and e-talanoa

Talanoa Vā and e-talanoa are Pacific ways of knowledge sharing that have been developed by Pacific scholars in the diaspora.[1] Talanoa is a concept found in the Tongan, Sāmoan, Tuvaluan and Fijian languages.[2] Simply defined as ‘a free-flowing conversation that involves the sharing of stories, thoughts and feelings’, Talanoa was first formally mentioned by Halapua (2002).[3] He makes the important link between talanoa and vā, an important sociocultural relational space that Pacific people seek to maintain. Talanoa seeks to maintain good vā through reciprocal knowledge sharing.[4] The e-talanoa method that I developed to understand Pasifika trans-Tasman migrants’ experiences and perspectives was further evolved by Fa’avae et al. to incorporate the ethics of vā-relations.[5] Tongan scholar David Taufui Mikato Fa’avae and his colleagues view e-talanoa as a Moana-Pacific research praxis that disrupts ‘colonial framings … frameworks, and activate[s] mindset shifts’.[6] Importantly the use of Talanoa Vā alongside e-talanoa is key to deep analysis of meanings and sense making behind the material culture and cultural e-heritage that has been shared online with and by Tongan collectives.

  1. Faleolo et al., “Our Search for Intergenerational Rhythms”; David Taufui Mikato Fa’avae, Ruth (Lute) Faleolo, ‘Elisapesi Hepi Havea, Dion Enari, Tepora Wright, and Alvin Chand, “e-talanoa as an Online Research Method: Extending Vā-relations Across Spaces,” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 18, no. 3 (2022): 391–401. ↵
  2. Tamasailau Suaalii‐Sauni and Saunimaa Ma Fulu‐Aiolupotea, “Decolonising Pacific Research, Building Pacific Research Communities and Developing Pacific Research Tools: The Case of the Talanoa and the Faafaletui in Samoa,” Asia Pacific Viewpoint 55, no. 3 (2014): 331–344. ↵
  3. Sitiveni Halapua, “Talanoa process: The Case of Fiji” (Honolulu: East-West Centre, 2002), https://fdocuments.net/download/talanoa-process-the-case-of-fiji-united-process-the-case-of-fiji-sitiveni. ↵
  4.   Ruth Faleolo, “Talanoa moe vā”: Pacific Knowledge-Sharing and Changing Sociocultural Spaces during COVID-19,” Waikato Journal of Education 26 (2021): 125–134. ↵
  5. Faleolo et al., “Our Search for Intergenerational Rhythms”; Ruth (Lute) Faleolo, “Pasifika Trans-Tasman Migrant Perspectives of Well-Being in Australia and New Zealand,” Pacific Asia Inquiry 7, no. 1 (2016): 63–74; Faleolo, “Talanoa moe vā.” ↵
  6. Fa’avae et al., “e-talanoa as an online research method,” 393. ↵

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