Ponipate Rokolekutu

Bio

Dr. Ponipate Rokolekutu is an iTaukei scholar and Mata ni Vanua belonging to the lineage serving the Tui Kuku in the Vanua of Nailagolaba. His scholarship examines the colonial and neo-colonial history of iTaukei land dispossession in Fiji, situated within broader struggles for sovereignty and resistance across Oceania. Framed by critical colonial discourses, postcolonial theory, and Marxist analysis, his work critiques the neo-colonial state and its institutional apparatuses, particularly the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB) and the 1965 Mining Act which together entrench economic dependency and state control over Indigenous land and resources. Through this lens, he exposes how extractive industries transform the Vanua from a sacred space of belonging into a site of exploitation.

Grounded in Vanua and Talanoa pedagogy and informed by Paulo Freire’s problem-posing education, Dr. Rokolekutu’s teaching connects Indigenous epistemologies with decolonial praxis. His classroom becomes a space of dialogue, reflection, and collective transformation, where students critically engage histories of colonialism, capitalism, and empire while imagining liberatory futures. In 2025, he received the San Francisco State University’s Exemplary Teaching Award, presented by the Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CEETL).

As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Race and Resistance Studies, Dr. Rokolekutu is co-tasked with advancing the development of Critical Pacific Islands & Oceania Studies (CPIOS) as an emerging field in Ethnic Studies, working toward its growth into a stand-alone academic program and department. His leadership bridges scholarship, pedagogy, and institutional advocacy to expand the visibility and rigor of Pacific Islander Studies within higher education.

Dr. Rokolekutu holds a Ph.D. in Political Science (Indigenous Politics & International Relations, 2017) and an M.A. in Political Science (2007) from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, a Postgraduate Diploma in Development Studies (2000), and a B.A. in History/Politics and Sociology (1994) from the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji.

He serves as Principal Investigator of the Oceania Scholars Program (OSP), a $460,000 CSU AANHPI-funded initiative, and the ASPIRE Collaborative, a $1.8 million five-year grant supporting NHPI and Southeast Asian student success. A former Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley’s Asian American Research Center, he is also Co-Editor of the Okinawa Journal of Island Studies (OJIS) special issue “Our Sharpest Tools: Unsettling Empire from Islands and Ocean” (2025) and a founding contributor to the Pacific Islander Cultural District (PICD) in San Francisco, the first of its kind in the continental United States.

Areas of Expertise

Indigenous land politics and resource governance; iTaukei and Oceanic sovereignty; Settler and neo-colonial state formation; Critical and postcolonial theory; Marxism and decolonization; Vanua and Talanoa pedagogy; Pacific Islander Studies; Community-based education and advocacy.

Publications and Works

Edited Volumes / Special Issues

• Kava, Leora, Ponipate Rokolekutu, and Wesley Ueunten. “Editors’ Note.” Special Section on Our Sharpest Tools: Unsettling Empire from Islands and Ocean. Okinawa Journal of Island Studies 5 (March 2025).

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Rokolekutu, Ponipate. “Interrogating British Colonial Benevolence and the Annexation of the Fijian Islands.” Okinawa Journal of Island Studies 5 (March 2025).

Manuscript Under Review

• Rokolekutu, Ponipate. “Teaching in Relation, Teaching in Resistance: Rethinking Pacific Worlds from the Margin.” Submitted for peer review to The Contemporary Pacific, Special Issue: “Teaching Oceania: Pedagogies, Possibilities, and Politics in Tomorrow’s Pacific Studies”, edited by Lisa Uperesa and Alexander Mawyer. Status: Submitted July 2025.

Works in Progress

• Rokolekutu, Ponipate. “The Paradox of iTaukei Ownership of Land: Dispossession through the Veitarogi Vanua and Tabacakacaka ni Qele Maroroi.” Draft in revision; manuscript preparation.
• Rokolekutu, Ponipate. “Decolonizing Positionality, Articulating the Vanua, and Grounding Critical Pacific Islands and Oceania Studies on Land-Based Pedagogy.” Manuscript in preparation.
• Rokolekutu, Ponipate. Speaking iTaukei Truth to Power (collection of reflections and commentaries on land, colonial memory, and resistance in Fiji). Manuscript in preparation.