Workshop | Bodies, health and medicine in Oceania

The islands of Oceania have long been perceived as scattered and isolated, whereas the ties that bind them are strong, based on thousands of years of trade and exchange. Oceanian thinker Epeli Hau’ofa pointed out this paradox and invited us to think of Oceania as a myriad of peoples all connected by exchanges and a common history, rather than an ocean dotted with isolated islands, which was a biased colonial view (Hau’ofa 1994). This epistemological shift, parallel to the decolonisation of science, has been at the heart of Oceanian thought and guides our approach to the social sciences of health in this region: work on health in anthropology, ethnobotany, history, epidemiology, political science or demography may seem fragmented and disconnected, divided along geographical or linguistic lines inherited from colonial histories that affect health care systems as well. We believe that links need to be forged between researchers in the region and their metropolitan counterparts in order to structure the social sciences of health around epistemological and methodological questions rooted in Oceanian thought and to bring out the richness of Oceanian epistemologies in research.

The project began in February 2025 with hybrid workshops at MSH Paris Nord and the University of New Caledonia, followed by a panel dedicated to the European Society for Oceanists (June 2025, Lucerne, Switzerland).

The project ‘Body, Health and Medicine in Oceania’ aims to provide a space for reflection and discussion for researchers, in order to break down barriers and bring together the humanities and social sciences working on these issues. Beyond disciplinary singularities and specificities, it aims to bring together different schools of thought on the body, medicine and health in Oceania. It thus aims to raise awareness of Oceanian epistemologies, which play a central role in healthcare and health issues, but are little known in mainland France. For example, it questions the fundamental concept of relationality, which runs through Oceanian thought and has been used to consider health and social actions (Mila-Schaaf 2006) or to show the importance of the relational dimension and the trust placed in traditional healers in accessing healthcare (Soler 2019; Pidjo 2023). The various events organised as part of the project will explore these themes through new subjects – hospitals, medical evacuations, therapeutic mobility – or more conventional ones – traditional medicine, conceptions of the body and good health.

The workshop from 22nd to 24th April 2026 will bring together guest researchers from Europe, the United States, Canada and Oceania at MSH Paris Nord. They are funded through co-financing from MSH Paris Nord, F3S, the Pacific Fund and the University of Halle (Germany). They will result in a proposal for a special issue to be submitted to the journal Oceania.

Programme

Mercredi 22 avril 2026/Wednesday 22nd April, MSH Paris Nord, salle panoramique

• 9:00 – 9:30: Accueil café/Welcome coffee
• 9:30-11:00: Présentations/Papers’ presentations:

Why do our people die? Yanyuwa experiences of illness & kincentric means to survive, northern Australia
Amanda Kearney (Professor, San Diego State university and Australian National university), in collaboration with Dr. John Bradley, and Yanyuwa Women Leaders – Joanne Miller, Adrianne Friday, Dinah Norman a-Marrngawi and Mavis Timothy a-Muluwamara

Children of the Land: Care, the Invisible, and the Unmaking of Relations in Lifou (New Caledonia)
Nathanaëlle Soler (Researcher, CEPED, IRD)

Cultivating Health: The Impact of Indigenous Crops on Nutrition and Planetary Health in Vanuatu
Rosa Dümlein (PhD student, Martin Luther university Halle-Wittenberg)

• 11:30-13:00: Discussions/Papers’ discussions
  Modératrice/Moderator of the discussion: Anita von Poser (Professor, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)
• 14:00-15:30: Présentations/Papers’ presentations:

Relationality at the centre of care in contemporary Kanak society
A-Tena Pidjo (Postdoc, université de Nouvelle-Calédonie)

Skin, Relation, and the Social Life of Wounds in Samoa
Jessica Hardin (Conable Chair and Associate Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology), Saunima’a Ma Fulu Aiolupotea, Uila Laifa Lima, Tausala Aiavao, Ramona Boodoosingh, and Falelua Maua

Where Faith Meets Health: Advancing Holistic Wellbeing alongside Pasifika Families
Inez Fainga’a-Manu Sione (Research Fellow, Griffith university), Judy Eki (Manager, Village Connect and Associate Pastor, Hosanna Logan City)

• 16:00-17:30: Discussions/Papers’ discussions
  Modératrice/Moderator of the discussion: Valelia Muni Toke (Researcher, IRD)

Jeudi 23 avril 2026/Thursday 23rd April, université Paris Cité, 45 rue des Saints-Pères, 75006 Paris, Salle de thèses Margaret Maruani

• 9:00-10:30: Présentations/Papers’ presentations

Disentangling as an Ethic of Care in Oceania
Edward Lowe (Professor, Soka University)

Bodies and souls? Non-holistic orientations of public health policy in Wallis-and-Futuna
Valelia Muni Toke (Researcher, SeDyL, IRD)

Therapeutic Mobilities of Women Living with Cancer in Vanuatu
Alice Servy (Associate Professor, Sage, Unistra)

• 11:00-12:30: Discussions/Papers’ discussions
  Modérateur/Moderator of the discussion: Dominik Schieder (Postdoc, university of Siegen)
• 13:30-16:30: Writing session to prepare a special issue of Oceania

Vendredi 24 avril 2026/Friday 24th April, MSH Paris Nord, salle 413

• 9:00-12:00: Workshop around current projects, calls for proposals and future collaborations

Informations pratiques

• workshop du 22 au 24 avril 2026/workshop from April 22 to 24, 2026
• à la MSH Paris Nord/at MSH Paris Nord
• ouvert à tous·tes/open to all

Workshop organised by Nathanaëlle Soler (CEPED, IRD), A-Tena Pidjo (University of New Caledonia), Anita von Poser (University of Halle, Germany) and Valelia Muni Toke (SeDyL, IRD), with the support of MSH Paris Nord, F3S, and the Pacific Fund for Regional Cooperation.

Un projet de recherche qui bénéficie du soutien de la MSH Paris Nord dans le cadre de son appel à projets annuel./A research project supported by MSH Paris Nord as part of its annual call for proposals.