Oceanian Poetic Collaborations

investigates different collaborative dimensions of poetic events across the Oceanian sea of islands. The project combines three integrated project streams: the first sets out to challenge text-based approaches to postcolonial poetry more generally. It studies Pacific Islander poetry by attending to the sonic assemblages it sustains and creates between and across human, yet also more-than-human presences and the material world. The second project stream focusses on the collaborative politics of a new generation of poets who seek new medial forms to combat climate injustice and ongoing patterns of colonisation. The third project stream sets out to build a curated archive of Oceanian video poems.

The project is led by Lars Eckstein (University of Potsdam), in collaboration with the project’s Mercator Fellow, CHamoru scholar, poet and activist Craig Santos Perez.

Oceanian Poetic Collaborations is part of a larger DFG (German Research Foundation)-funded Research Unit (Forschungsgruppe) based at the University of Potsdam, Germany, titled Collaborations: Assemblages, Articulations, Alliances. The Research Unit starts in January 2025, and initially runs for four years. Find out more about the Research Unit, its projects and people, here: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/research-unit-collaborations/