Jacoba Matapo

This presentation explores notions of global citizenship education (GCED) that assert a human-rights-based position, centred upon social justice and democratic ideology. The term “Pasifika” as a transnational concept, already demonstrates global border crossing for Pacific peoples in their obligations and collective responsibilities, particularly through intergenerational connections and ties to ancestral lands. For Pacific peoples in the Pacific region and in Aotearoa, GCED could create opportunities in education that honour history, culture, ancestors, connection to place, and a reconceptualising of indigenous personhood which has been subjugated throughout the Western canon of education. By mobilising Pacific Indigenous philosophies and wisdom, there are opportunities for decolonising and indigenising GCED. This presentation questions how an understanding of Pacific indigenous philosophies and wisdom may generate new insights into global citizenship and global citizenship education.

Jacoba Matapo is the first Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific at AUT and the first Associate Professor in Pacific early childhood education in New Zealand. She is of Samoan Dutch heritage, born and raised in Aotearoa. Her research specialises in indigenous Pacific philosophy and pedagogy in Pacific Education. Her work advocates for the value of indigenous knowledge systems in education and the possibilities of transformation through relational ecologies, spirituality, culture, language and identity. Jacoba’s recent TLRI research (2021 - 2022) focuses on Samoan Indigenous knowledge through cultural pedagogies in New Zealand Aoga Amata - Samoan early childhood education centres.