Open AccessThe virtual faikava: Maintaining vā and creating online learning spaces during COVID-19
Author(s) -
Todd M Henry,
S. Aporosa
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
waikato journal of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2382-0373
pISSN - 1173-6135
DOI - 10.15663/wje.v26i1.775
Subject(s) - collectivism , covid-19 , social distance , diaspora , online community , space (punctuation) , sociology , political science , computer science , world wide web , gender studies , outbreak , biology , medicine , disease , pathology , virology , individualism , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , operating system
Covid-19 has had a major impact on collectivist cultures and their means of social interaction and maintaining contact with those in their wider community. This has particularly been the case for Pacific peoples living in diaspora, with Covid-19 preventing travel home and social distancing and forced lockdowns restricting the ability to gather. This has also impacted vā, the Pacific concept of ‘relational space’ critical to connectivity and maintaining relationships. This paper explains the creation of virtual faikava; online meeting environments in which Pacific kava users meet, maintain vā, connect with those at home and in the wider diasporic community and learn, while consuming their traditional beverage kava.