Dr Frances C. Koya Vaka’uta is Director of the Oceania Center for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies and the Pacific Heritage Hub, a UNESCO Project, at the Faculty of Arts, Law & Education, University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva. A teacher by profession, she has worked in the area of teacher education, curriculum development, education in small island states and education for sustainable development at USP for twenty years. Her research interests include Sustainable Livelihoods through the Arts, Arts Education, Culture and Education, Indigenous Research, Pacific Heritage and Contemporary Arts, Pacific epistemologies and methodologies and Education for Sustainability. With a passion for the arts and culture, she has been an active participant in national and regional community and policy development for over 15 years. A poet and artist, Frances explores art activism under the pseudonym “1angrynative”. Her work is inspired by Pacific island heritage and contemporary issues in the islands.
