Wilful Ignorance, Invisibilisation and Coloniality: A Pacific Practitioner’s Reflection on the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration

  • Opeta Alefaio Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37683/asa.v53.11083
Keywords: Pacific archives, recordkeeping, coloniality, invisibilisation, Indigenous data sovereignty, information governance, decolonisation

Abstract

This reflection critiques the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration from a Pacific practitioner’s perspective, exposing how coloniality persists through exclusion, silencing, and symbolic extraction. It situates the Declaration within a broader pattern of wilful ignorance and invisibilisation that has long undermined Pacific recordkeeping and information governance. Drawing on lived experience and regional data gaps, it links archival neglect to human harm, gendered devaluation, and weakened regional solidarity. Ultimately, it argues that true decolonisation requires rebuilding Pacific-led recordkeeping systems and restoring genuine partnerships, where solidarity is measured not by rhetoric but by whether the systems we create safeguard Pacific lives and dignity.

Author Biography

Opeta Alefaio, Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA).

Opeta Alefaio is grateful to be a child of the Pacific Ocean (Moana/Wansolwara), born and raised in Viti (Fiji) with Tuvaluan and Fijian ancestry. Fortunate to have served in the Fiji public service at the National Archives culminating with 8 years in the Directorship, he is now a PhD candidate at the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. Opeta was the joint recipient of the 2011 Margaret Jennings Award conferred by the Australian Society of Archivists, and in 2019 was made a Member of the Order of Fiji. He is on the steering group for the Digital Pasifik, was a member of the inscriptions sub-committee of the UNESCO MOWCAP programme, is a bureau member of the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA), and is a former executive board member of the International Council on Archives (ICA).

Published
2026-09-14
How to Cite
Alefaio , O. (2026) “Wilful Ignorance, Invisibilisation and Coloniality: A Pacific Practitioner’s Reflection on the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration”, Archives & Manuscripts, 53(1), pp. 29-38. doi: 10.37683/asa.v53.11083.
Issue
Vol 53 No 1 (2025): The Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration: From Declaration to Implementation
Section
Special Issue

Copyright (c) 2026 Opeta Alefaio

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