11/04/2014
Free and open to the public. Come check out this very important event at the UW Burke Museum.
Nov. 5, 12:30-1:30 p.m. – Dr. Keitapu Maamaatuaiahutapu, University of French Polynesia
Keitapu Maamaatuaiahutapu obtained a Ph.D. in physical oceanography from the University of Toulouse, France. He worked as a researcher and lecturer at Flinders University (Australia), University of the South Pacific (Fiji) and now at Université de la Polynésie Française (French Polynesia). His research interest is focused on ocean currents in the South Pacific with application to pollutant drifting. Between 2004 and 2008, he was Minister of the Sea and Research in French Polynesia and special adviser to the President of French Polynesia in 2011-2012. He has represented French Polynesia at numerous technical and political meetings concerning the interests of Pacific Islands, including marine resource management, climate change and the creation of the Polynesian Leaders Group. He is also President of a Polynesian canoe voyaging society.
The vast Pacific Ocean, as anthropologist Epeli Hau’ofa noted, does not create divisions between people and places. Instead, the Pacific Ocean unifies. This speaker series, part of a University of Washington
