#micronesia.

A new study by researchers with the University of Hawaii calls attention to inequities in schools.

nooo that's such a bummer, it had such a great list that didn't just include polynesian authors, but also from all of pasifika/oceana! :(

i'll add some book reccs myself based on the original post! :)

Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner  

As a poet and performer, Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner uses art and activism as a means to enlighten her readers and followers about her home, the Marshall Islands. In 2012, she co-founded Jo-Jikum, a nonprofit organization committed to helping the next generation of Marshallese to preserve their islands in the face of rising sea levels. Her book, Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter, pulls from personal and familial stories to create an illuminating collection of poetry about Marshallese politics, heritage, and climate change.

THE BONE PEOPLE by Keri Hulmes is part Maori, part European, asexual and aromantic and she's outcasted from her family. This Booker Award-winning novel digs into tragic romance, mystery and heritage.

ISLAND OF SHATTERED DREAMS by Chantal Spitz; critiques the French government leading to the time French Polynesia had to undergo its first nuclear tests, making it a controversial piece during its publication. Also included in the storyline is a family saga and a doomed love story.

YEAR OF THE REAPER by Makiia Lucier (Micronesia, Guam). Makiia Lucier grew up on the Pacific island of Guam and has degrees in journalism and library science from the University of Oregon and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The Properties of Perpetual Light is an homage to the work of the activist-writer, which author Julian Aguon describes as ''the work of bearing witness, wrestling with the questions of one's day, telling children the truth.'' With prose and poetry both bracing and quiet, Aguon weaves together stories from his childhood in the villages of Guam with searing political commentary.

The Creation of Palau. (A Legend from Palau)

In the long ago, before the time of people, the sea was empty. Empty. Spirits under the sea and spirits above the sea were lonely. They longed to share life. Ucheleanged, the greatest of gods, felt their longing. “Now! The world is ready. Now!" Uchcleanged travelled across the ocean. “Here!" The great god pointed to the darkest part of the sea. From deep within this black unknown, a volcano erupted. Higher and higher the volcano rose, spewing out molten rock (symbolizing the creation of land masses and/or the "big bang"). Slowly it broke through the sea's surface, raining hot lava and forming a mountain. This mountain grew wider and taller until the mountain became an island. Although this mountain was bare, it was not barren.

On this mountain's peak, a strange event happened. The power of the sea touched the power of the sky. Afterwards, at that very place, sat a giant clam. The clam just sat. Its huge rippled jaws remained shut. Not moving. Not speaking. But growing.Day after day, the clam continued to grow. Its shell spread long and far. Its sweet, soft middle bulged bigger and bigger, pregnant with life. But the clam could not give birth.The sea spirits whispered their worries. They sent huge waves across the ocean, whipping them higher and higher. The great Clam rocked as the island trembled. Still, the birthing did not happen. The spirits screamed out their alarm, sending the sea crashing against the clam. The clam’s giant jaws still did not open.The most powerful of the gods, Ucheleanged, pointed at the darkness beneath the sea. Winds swirled. Waves peaked, curled, and plummeted. Thunder roared. Typhoon winds smashed against the giant clam. Still, the birthing did not begin. Ucheleanged again pointed to the darkness deep beneath the ocean. An enormous current coiled like a giant serpent. Faster and faster it coiled, gathering power to prepare for a mighty strike.

Ucheleanged roared! A monstrous stream of water rolled up from the sea and then across the land. A wall of ocean crashed against the clam. The mother clam, Latmikaik, shuddered. And then her giant lips began to open.The power in the water now tore again through the clam’s body. Her shell split fully apart. Her mouth now gaped open. All forms of life spewed out-out into the waters and onto the land. Terns and swifts flew up toward the heavens. They called to the others. “Come. Come out. Be born."The rest followed. The ghost crabs hurried into dark shadows. Snakes and sea eels slithered to dry holes and wet. Fruit bats stretched black wings as they hung upside down on branches, warming themselves in the sunlight. Crocodiles snapped at slow-moving lobsters. Dugongs nudged shy babes toward quiet lagoon waters. Sharks dashed into deep sea caves. Clouds of colour divided into two groups of animals. Birds and butterflies flew upward. Reef fish and creatures of the tide pools crawled back to the sea. The ocean laughed with life. The earth fluttered with colour. But the clam mother, Latmikaik, was not finished.

This ancient sea goddess, clam mother (an iteration of the Cosmic Ocean or Primordial Waters), shuddered. Once again her jaws opened. One more animal, a human child, crawled out. This giant baby was perhaps female (Chuab) or perhaps male (Uab) (symbolizing the duality of humanity, and therefore the necessity that the gender does not matter; they are one and the same, two as one). The tale is told both ways. But always the story tells how this selfish child brought both disaster and creation to Angaur, the world's first island. This child's appetite was monstrous. Ravenously, the child ate and ate. The child cared about nothing else but eating. "More, more, more! Bring more food. Hurry! More, more, more."The child quickly grew into a towering giant. As the giant grew, its appetite increased. Soon there was nothing left to eat. Nothing for the giant. Nothing for the people. Every breadfruit and coconut had been devoured. The sea waters were empty. Even the smallest reef fish had been netted and swallowed. But the giant demanded. "Bring food! If you have nothing else, bring me your children. I am hungry. I must eat!”At first, the people of Angaur whimpered in fear.

But then as their children began disappearing one after another, they whispered. “The lagoon is empty. The jungle has no banana nor breadfruit. Every coconut is gone. We must save our children."The people waited until the giant was sleeping. Quickly they stacked coconut stalks around the slumbering body and then lit the wood.

The giant awoke confused and in pain. He jumped to his feet, but already the burning flames formed a blazing wall that allowed no escape, He stared at the people. For the first time, he saw their fear and anguish. For the first time, he understood how cruel and selfish he had been.

“It is right that I die! I have taken with thoughtless greed. Now I must give back," (symbolizing the ego-death, the end of the worldly ideologies and materialism that fostered the greed within uab; the death of the self in order for humanity and the universe to live in harmony again, healed from the chaos caused by chaub/uab's greed). The giant spoke no more. His enormous body trembled. Slowly he toppled down, down, down. Flesh and bones shattered into hundreds of pieces, flying in all directions. Each piece became new land.The giant’s flesh and bones became the many islands of Palau. (it is only through selflessness and pure love that the giant was able to become a part of the world, which humanity loves for its sacrifice, and has always loved; feeding and feeding the child in a misguided, corrupted love that only favored desire and hunger for the material world).