Vilsoni hereniko biography

Vilsoni Hereniko (born October 13, 1954) is a Rotuman playwright, film director and academic.
VILSONI HERENIKO was born in Rotuma, the youngest of eleven children.
Vilsoni Hereniko is a Rotuman playwright, film director and academic.

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The Director

Vilsoni Hereniko was born in the village of Mea, Hapmak, Itu'ti'u District on October 13, 1954. He is the youngest of eleven children born to Hereniko Hapati and Reui Olovie. Hereniko received his schooling in Rotuma before winning a scholarship to complete his secondary education in Fiji at Queen Victoria School. From there he went to the University of the South Pacific where he graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Graduate Certificate in Education. Hereniko was then awarded a Commonwealth scholarship to study drama-in-education at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, where he completed a Masters degree in Education.

It was while at the University of South Pacific that he started writing plays; his work immediately became widely produced and popular throughout the Pacific, notably Don't Cry Mama, A Child For Iva, Sera's Choice and The Monster. It was also during this time that Hereniko experimented with film, making a documentary, The Rotuman Clown.

In 1991, Hereniko was awarded a PhD by the University of the South Pacific

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Vilsoni Hereniko was born in the village of Mea, Hapmak, Itu'ti'u District in 1954. He is the youngest of eleven children born to Hereniko Hapati and Reui Olovie. Vilsoni went to Malhaha School for his primary and part of his secondary education before leaving for Fiji, where he attended Queen Victoria School for two years. From there he went to the University of the South Pacific where he graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Graduate Certificate in Education. He went back to Queen Victoria School as a teacher and taught English and History for four years. He is married to Jeannette Paulson Hereniko and has a son, Daniel who attends school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England.

For a 2020 interview with Vilsoni Hereniko regarding his life story go to https://omny.fm/shows/pacificmedianetwork/prof-vilisoni-hereniko-formative-years-raised-in-r

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Vilsoni Hereniko

Vilsoni Hereniko is a Professor at the University of Hawaii’s Academy for Creative Media, where his research, teaching, and creative work focus on issues related to climate change, indigenous storytelling, cultural identity, and the politics of representation in all kinds of media. As an award-winning filmmaker and theater artist he is a writer/director. As an academic, his research integrates the scholarly and the creative. Hereniko’s book, "Woven Gods: Female Clowns and Power in Rotuma", makes a compelling case for the use of objective as well as subjective perspectives in ethnographic research in order to capture the complexity of human nature and cultures. His co-edited book "Inside Out: Literature, Cultural Politics, and Identity in the New Pacific" examines the literatures and arts of Oceania in their social and political contexts as they pertain to identity formation. Hereniko’s first narrative feature film "Pear ta Ma ‘On Maf: The Land Has Eyes" had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and European premiere at the