Dr Melani Shyleen Anae
MA, PhD (Auckland)
Biography
Melani was Senior Research Fellow for the Pacific Health Research Centre, School of Medicine, University of Auckland 1996-97, and lectured in the Anthropology Department 1998-2000. In 2000 she was appointed Senior lecturer in Pacific Studies at the Centre for Pacific Studies. She was Director of the Centre 2002-2006 and was instrumental in growing it from a small language-based programme into a collaborative hub for the study of Pacific culture, history, identity, art, language, performing arts and literature, all centred on a modern Fale Pasifika complex.She is now Senior Lecturer, Director of Research, Pacific Studies, Te Wananga o Waipapa, University of Auckland.
Research interests: Pacific identity and ethnicity, NZ born Samoans/communities, research methodologies.
Research | Current
- Pacific identity and ethnicity
- Pacific transnationalism
- Pacific research methodologies and relational ethics
Melani is involved in much local and international teaching, research, and consultancy in the areas of ethnicity, health, education, Pacific research methodologies, and Pacific approaches to a broad range of social issues and has published extensively in these areas.
Her current research interests include regional processes of migration, urbanisation, ethnicity, and the politics of identity. Her work focuses specifically on finely nuanced understandings of identity construction of Pacific peoples and communities in New Zealand. She was one of two principal investigators for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs project "Pacific Consumers’ Behaviour and Experience in Credit Markets, with Particular Reference to the ‘Fringe Lending’ Market".
Melani was a principal investigator in the development phase of a longitudinal study of children and families in New Zealand for the Health Research Council and Ministry of Social Development. Melani is also a member of the project Academic Reference Group for Star Path: Project for Participation and Success, which deals with the widening of Māori and Pacific educational participation and success, and is Deputy-Chair of the SUPERU Families Commission Pacific Reference Group. She is also a member of the PBRF Pacific Panel.
In 2007 Melani was a recipient of the Fulbright New Zealand Scholar Award, which allowed her to examine changes in ethnic identity among first- and second-generation Hawaiian and US-born Samoans arising from the Samoan diaspora. In 2014 she was awarded a Marsden Grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand for her project 'Transnational Pacific elites'.
Teaching | Current
PACIFIC 300 NZ-Born Pacific Identities
Postgraduate supervision
Melani supervises dissertation and thesis students in Pacific Studies, as well as others from other Faculties at the University.
Distinctions/Honours
2014 Marsden Grant (Transnational matai (chiefs))
2008 Companion to the Queen Service Order (QSO)
2007 Fulbright New Zealand Senior Scholar Award
Responsibilities
Postgraduate Adviser, Director of Research, Pacific Studies
Theme Leader –Identity and Well-being, Te Whare Kura, University of Auckland Thematic Research Initiative
Areas of expertise
Pacific identity and ethnicity, Pacific transnationalism, Pacific research methodologies and relational ethics
Committees/Professional groups/Services
2014- Member of Families Commission
2011-2013 Marsden Fund Social Sciences Panel
2016&2012 Member of SSOC Panel, Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF)
2010-2012 Member of Ministry of Education Pasifika Education Research Priorities Committee
2009-2012 Member of Pacific Reference Group - Growing up in New Zealand Study
2008-2012 Member of the Pacific Academy of BRCSS (Building Research Capacity in the Social Sciences)
2009-2012 Fulbright Selection Committee for US Fulbright Graduate Student Award Applications
Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)
- Anae, M. (2019). Faamatai: A Globalized Pacific Identity. In S. Ratuva (Ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity (pp. ). Singapore: Palgrave, Macmillan. 10.1007/978-981-13-0242-8_85-1
- Manuela, S., & Anae, M. (2017). Pacific youth, acculturation and identity: The relationship between ethnic identity and well-being - new directions for research. Pacific Dynamics: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 1 (1), 129-147.
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/38875
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Sam Manuela - Fetui, V., Anae, M., Tominiko, F., & Lima, I. (2017). Fa’aaloalo and its great importance in everyday lives: Transnational matai perspectives. Measina a Sāmoa, vol.7, 2016 Proceedings : E sui faiga, ae tumau faavae, 7, 205-226. National University of Sāmoa, Samoa: The Centre for Sāmoan Studies, National University of Sāmoa. Related URL.
- Anae, M., Tominiko, S. F., Fetui, M. V., & Lima, M. I. (2017). Faavae o matai: Transnational women matai voices. Measina a Sāmoa, vol.7, 2016 Proceedings : E sui faiga, ae tumau faavae, 7, 185-204. National University of Sāmoa, Samoa: The Centre for Sāmoan Studies, National University of Sāmoa. Related URL.
- Tominiko, F., Anae, M., Fetui, V., & Lima, I. (2017). The transnational matai and the foreign homeland; does the toloa still return to the water?. Measina a Sāmoa, vol.7, 2016 Proceedings : E sui faiga, ae tumau faavae, 7, 241-256. National University of Sāmoa, Samoa. Related URL.
- Anae, M., Tominiko, F., Fetui, V., & Lima, I. (2017). Transnational Sāmoan chiefs: Views of the fa'amatai (chiefly system). The Journal of Samoan Studies, 7 (1), 38-50.
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/42725 - Anae, M. (2016). Teu le va: Samoan relational ethics. Knowledge Cultures, 4 (3), 117-130.
- Anae, M., Iuli, L., & Tamu, L. (Eds.) (2015). Polynesian Panthers : Pacific protest and affirmative action in Aotearoa New Zealand 1971-1981. Wellington, New Zealand: Huia Press. Pages: 153.
Identifiers
Contact details
Primary office location
FALE - OFFICE BUILDING - Bldg 273
Level 2, Room 201
20 WYNYARD ST
AUCKLAND 1010
New Zealand