Emmanuel Tjibaou
Director of the Tjibaou Cultural Center, Nouméa
Presentation Title: Kanak society and its contribution to sustainable development.
Born in 1976 in New Caledonia, Emmanuel Tjibaou is an ethnolinguist. He holds a
master’s degree in oceanian languages from the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO, Paris). His master’s thesis dealt with the stylistic analysis of the traditional narratives of the Hienghène region, located in the north-east of Grande-Terre (New Caledonia). Under the direction of Emmanuel Kasarhérou, then Director of the Tjibaou Cultural Center, he founded the « Heritage and Research » Department of the Kanak Culture Development Agency (ADCK), with the main mission of collecting, disseminating and promoting the immaterial Kanak heritage. The members of this research department developed their own methodology in close collaboration with the custom councils and partners in the project (UNC, IRD, EHESS, IAC). The link between culture, research and development has been refined over the years through the implementation of events highlighting the inclusion of strategies for cultural development at the heart of the exchanges in New Caledonia (Drai Ne Xen-Slow food, Dö Xöu project around the valuation of the traditional mat, implementation of ecotourism tours). Since 2012, Emmanuel Tjibaou runs the Tjibaou Cultural Center – Kanak Culture Development Agency.
Emmanuel Tjibaou’s keynote will address one particular aspect of the Conference overview text: “for our region, given its cultural diversity and the importance of maintaining and enhancing indigenous knowledge and ways of living within Oceania, is that SDG 4 recognizes both culture’s contribution to sustainable development and the importance of respecting and learning from indigenous communities in order to promote sustainable lifeways. Kanak society and its contribution to sustainable development.
Konai Helu Thaman
Professor of Pacific Education and Culture at the University of the South Pacific
Presentation Title: Whose sustainable development? A Pacific Perspective on Education for Sustainable Development
Konai is currently Professor of Pacific Education and Culture and was, until 2016, the UNESCO Chair in Teacher Education and Culture at the University of the South Pacific (USP). She was born and raised in Tonga where she received her primary and secondary education. She studied at the University of Auckland (BA in Geography), Auckland Secondary Teachers’ College (Teaching Diploma), the University of California at Santa Barbara (MA in International Education), and the University of the South Pacific (PhD in Education). She taught in high schools in Tonga and has been on the staff at the USP since 1974. She has researched and published widely in the areas Pacific curriculum, teacher education, indigenous education, women and university management, and more recently Pacific research frameworks and education for sustainable development. She has held a number of management positions at the USP including the Director of the Institute of Education, Head of the School of Humanities, and Pro Vice Chancellor. She is currently a member of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee on the Recommendation on the Status of Teachers (CEART); a Fellow of the Asia Pacific Centre for Educational Innovations in Development (APEID) and was member of the UNESCO Asia Pacific Scientific Committee on Research in Higher Education, She is also a widely published poet whose work is studied by school children throughout the Pacific region and have been translated into several languages including Chinese, French, and German. She is married to Randy Thaman, Emeritus Professor of Biogeography at USP. They have two adult children, and three grandchildren.
Roger Dale
Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Bristol
Presentation Title: Post*-PISA/MDGs/EFA Prospects for ‘Education for Development’
Roger Dale is Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Bristol, UK. He was previously Professor of Education at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where (together with Susan Robertson) he received a Marsden Fund award to carry out a comparison of regional organisations in Education. He was Scientific Coordinator of the EU’s Network of Experts in Sociology of Education (NESSE), and has been involved in four major EU-funded research consortia. He has presented keynote addresses in several countries, including Brazil, Finland, Cyprus, Taiwan, Hong Kong China, Australia and Portugal. His major interests focus on the critical cultural political economy of education, and comparative education. He was President of BAICE (British Association for International and Comparative Education) in 2015, and has been active in the Globalisation and Education Special Interest Group in CIES. He is co-editor and co-founder of the journal Globalisation, Societies and Education. He has supervised around 60 doctoral theses, and examined 50+ doctoral theses in more than 30 Universities worldwide.