Tuesday, September 17, 2024
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Stephen Robert '62 Hall, 280 Brook Street, True North Classroom
Climate related disasters present one of the greatest threats to the global economy, society, and cultures. When disasters occur, the serious disruption of everyday functioning that overwhelms families and communities, exposes societal inequities. The Pacific is one of the most natural disaster-prone regions on earth, this lecture focuses on the resilience of Pacific peoples and its global diaspora.
Join the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies’ visiting fellow, Siautu Alefaio-Tugia, Pacific Professor of Psychology at University of Otago, New Zealand, to hear about her research on Pacific Island resilience in the face of climate change.
About Dr. Siautu Alefaio-Tugia:
As a scholar-practitioner Siautu uses her 20 years of psychology practice and research to shine a light on cultural ways of knowing and being that push psychology outside of the box. Her work in family violence, humanitarian response, and disaster resilience focus on Pacific diaspora as key mobilizers in climates of change. She has spent over a decade working at the School of Psychology Massey University and leads as Associate Dean Pacific in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Rutherford Discovery Fellow and Global Fellow of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at Brown University. Of Samoan descent from the villages of Matautu-Tai, Sāsina, Manunu ma Fagamalo, Siautu’s pioneering publication Pacific-Indigenous Psychology disrupts psychology to focus on how the world of Oceania think, know, and live. Today she helps others go beyond uncharted waters to reveal what has been there all along - our own transformational treasure.