Traversing Pasifika education research in a post-truth era

Abstract

Utilising a post-critical autoethnographic approach, this article presents various tensions of a Pasifika doctoral student and researcher navigating Pasifika research in a post-truth era. Pacific researchers have documented the sacredness and ontological positioning of how Pacific wisdom(s) and knowledge are understood. This article challenges the teleological nature of the value-based practice fostered within Pasifika methodologies through evoking the ontological question of 'being'. Key questions are posed and are used as provocations to reconsider the influence of post-truth in philosophy itself and to use these initiatives to reconceptualise engagement 'in-and-with' Pasifika education research. These questions are: What is post-truth? How are the ethics of knowledge production influenced in a post-truth era? How can post-truth in Pasifika education research be contested through engagement with Pacific indigenous wisdom? Can evoking the concept of 'being' create opportunities to reconceptualise engagement in-and-with Indigenous knowledge and wisdom?