Rev. Dr. Nikotemo Sopepa and Amy Gildea’s presentations yesterday afternoon focused on “Shells of Story and Time,” which offered a powerful reimagining of development through the lens of Pasifika philosophies. Their aim was to unsettle dominant narratives about what Pasifika communities need, especially those shaped by Western development models. They encouraged participants to rethink and redefine familiar concepts such as sustainability, poverty, and conservation, challenging the assumption that these terms have universal meanings.
Instead, they proposed that development in Pasifika contexts must emerge from within, grounded in cultural values, lived realities, and spiritual ways of being. Central to their presentation was the concept of coinherence, the idea that everything lives in everything else.
