RDK Herman, Towson University, Geography, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252. dherman@towson.edu.

Pacific Worlds: Re-presenting Indigenous Geographies in the Pacific Islands.

Two to four centuries of colonialism among Pacific Islands has entailed a rewriting of the world into Western terms, often relegating indigenous worldviews to a dark and superstitious past. Contemporary education programs, often still sponsored by the previous colonial governments, perpetuate a Western, atomistic understanding of human-environment relations. Yet Pacific Islanders, like most indigenous peoples, were keen observers of their environments, and within their traditional cultures remain intact systems of understanding the natural world and the role of human life on the islands. These conceptual "worlds" are being re-created and re-presented on the World Wide Web and combined with education programs to re-assert the value and importance of indigenous worldviews in the Pacific.

Keyword: Pacific Islands, Education, World Wide Web.