Abstract:
This paper considers Pasifika theatre from the perspective of cultivating culturally responsive pedagogy, providing some critical lenses through which we might view the most commonly taught Pasifika plays in the NCEA. It will also suggest how we might nurture traditional Polynesian theatre forms in our classromms and how this might not only benefit our growing mass of Pasifika ākonga, but the collective culture of Drama in the curriculum of Aotearoa. Regardless of whether we have one Pasifika student in front of us, or thirty, it is our duty as educators not to ‘other’-ize any of our tamariki. This paper also suggests some specifically Pasifika ways of being culturally responsive in the Drama classroom
