Tok Stori Tuesdays
What we were gifted came in different forms and sizes and have all been published online. However, we felt that a platform needed to be created where our holders of knowledge could speak to the richness and uniqueness of what they gifted. This is what initiated our live zoom ‘Tok Stori Tuesdays’ with support from Te Taumata Toi-a-Iwi. These took place weekly on Tuesdays from the launch of the research project on Tuesday 30 June, 2020.
30 June - 15 September 2020
The term ‘Tok Stori’ came from our conversations with Dr Kabini Sanga who explained that:
“Tok stori, a form of discursive communication, is an everyday occurrence in the Western Moana Oceania region. To speak of tok stori is to invoke a way of negotiating with the social world. In tok stori, storying is something one does together: a story is constructed by speakers and listeners. Tok stori takes place when people interchange and exchange, creating a collective experience in which the development of relationships is both an accompaniment to, and a purpose of, storying. Group activity which develops knowledge is the stuff of life in Western Moana Oceania societies: this truth is embodied in the everyday nature of tok stori."
Check out this blog for more on tok stori by Dr Kabini Sanga & Dr Martyn Reynolds: https://www.dlprog.org/opinions/talking-about-tok-stori
What People Are Saying
“To hear Meleanna Meyer talk about this is the way she communicates – this is the way she creates her knowledge and I want us to see our ‘art’ as a site of knowledge production – this is a form of writing, this is our way of sharing our knowledge and it should be in the same level as writing, academic writing or all the other ways people have used especially in academia to marginalise those who could be sharing their knowledge through art – and of course writing is a form of ‘art’ it’s just been elevated through colonialism to the form that it is now the dominate way we do things.”
— Maui-TāVā-He-Ako Professor Tēvita O. Ka'ili.
“I can’t thank you & Barbara enough for these Lagi Maama sessions – ever so enlightening & I am almost always in tears at the sheer distance of mystery dissolving – it becomes so moving & truly inspiring.”
— Seini Taumoepeau
My three takeaways involve (1) shared acknowledgement and gratitude of our beloved Pakipika, that brings us together at this perilous time - it has been such a deep comfort for all of us; (2) Tok Stori is what we do so well- (has been such an uplift!!) as in, this is such critical means for us to share, to express, to see one another; (3) Auamo Kuleana is what grounds us all to one another, that we are for one another, in this safe space!”
— Meleanna Meyer
“After I had my session I had many young Fijians contacting me which resulted in so many different conversations outside this circle – which I really want to say vinaka vaka levu to our Tuesday tok stori that has kind of awakened the interest in our young Fijians who are asking these questions about ‘art’, but there hasn’t been any forum to have this discussion around ‘what art is’ defined from an iTaukei perspective. Another area I wanted to share as part of my feedback was what I shared during my session the ‘3 A’s – Arts moves, Art speaks and Art connects. This stuck because ‘art’ is something that is within us, something that has been passed on from our ancestors, and something that should be celebrated.”
— Dr Tarisi Vunidilo
“And finally, have the capacity to sit down and string together some words to express my deepest soul felt gratitude for the Tok Stori sessions that Lagi Maama ran. I have been craving for this type of platform for many years and to be in the presence of such greatness, to receive and experience the generous sharing of our peoples from across our great Oceania Moana, was both humbling and uplifting. I have not been able to stop thinking about many offerings, words, imagery … for me, it was pure poetry in motion and an extra grounding that I have needed to continue my work both in the institution that I’m working for and in my own creative practice.”